Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-03-17
BOULDER CANYON
 DAM ON ANCIENT
 IRRIGATION SYSTEMS

eral and the Boulder Canyon proJect in particular, the Los Angeles Herald says:
 The various irrigation bills before congress, one of which has been pass ed by the house and another, including the big Boulder canyon dam, favor ably reported in the senate, has in tensified interest in that method ot retaining desert acreage.
 While the United States is slowly moving toward the desired end, irri- gation as such is of extremely ancient origin. The Arabians, Egyptians, As syrians, Babylonians and Chinese all practised the art, which dates back authoritatively more than 2O0O years before the beginning of the Christian era.
 The valley of Yemen, Arabia, was irrigated by waters impounded by a dam two miles long and 120 fee high, built by aR Adite monarch of Seba, long before the time of Solomon. This dam, built of huge blocks of hewn stone, was a wonderful feat of engi- neering, and withstood the pressure against it for 200O years before it finally gave way.
 The annual inundations of the Nile probably gave the ancient, Egyptians their first conception of the possibil- ties of irrigation, and it is supposed that their knowledge was con1municat- ed to surrounding nations.
 In Italy, France and Spain great attention is paid to irrigation. The Romans during several centuries, con- structed extensive works, some of which are still in use. In Great Bri- tain, also, the custom is largely pre- valent, not only water, but liquid fer tilizer, being thus carried to the lands needing attention.
 On the American continent the in habitants of Peru were found by their Spanish conquerors making use of elaborate works constructed for the ir- rigation of their lands. The Aztecs of Mexico also utilized irrigation to make possible the beautiful gardens of Iztapalapan, displaying to the aston ished Spaniards a perfection of horti- culture unknown in their own country
 Irrigation was practised in prehis- toric times by the town-building Pue- bio Indian tribes inhabiting portions of New Mexico and Arizona. The Mexicans of mixed Spanish and Indian origin carried the practice with them as they spread northward. The early missions on the Pacific Coast utilized it and in Southern California are to be found the ruins of substantial dams and headworks built of masonry and constructed by Indian labor.
 However, the first systematic use of irrigation in the arid West by English speaking peoples was by the Mormons in the vicinity of the Great Salt lake and by the placer gold miners in Cali fornia about the same time.
 From 1870, at which time there were probably not more than 10000 acres under irrigation in the United States, interest has been rapidly growing, cul- minating in the national irrigation act passed by congress in 1902. This placed the direction of the system un- der federal control, which acted to make the reclamation of arid lands one for the general government, taking the water where available and apply ing it where needed, irrespective of state boundary lines.
 The works of the reclamation ser vice in 1920, the last available figures given in the report of the secretary of. the interior recently made public, served areas aggregating about 2,S45,- .000 irrigable acres, including 1922 ,OOO acres for which the government fur nished the sole supply eff irrigation water and 1,183,0OO acres to which in most cases the service furnished stored water in bulk to supplement the partial supply of private systems otherwise dependent on unregulated stream flow. Of the first class, l. 224,O0O acres were actually irrigated and 1,154,000 harvested. Of the other class, from less complete information, 1t Is roughly estimated that 982,OOO acres were irrigated and 950,9OO crop ped
 , The reclamation law is unioue among American laws in requiring that moneys expended in carrying out its provisions be afterward collected from those for whose benefit it has been spent. It therefore escapes the pork barrel" onus which is so often placed on measures for the relief of any particular locality or project.
 Because of the statements of Direc- tor A. P. Davis of the reclamation ser vice and Secretary of the Interior AL bert B. Fall, and their intense inter- est in the question, it is certain that the Boulder canyon dam will be the next great project to be undertaken by the government. This will not onlv insure the safety from overflow of the entire lower Colorado river system but will make possible the ir,ipat;on