The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-12-10
RE EC[ ION ADDS. WEALTH ID NAT I0N
Territory Reclaimed Is Enough to Form Another Great
 State

Washington, December 9--A 2o- year review of government reclama- ton work is contained in the annual report for the fiscal year ended last June of Director Arthur P. Davis of the United States reclamation service, Of the department of the interior, as the seventeenth day of June, 1922, marked the completion Of 20 years Of operation of the national reclamation act
 The investment of the government during this period has been in round numbers $135.000, 900. which has &C., .omplished the construction of works by which about 1.675, ,o00 acres of for mer arid land, in the west has been furnished with complete water sup ply, and about 1,100,000 additional acres in private projects the area comprises 31,462 farms, at an average area per farm of about 5S acres, sup plying more than 30,000 families.
 With the investment mentioned the service has excavated more than 20o,- 900, ,0o0 cubic yards of earth and rock. of which about 100000 cubic yards have been placed in dams. Canals aggregating more than 1S,000 miles have been built, including 27 miles of tunnels and 1855 miles of fumes. Structures of all kinds and sizes, to the number of 10000 have been erected in connection with the work.
 Some of the large projects con structed are the Roosevelt dam in Arizona, which is 200 feet high; the Arrowrock dam in Idaho, 349 feet high; Elephant Butte dam in New Mexico, S0e feet high and the Path finder and Shoshone dams in Wyom \ ing. 21s and BPS feet high, respect lively.
 Reclamation work also included the erection of many other dams, ca- nals and tunnels. fumes. drains, power plants, transmission and tele- phone lines, roads, railroads, pump ing plants and a variety of other classes of incidental work.
 From an agricultural standpoint, the report said, the reclamation serv- ice has added another state to the union, equal in value to It's agricul- tural products to that of the state of West Virginia or the combined value of the crops of Vermont and Connec- ticut. The value of crops raised on farms on government projects in 1921 amounted to $49,620, 300, exclusive of about $45,000,000 additional raised on private projects which were furnished water from works erected by the service.
 The value of crops grown on irri- gated lands in the federal projects In 1921 averaged SASS per acre. as com pared with $14.52 the average value per acre of the 10 leading crops in the country as a whole in the same year. Since tho government projects began the delivery of water the crops grown on reclaimed land have ex- ceeded $475,o00,000 in value. exclusive of the crop value on private lands watered through government sources, and of the increased value of the lands as result of reclamation work by the government was placed at $500, ,O0o.
 Director Davis pointed out that the reclamation projects have not been exempt from the vicissitudes of in- dustrial conditions. and that although they enjoyed high prices during 1917, 1918 and 1919. they also suffered se- verely from the rapid decline in val ues and available markets in sub sequent years. Although the acreage irrigated and cropped has continued to increase, the actual values realized in the past two years are less than those of previous years. The acid test of the industrial depression, he con cfuded, has demonstrated. however, not only the ability but the determi- nation of nearly all of the water users to meet the payments required by law.