Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-12-05


WIrH Congress willing and supplying the necessary funds
work would start Immediately programs interrupted by
the the Columbia Basin in Washington in the Central
Valley of California the ella project Arizona and else
where At the time other programs would be begun
both sides of the Continental Divide in the Great Plains
along the upper reaches of the Missouri and in the lands
drained by the Arkansas the Rio
Grande the Colorado and many other
rivers. Dams reservoirs and power
plants would be built. and thousands WHO'S =
of miles of canals and irrigation II,
bitches constructed to carry water 80, ~"
where it is needed most. -, a'
This enormous building job would 4 uF
put 100000 men directly to work for =, uiei
three years -- 225,O0O of them at VIII
structon sites and 255, 900 in the plants ""Johs
and factories that would provide mas
terials for the developments. This army ~. LAX:
of nearly half million men would ~ " ''f
transform by irrigation 100000 addi- atist
tiona acres of desert and sagebrush to I"
production farm land This would be e oam
substantial start towards the reclama- :, e"r'hn
ton of the nearly 100000 acres that nc
l have mentioned as susceptible of irri- . p'A"s'
cation with available water supplies you
The program would also provide supple - mead
mental irrigation of another 100000
that not getting
enough water to produce maximum
crops to support the present population
of the
The irrigation of the 100000 new
acres would provide ample farms for 125OOO men and their
families The supplemental irrigation would make available
more farms because with adequate water supply
great tracts nadequaey irrigated could be cultivated
more ntensvey than at present The supplemental service
would also give greater security to than lOOO families
established irrigated farms.
But pu ting 900 work at construction and
ting her and their families on farms
where they could become sef-sus taining is only the
BEGINNING For every family that would take up land one
additional family would find livelihood in the villages and
towns that would spring the wake OF the
and third family elsewhere in the nation would gain living
bv providing the farm implements automobiles clothing etc.
which residents of the new communities would require
Here then have answer to the gloomongels VINO
maintain that America will have nothing to offer its ex-
fighting men and war workers the greatest reclamation
DEVELOPMENT in history fields towns factories offering
opportunities that challenge the widest imagnings
Cheap Power
A. THIS time the Bureau of Labor Statistics is counting on
the probability that Uncle Sam will retain 100000 men IN
the armed forces peaceme That means that there Will be
approximately 85OOOO0 demobized Directly and indirectly
the Bureau Reclamation alone preparing to take care OF
approximatelv million of them Which means that 4OOOOO
men, women and children would be assured of the necessities
and comforts of life the result of one government program
The reclamation and irrigation of desert and sagebrush
lands would 90 hand in hand of with the development
of water power Electric energy would be an
tool in carving forward the project Lowcost power not
only helps repay the governments investment but 1t fr-
nshes energy for the operation of the project ITSELF In
addition this power would prove priceless asset IN te
nd min