The Glenwood post., 1915-07-10
nRIoAf1oM roasIllIIIms
(By Hon. lAlva Adams.)

about As much OF y Failure rs is Viii
Am J. Bryan, has written a very in
eresting article OF the possibilities #
-Iigation which should be read by al
f our citizens who are interested IL
he present aud future development Of
colorado. The article is optimistic anu
,rophetic and shows Mr.. Adams 81
erior ability to look into the future
nd read the fulfillment of present day
Indications, and is AS follows:
Thus saith the Lord, make this valley
'ull of ditches-2 Kings, 3-l6.
The business vi digging irrigatins
iitehes and reservoirs will not be ended
so long as single inch of our mountain
water runs unutilized to the sea. Those
who today neglect to act because they
think vii waters ere over appropriated
will in ten years feel as foolish as
some of us who, upon the same plea,
neglected twenty years ago to take out
water rights. In this case the stupidity
of the father, mas been the fortune Of
the children. 1t Is well for this and
coming generations that those of the
past era had not the genius to see, or
the courage to grasp their opportuni-
ties. Less than three million acres are
irrigated in Colorado. No like era in
the world produces more. The stats
ties of production from Colorado fields,
orchards and gardens read like the
prospectus of . seed and nursery cats-
logus. In every competing exposition
Colorado fruit, grain and vegetables
gather in the cups And prizes Yet our
system of cultivation is far from per-
feet; in some cases it Is almost primi-
tive. The soil has not been crowded to
its capacity. The biblical injunction
to leave the corners of the field unhar
vested has been obeyed. We have beea
careless in seed, not always wise in the
use of water, seldom generous in giving
back the richness of which the crop has
robbed the soil. Ta6se facts justify the
statement that the production which
has amazed the farmers of other states
can be doubled by scientific methods,
by proper use of water. care in select
ing seed, rotation of crops, fertilization
and knowledge of soils and attitudes.
There is not demand for production that
irrigation, mountain soil, sunshine and
common sense cannot meet. Multiply
our present soil production by two and
think what that means. Multiply that
again by five and you approach the
ultimate possibilities of COloradO's ag-
rieultural possibilities. Hydraulic engi
neers tell us that the proper conserva-
ton of our water will irrigate 14,000,-
GOO acres.
In addition to this visible water
raio subterrsnean rivers greater than
those that flow upon the surface Here
is an unfailing water suppy that has
never been tapped and seldom consi'-
cred. There are few pumps in the
state. In time there will be thousands,
and nature has lifted our springs aud
rivers almost to the sky. Most of ou-
streams leave the state a perpendicular
mile below their source. These droo-
ping waters will supply horsepower
the magnitude of which only a Colonel
Sellers can estimate. Here is the
power for raising the hidden waters
to the field. Water is a resource that
does not exhaust OF wear out. 1t cal
be made to turn myriats of wheels, lift
the levers of ten thousand pumps and
then without waste perform its create:
mission of carrying fertility to count
less fields, orchards and homes.
The Almighty was the engineer who
laid out this magnificent planet. HIS
machinery never runs down. lie
planned the fundamentals of mountain
and plain, of water and sunshine, Of
climate and fertility: it needs but thu
skill, energy and money of man to give
labor, plenty and homes to millions of
His children
The waters that run in our rivers AMI
streams, the underflow that can be
led or pumped to the surface, the win
ter SHOWS and summer rains and floods
that may be impounded, are not all. l.
many parts of the state, especially in
the great San. Luis valley, nature has
placed artesian flows that will never
exhaust so long as snow and rain eail
upon our mountains
Colorado will in time use all the
waters of the streams in normal flow
and stop the floods that come from our
high lands. We will huild more reser-
4