The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1915-09-16
IRRIGATED LANDS
HELD TOO HIGH

DtitSdbtS AiOHi pIdtIlcdiiy every
state in the Union, half dozen prov
iIees of Canada and three states in
Mexico, numbering more than a thous-
and, were on hand this morning when
tie twenty-second annual international
irrigation congress was called to order
az Stockton by Richard W. Young of
Salt Lake, past chairman of the exc
cutive committee. Committees were an
nounced at the morning session.
President j. B. Case, of Abilene.
Kansas, in his opening address declared
that the price per acre charged for re-
claimed land ordinarily was too high
fer the average farmer to pay.
With no improvements, without the
ground properly graded and with all
the expense of upkeep necessary until
a crop can be sold, it makes a burden
that few settlers are able to meet, -
he said. Any irrigation projects could
be graded more cheaply and better by
the men who organize them than by
the individual settler. and the land
should be turned over to the farmer in
= condition that will enable him to
Immediately start crop production and
the snstenanee of his family
All irrigation enterprises and like
governmental undertakings, he said,
should be in the hands of the depart
ment of agriculture and be urged upon
the agricultural committee to investi-
gate all projects under the Carey land
act with reasonable power to act. .
One great function of this congress
is to work out system of settlement
and colonization which shall bring to
the irrigated lands the men and wo-
men who will develop them, President
Case said. There are more than twenty
five government irrigation projects vir-
tually completed. he said. and vet sta
fistics show that less than half the land
under these projects is occupied by set
tiers.
'1This is a critical period in the irri-
CATION development of the United
States.' said Mr. Case. ''The plain
truth is that we have reached a point
where it must be recognized that some
readjustment of our plans and opera
tins is necessary
President Case said that there had
I cen too much ''wild cat speculation
in lands connected with irrigation pro-
ieets. ''Tbose who planned irrigation
other statutes had the best inten-
tlens." he said. "but thew could not
foresee that spectacular land agents.
wild cat engineers and town lot
boomers would load the projects with
such stremendous burdens of expenses
that the poor settler or investors would
eventually be crushed -
The topic of this session is the col-
onization of irrigable lands,' said Mr..
Case. The Investment Bankers associa-
ton of America, now in session in
Denver, has appointed committee to
work in harmony with us in determin.
ing the status of irrigation securities,
in planning better colonization for
western lands and in discussing rural
cl edits.
What part a great railway system
plays in the DEVELOPMENT of new coun-
tsy was recounted by f. o. Mccormack
vice-president of the Southern Pacific
railway system.
Tn order to bring people into the far
west, Mr.. Mccormack said. it was nee
essarv to tell them what was there and
this in turn involved a wide and com
plehensive knowledge of the country
20 he developed, from the collection
and dissemination of information.
Railroads invariably nreeede devel-
cpment,' said Mr.. Mccormack, and
smoke of the building of line to Fres-
70. Cal. when the San Joaquin valley
was but vast grain field, encouraging
Investors TO begin irrigation and inten
slve farming. But it was to a woman
that he gave credit for today's vine
ward acreage in the San Joaquin val
lcy-a Miss Hatch, who left school
teaching in the east and took un a
small holding near Fresno on which
size planted a vineyard. Like develop
mcnt in the Sacramento valley he cred
tied to the opening of the Shasta route
to Portland. and he described the pio
ne ering of the Southern Pacific across
Arizona and into imperial valley in
California Southern California engi-
neers. he said. were the men who pnt
' ater an the Coaehella valley in the
Colorado desert bv boring artesian
wells. and who found there the posi-
bilities of growing in this country the
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