East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1918-05-06
PROJECTS PRODUCED
WELL DURING 1917
MILLION ACRES NET
FIFTY MILLION CROP
Other Reclamation Projects
to be Taken up by
Government.
BY JOHN Il. LATHRoP.
Special correspondence from Wash


Especial Correspondence from Wash
ington.)
WASHINGTON, May "a brilliant
romance--or the material therefor
has been written by Arthur r. Davis
who is somewhat prosy, dry, business
Hike, but very efficient, perhaps scarce
sensing the dramatic possibilities OF
his recent report.
Probably later Arthur Blanchard
service statisticlan ,wlll transform hia
drab statement to a quivering human
interest story. Davis reports:
Fifteen projects of 10000 re-
claimed acres, in 1917 produced $780,
100000 af crops, or an average Of
$50 an acre. three times the average
farm production in the United States
in 1909; more than Main produced
In that former year. or $4,400. 600 more
than the combined crop values OF
Massachusetts and Connecticut.
There were $4,000 farms on these
is pojects.
3,fIa.655 Acres TO BE Added
The reclamation service has in pro.
cess OF development or soon to be de-
veloped 80 other projects of 3.O12.-
\ 655 acres divided into 60,SS1 farms.
At the same per acre production,
these planned additions would aug
ment crops values on government re-
claimed lands by s155.600,000 year,
4 The whole. 4,112.655 acres, at the
same per acre rate $50 an acre, would
yield total of $205, 100000 annually.
| If the average cost of reclaiming these
lands be $50 an acre, the annual pro-
duction would wipe out the original
cost in about one year. leaving Uncle
Samuel on velvet In his Irrigation bus
| mess.
Equivalent of 10000 Square Miles.
The average per acre farm produc.
tion in the United States has not been
materially Increased since 1909;
hence, the $50 an acre of crops on re-
claimed lands. $5O.OOO.OOo In 1917. Is
the equivalent of 100000 average
acres. or more than $500 square miles;
and the prospective total, 4.112,0O0
acres. would be equal to 10000 square
miles.
Many state in Europe, with indI-
vidual sovereignty and boasting n din
ky kind of "dook," reigning ovr it's
peasants. has less cuItivahle area. II
arabic lands be half the total area in
a given region. these 10000 square
miles would be the crop potentially
OF 10000 square miles; or nearly half
the area OF oregon,
Getting Results.
Who of the west does not recall
the sometime chickering's, misunder-
standings. adverse criticisms and occa-
sional suggestions of scandals in the
reclamation service? Yet the service
has gone on. steadily developing vast
areas digging bitches, building tun-
nels through mountains. erecting tho
greatest masonry dams in history.
bridging rivers, bringing into use 4O,-
600 horse power at the projects pow.
er sltes, and making the desert blos-
som like the rose: in fact making a
lot of blades of grass grow with the
certude of rrlgation-controlled pro-.
duction where one time only sage
hens jaclTabbits aad coyotes lived.
In HarIiey and MaIhcur.
/ remember having many a ride
across some OF these once barren
wastes--one in particular, out in 'Har-
ney and Malheurcounties-W r.
Kings bailiwiclI-when at the fading
of the day we saw q thousand sage
hens, ten thousand coyotes. and. II
seemed. a million jackrabbits enjoy
ing the wonder of western twiligh;
On the plains-a wonder little appre
cIated by most practical folk.
Now some of those then useless
acres are contributing to the materials I
for the annual romance written by Di- I,
rector Davis and transmitted by Stat |
istician Blanchard into his human In
terest yarns.
Those who had vision could I'm those
days sec the Incoming Irrigation hosts
100000 families enjoying the sense
Of producing for human sustenanco
where nature undisturbed produced
,nly atmosphere for fiction writer's
and volcanic ash soil dust to fiji the
lungs Of the traveller.
Possible Productivity.
Three years ago I asked the agri-
expert of the great sugar
beet industry OF California:
How much of the normal produc
ivity of the arid west has been \
,rought in to use?"