Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1921-10-14

is enwrapped in the mists of antiquity
 Nothing has been found of sufficient
 distinctiveness to enable us to dc
 more than speculate and form ingen-
 ious theories as to whence they came,
 how long they enjoyed their tolerable
 civilization, and whither and why they
 went.
 Within this basin is the Petrifed
 Forest, whose trees lived their green milleniums and put on immortality in Triassis time, 7,000,000 years ago.
 The trees were of several kinds, most of them being related to the Norfolk Island pines. A small amount of iron oxide is distributed through the logs, which gives them their beautiful vel low, brown and red tints.
 Within the region -traversed by the Colorado river, and drained by it's tributaries is the Painted Desert, in which at a distance you perceive the "sea of jasper" and the face of cliffs that gleam like jewels; you, seem to descry Notifications with flags flying on their ramparts and walled towns on conical hills amidst an admixture of light and shade.
 Within this region is the Grand Canyon, terrible abyss of wondrous colors, of bold escarpements, pyra- mids, swelling domes, mosques, nina rets and isolated mesas through which rolls and tumbles this Colorado river. The Grand Canyon National Park represents an area of approximately $50 square miles, a greater part of which is within the walls of the can yon. Sufficient land has been included back of the north and south rims to make possible an adequate road devel- opment and to take care of camping and hotel facilities.
 Future of the Basin
 What is to be the future of this ba- sin, a country larger in area than the tract of land which Virginia, with princely Gberality ceded to the Colo nial government in 17S7, out of which five states were erected?
 Of course, it's forests will be util- ized, it's mineral wealth will be sought, it's dazzling scenic beauties will be un- folded; but it's greatest development, however, must come from its water resources, upon which the development of it's other resources must largely depend. Without the water afforded by the Colorado river and it's tribu- taries, vast tracts of it's land would remain unproductlve and practically uselss; but the Hand that formed this land, that cleft it's mountains in twain and filled their caverns with precious metals, that painted it's landscapes in colors warranted never to fade, and that replenishes this ineXhaustible and perpetual river left it feasible for man not only to construct large irriga- tion systems and to build towns, cities and prosperous agricultural communi- ties within this basin, but to generate hydrO-electrc power for lighting, heating, industrial uses and the trans i pOrtation of freight and passengers.
 III NlSCNSSlll$ IllS bI OS'NtC1 PO'SAoiii ties and problems of the Colorado river basin there are hundreds, even thousands, of minor yet important possibilities of expansion that 1 neces- sarily must leave unmentIOned, al though these future minor auxiliary developments will have much local and Tn the aggregate true | natural sibniticance. In general such minor or auxiliary projects do not preclude the larger use o1 the river, but must be undertaken as part ot that larger use.
 The record of accomplishment of the United States Reclamation Service en- riches the annals of the American people. Irrigation projects charm the imagination with their Wizardry. Their power of transforming barren deserts into grain and cotton fields, into or chards and vegetable and flower gar dens make the lamp of Aladdin and the purse of Fortunatus seem tame f and prosaic. The widest hyperbole would not overestimate the strength, [ wealth, beauty, comfort and public or der that would be added to this nation were all the unemployed agencies ot the Colorado river set to work.
 During the past 19 years, or since Federal irrigation began, 3,OOO,OOO acres of heretofore practically worth 1 less desert land have been made pro ductive by government irrigation. The value of the crops produced thereon now amounts to $9O,OOO,OOO annually. The increase in value of the irrigated acreage amounts to $6OO,OOO,0OO, and since the government began the deliv- cry of irrigation water the crops pro duced on the reclaimed lands today az gregate $40O,0OO,000 in value. Nor does this sum of $400,00O,OOO include the value or expansion of production of live stock or stock products; in other words, the figures ($4OO,OOO,OOO) i as to the aggregate crop value are limited to vegetable, fruit and grain . values at the farm, for which govern