Evening star., 1924-07-12
RECLAMATION ADDS
VAST AREA TO j. S.
Barren Wastes of West
Turned Into Productive
Uses.
By EDWARD r. ROBERTS.


Little known and little Needed by
the public at large, the work of re-
ciaifnihs the vast deserts of America
mas peen going on over twenty years.
Inc result OF that mighty labor is
that today huge stretches of for
merly arid and desolate lands have
been converted into fertile farm
lands, with a total crop value in 1922
of more than $50.oo0o 900. Among the
New England states Maine was the
only one which reported a greater
number of farms than are found on
| these irrigated projects. Each of the
states of New Hampshire and Con-
necticut contained only about one
third as many. In other words,
through reclamation the American
government has practically added
forty-ninth state to the Union.
A comprehensive survey of the
whole operations of the reclamation
service since its inauguration some
twenty years ago has just been com
pleted by the special advisory com
mittee which was appointed Tor that
purpose by Secretary of the Interior
Work last fall To find out just what
reclamation means ! went to mem
ber of that committee, Clyde G, DaW-
d
American lawyer who has been deep
ly interested in the development of
irrigation law and the reclamation
of waste lands for more than quar-
ter of a century.
Reclamation's Benefits.
What has reclamation done and
what may il still do?" was the dou
BILE -barreled question which l put to
Mr. Dawson.
The answer to the first part OF
your question is fairly simple h.
replied. but the answer to the sec
ond part is not quite so simple. What
has been done l can sum up for you
very briefly.
1.-The reclamation service has
wrested from the desert to date about
1,200,O 900 acres of arid lands which
have been restored to fertility by lr-
rigation and are today producing an
nualIy crops valued at from fifty To
seventy five million dollars. Besides.
more than million acres of land are
receiving partial water supply, un-
der the terms of the Warren act.
from the federal irrigation projects
and producing greatly increased crops
therefrom. On those reclaimed dCs-
erts thousands of happy American
families are growing up in the open
country under those Influences which
have always fashioned men and won1-
en- of strength and are giving I"
America the kind of citizens who.
| since our history began, have proven
| the backbone of the republic
What has been the cost to the
American taxpayer of reclaiming
| these deserts"
| No Cost to Taxpayers.
Not one cent" was the surprising
| answer THAT is one point con-
tinued Mr.. Dawson, which / would
particularly like to make clear, be
cause / think there is very general
misunderstanding in regard to it.
The reclamation service is almost
unique among the activities of our
governme-t. The original fund out
of which the projects were built was
derived from the sale of public lands
in the states in which the projects
were thereafter built; and while the
| government has spent on the various
| projects which have been put in or
| Grafton about S150.v0U.000, that money
| is all charged against the reclaimed
! land and repayable out of the ESW
I
| of crops. though. of course. there have
| been and will he some losses. as in
any great business undertaking.
| This, however. Will come out of the
| fund contributed by the states bene-
| flied and not out of the general tax
payers of the country.
How many people are actually set
| tied on these reclaimed lands""
! About half a million, one-third Of
whom are engaged in actual farming
! and two-thirds who live in the nu-
merous small towns and villages
which have naturally grown up as
the farm lands were settled upon. Of
/ course, the various projects are fairly
i widely scattered. being located in fif
| teen western states ranging from
| Washington TO Arizona and east to
Nebraska. One of the largest indi-
yidual projects is known as the Rio
! Grande and stretches from FL Paso
| County in Texas through three coun-
ties in New Mexico.
Vast Area Reclaimed.
| This reclaimed land amounts TO a
total of ss.5Ss acres at present with
! probably another $4,000 or 10000
acres which may be reclaimed in the
| future. 1t gives an excellent illustra
| ton of what reclamation of arid
| lands can mean to America. Here.
where for centuries there stretched
| r. hostile and barren wilderness. there
| is today a population of 10000 peo-
pie living on prosperous farms and
/ in thriving villages, with splendid
| road system serving the entire terri
| tory: forty-nine public schools. 10
| churches and every facility and en-
couragement for the development of
the finest type of American citizens.
The total cost of the reclaming of
! this desert was about $4,000, 900. and
the settlers who nave located there
today own in the thirteen banks
| which have been established to serve
them deposits amounting to $4,000
600. Not all of the projects have. of
! course been so successful as this one.
but there are many others Whlch are
| relatively as prosperous ana give an
excellent demonstration of what re-
clamat ton means to the American ma
ton"
What is the total amount of desert
land which it is still possible to re-
claim by irrgation"
| Future Possibilities.
"It is impossible to give an exact
answer to that question. said Mr.
Dawson There has never been any
| accurate survey of American arid
lands that | know OF and the esti-
mates of the best authority vary
widely. One authority has placed it
| as high as so, ,O00. 900 acres, while more
conservative estimates are around 3o,-
600, 900 acres. But that does not mean
that all of this land can be rendered
productive by irrigation. That is
matter which depends entirely on the
availability of water supply and the
cost of irrigation as compared with
the probable value of the crops which
could be raised on the reclaimed land.
i There have been many cases where
irriga ton has been abandoned be
cause II was found that the land
would never produce sufficient wealth
60 q | n n
tempt to make any definite estimate
aS to the amount of reclaimahle deS-