Imperial Valley press., 1912-12-16
IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE
the DOMINANT INDUSTRY

Walter J. Ballard in Los Angeles
Times: California has always been
| considered state Of great possibii-
| ties. Her mines and her commerce
and her climate and agriculture have
long been the theme of inspiring pen
pictures. With a range Of climate and
soil and of mountain and valley more
varied than that possessed by any of
her sister states, with a geographical,
position and commercial facilities ma
turally favorable to intensive develop
ment. she is ranked as a leader in the
upbuilding of western America. But
while her gold and her seaports and
her forests and commerce have made
her position unique among the states,
Eer future has always been bound w,
in agriculture.
More than half century of devel-
opment has shown that, if this agricul-
ture is to be the best of which the
state is capable, it must be founded on
irrigation, and for years the careful
husbandman has, over large portion
Of the state at least, made the artificial
/ application of water to land an impor-
! y,
Fortier (revised by Frank Adams in
| the 1911-1912 report of the California
development board.
The total land area of California is
approximately O0,0OO,O0O acres. Ac-
cordlng to the latest irrigation census
1904. 10l acres We're actually under
! irrigation. This statement, however,
does not convey true idea of the rela-
| tive
culture in California. Professors Hill
gard and Loughridge Of the University
of California estimate that only 1 / ,00O,-
| 600 acres, or about One-Seventh of the
! total land area, is valley agricultural
land, so that the two and one half mil
| lion acres irrigated comprise more than
sixth of the total irrigable land Of
the state. This estimate does not in
clude the tillable upper mesas and
mountain valleys, both Of which con-
tain large areas of irrigable land Yet
this is not the whole truth The last
census showed that about one fifth Of
all the irrigated land in the United
States was in California, and this stale
ranked first in the total number Of
| irrigated farms and in the total con-
StructiOn cost Of irrigation systems.
The highest priced irrigated land in
America is found in California, and in
no other state has water for irriga-
ton reached so high 4 value or been
as carefully and as ecOnomically used.
And in no other state is there 50
great an area of fertile farming land
for which the available supply of wa
ter is so large.
Irrigation. like any other Develop
ment, has followed the lines of most
evident financial returns. Hence tha
localities Of least annual and summer
rainfall We're the first to be reclaimed
by the artificial use of water. The
tide of irrigation, however, has been
moving steadily northward and, ex-
cept in the sections of excessive rain
fall, the necessity for irrigation, or al
least the value of it where it is not
o complete necessity, is almost univers-
ally recognized. While heretofore,
: then, irrigation has followed the line
OF the most evident return, in future
it will follow the available water sup
ply.
The water supply Of the state is IN
] lis streams and wells. The wells now
dug and in use are chiefly in Southern
California and in the Sacramento. III:
lower San Joaquin and the Santa Glare
valleys. Only the larger streams OF
the state have been measured. an,
without reliable data il is impossible 4
estimate the flow in the states hun
dreds OF smaller streams.
The water supply in the larger
streams, as measured by the Uniteo
States geological survey, is given il
the following table. These figures give
in round numbers the average ANNA