The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1916-08-31
ITnE WILSON WAY OF GETTING
THINGS DONE.
Thirty-four million Dollars spent
In Reclamation Work In
Three Years

The irrigation work under the
Reclamation laws has been push
ed more rapidly by the Wilson
Administration than ever before.
The determined policy of Secre-
tary Lane has been to push to
completion as rapidly as possible
all projects under way, to finish
the work undertaken and bring in
to productive use the largest
possible available aera i'm the
shortest possible time. During
three fiscal years of his term
there has been expended in pur-
suance of this policy $50, 1868, ago.
i6, an average of over twelve mi:
lions a year. During the pre-
ceding ten years the total gross
expenditures amounted to $751;
$50, 1850, an average of less
Tia L E.ne millions a year.
In 1910 Congress provided all
appropriation "f twenty millions
''to enable the Secretary os the
Interior to comI l4te government
reclamation pr Ja',s heretofore
begun Not one dollar of this
appropriation had been put to the
uses for which it was made. when
the present administrator came
into office, but it has been so
largely drawn upon for the pur-
POSES intended that the projects
appropriated for are rapidly near
ing completion and will soon be
completed if the policies of the
Wilson administration are ad-
hered to.
Work on Reclamation projects
+, has been pushed forward since
I1913, nearly doubling the area
watered and cropped until to-
day almost a million acres of arid
lands are thus being irrigated
and yielding crops already worth
upwards of twenty millions per
year. a production exceeding
that of a number of Eastern
states.
These large projects, built thru
the medium of the United States
Reclamation Service. include
some engineering achievements
'unexecelled throughout the world
Two mammoth dams are among
1.-The recent works, were completed
, i'm 1916. The Arrowrock Dam
on the Boise River, Idaho. is the
higest in the world. The Ele-
.phant Butte Dam on the Rio
Grand, New Mexico, forms the
largest of all irrigation reser-
VOirS.
The ArrowrOck Dam is a mas
sive concrete structure rising $50
feet from it's connection with bed
rock and spanning the river in a
slight curve i,O75 feet long at the
crest. Despite the inaccessible
lity of the site, which made nee
essary the construction and oper
alton of a seventeen-mile rail
road. the dam and appurtenant
|works were built with economy
ard despatch. saving over two
millions dollars and years
time under the estimates for the
work. The dam stores the floods
of Boise River for use as needed
on the irrigated lands near the
capital city of the State. Nearly
200. 900 acres are covered by lhh
canal system in the vicinity Of
Boise.
ON the historic Rio Grandc an
other engineering monument has
hrrl erected by tn" Government
"nginnrrs. Here tn" Elrpha It
Butte Dam. 800 feet high and H.
25O feet along ne crest. forms
a reservoir with Il capacity of q
638. 800 acr,,-fret or over 850.OOO
600. 900 gallons. This great
volume of water will irrigatr 1850
600 acres extending along the
river in New Mexico to III Paso
and beyond in Texas.
Thirteen millions will he cX-
pended during 1916 in this great
work and the appropriations for
1917 provide for nearly nine
millions more. This policy Of
fastening tn" work of rcrlama-
tion so as to make the lands pro-
ductivc is clearly justified by the
results. The annual product of
lands reclaimed has been nearly
doubled in three years, making an
increase of almost ten millions
IA year in the agricultural yield.
Ecarh year shows Iik" startling
Sidrr"d that the creation of this
new weaIh will continue for gen.
'tration after grn"ration.long af-
ttrr expenditures for irrigation
works has ceased, long after
Uncle Sam has collected every
dollar he has advanced. the wis
dom of the Wilson Way of get
.inC thiuUs dnnn-iuiS|,pd-