6 Bulletin 85 



portion of the Salt River Valley and are watered exclusively from 

 irrigation works constructed by the United States Government. 



Several interesting economic conditions make a study of market- 

 ing conditions in the Salt River Valley a matter of keen interest to the 

 student of the commercial side of agriculture. This compact and 

 fertile Valley affords an excellent study of a clearly defined agricultural 

 unit. Surrounded on all sides by desert and with no similar area of 

 any consequence within more than 200 miles, the Salt River Valley is 

 practically an independent unit. Another important fact is that for the 

 area embraced, this Valley has a more diversified form of agriculture 

 than can be found in most other areas of like size. Records compiled 

 for the years 1916 and 1917 show that more than 16 crops were pro- 

 duced with aggregate acreages exceeding 500 acres each. This classi- 

 fication takes no recognition of the varied nature of the livestock in- 

 terests of the Valley and does not take into consideration other forms 

 of agricultural wealth. The farms of the Salt River Valley are tilled 

 by farmers from all parts of the world. Many of these farmers are 

 comparatively recent additions to the population of the Valley and 

 hence the communal and commercial interests of the producers have 

 not yet become fused so that community action is the regular and ac- 

 cepted procedure. Then, too, it must be remembered that the com- 

 mercial problem has only recently come to the front as such. In this 

 respect the Salt River Valley differs materially from many of the 

 irrigated districts of California. The latter state has long been a 

 region of surplus production and the problem of finding an outlet for 

 products not saleable locally has been for some time a pressing one 

 for the California grower. The result has been that many of Califor- 

 nia's problems have been worked out through years of experience, 

 and most of the older communities in that state have established a 

 proper commercial procedure. This procedure is now in the formative 

 stage in Arizona. 



While irrigation by white settlers in the Salt River Valley dates 

 back to about 1867, the district is comparatively new in commercial 

 development. The advent of Federal assistance in 1902-1904 marked 

 the beginning of the present regime in the Valley. The Roosevelt Dam 

 was completed in 191 1. and at that late date came the emergence of 

 the Salt River Valley as an established region of surplus production, 

 together with the problems attending such a changed condition. 



Many of the newer order of farmers came from the humid dis- 

 tricts of the East and Middle West and found themselves facing con- 



