The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1916-12-07
Head of Interior Department
Advocates Use of Water
PLANS MUST BE REVISED FOR IR-
RIGATING ARID LANDS.
Several Great Irrigation Projects
Completed or Being Constructed
Indians Become Citizens.

lie land is decreasing until now it |
is almost down to two hundred fifty |
million acres in the United States, |
much of which is in the arid region, |
the entries of public land are increas |
ing This year nearly twenty million |
acres of Uncle Sans domain were |
taken up as against seventeen mil
lion each for the preceding two |
years, sixteen million for 1913 and |
fifteen million for 1912. At this rate
it will be but very few years before
all of the public land of the United |
States will have gone into private
hands. Probably in less than ten
years there will be no public land of
consequences that will be available
for the homesteader There will still
remain, however, many million acres
of lands which can be brought into
rich production by the application of
water, and no inconsiderable volume
that can be put to the public service
by being drained. The problem is no
longer one of getting the people onto
the land but of getting land for the
people who wish it, and ways must
be found by which land can be irri
gated, either from the waters that
HOW uuuGIUtdll IL VI llOll the VAULTS
that now go to waste flowing to the
sea. 1t is Secretary Lanes belief that
no sufficient effort has been made to
discover underground supplies q
water which can be used upon the
deserts of the west, and that congress
might well either appropriate drec'
ly for improving these lands by sys
tenn of drilling or pass law by which
private parties could be induced to
make this effort.
The agricultural possibilities Of
Alaska are still a matter of conjec-
ture, although it is known that in the
Tanana valley and in other portions
the harder cereals and vegetables
will grow With the completion of
the railroad which is now being con-
structed from Seward to Fairbanks
there promises to be q considerable
movement within Alaska to make that
country an asset which the govern
ment should further bv undertaking
broad plan of promotion based up
on the knowledge already gained as
to what can be done agriculturally in
that far northern part of our cOun-
try, which, however, has a climate
less rigid than that of some sections
of the United States. now thickly
populated Outside of Alaska the out
look is that within five years the only
public land available to the pioneer
will be that upon Which a large
amount of money must be expended
in holding back the floods of the
streams or in bringing water upon
the land. This is not a work for
men of little means SO that it may
safely be said that the pioneer with
his prairie schooner will have van
ished from the United States within
a few years.
One feature of the work among the
Indians during the past year has been
the effort to discover the Indians who
were competent through a system of
competency commissions composed Of
men of long experience among tlr,
Indians. A commission consists OF
three men, who go through. a reser-
walton from house to house, making
personal studies of the character of
the Indians and reporting upon their
progress-the kind of houses in which
they live, the way in which their
children are dressed the manner in
which their farms are titled and their
cattle cared for, and in general tn ar
economic condition Out of those So
inspected the commission makes ~s-
of those who are in K Judgment fitted
to take on the responsibilities of cit
izenship By being released from the
parternalistic care Of tine Indian Bur
eau.
The bureau of education is conduct
ing a campaign TO- tn education OF
Z adult Il &.
schools
Work of Classifying the public lane
is being pushed by tho Geographical
Survey, and last year over four mil
lion acres we're classified as to thei
mineral character and one hundred
lightweight thousand acres as t.
their value as power ard public waite
reserves. The geological investiga
tiOns of the survey We're made in for
ty-seven states, the Canal Zone an,
the West Indies, and topographic sur
veys were made in twenty-nine states
The reclamation service carried OF
construction work IN twenty-four ir
rigation projects bringing ten prof
ects or units thereof to completion
and added a quarter Of 1. million
acres, or five thousand farms to tn
area on the govern ment work TO
which irrigation water is available ]
completed the highest dam in tn
world and another forming the larg
est irrigation reservoir: built seve
hundred miles of canals eighty mile
Of drains, fifty miles of pipe lin,
sixty miles of roads, seven thousan
two hundred canal structures, 81
hundred bridges, six hundred fit
Gully ,rts. excavated approximately te
million cubic yards Of earth and rocl
used five hundred thousand barrels {
cement, manufactured sixty thpusan
barrels of sand cement
The bureau of mines is given cred
for developing methods for treatin
low grade complex gold. lead, silve
and zinc ores that promise to r,
iuvenate mining ia certain parts
''o ror1trv and render valuable mi
lions of tons of ore that cannot no
be treated profitab,y in mine rescu
work.
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