36 



REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS, 



There is undoubtedly some duplication in the two tables «>iven 

 above, so tliat the sum of the two totals could not be taken as the area 

 which will !)(> available for settlement within the next few years. 

 On the other hand, many larjre j)r()jects which are in a more or less 

 complete state of organization are not included in the tables. How- 

 ever, the tables seem to justify the statement that there is now avail- 

 able for settlement an area of G,000,00() acres, with as much more 

 inider ditches now under construction, which will be available within 

 a few years. This Oflice has estimated the area now irrigated at 

 13.000.000 acres, and therefore the works now under construction 

 will provide for the approximate doubling of the area. 



This large increase in the area irrigated will be made at a great 

 increase in cost per acre irrigated. The United States Census re- 

 ports give the average cost of irrigation works in the United States 

 up to 1900 as $8.85 per acre irrigated, and up to 1902 at $9.14 per acre 

 irrigated." Data for an average up to the present time are not avail- 

 able, but the reports of the Secretary of the Interior show that the 

 average cost of the works built under the Reclamation Law has been 

 as follows: 



Estimated average east of irrigation tcorJcs as shown hy statements of areas to 

 he reelai)ne(l and estimated eost of works, published in annual reports of the 

 Seeretary of the Interior, IDO'i to J908, and table supplied by the United States 

 Reelamation Serree, 1009. 



The averages given above are based on total acreages and total 

 cost. The cost under the different projects varies from $25 to $G5 

 per acre. That the cost of other works is not far different from that 

 of the government Avorks is shown by the data on irrigation contained 

 in the Statistical Abstract of the United States for 1908 (Depart- 

 ment of Commerce and Labor). As stated there, the cost of irriga- 

 tion works in the United States in 1902 was $77,430,212, and the area 

 irrigated 8,471,041 acres; the cost in 1907 was $125,000,000, and the 

 area 9,700,000 acres. The increase in the area from 1902 to 1907 was 

 1,228,459 acres, while the increased cost was $47,509,788, or an aver- 

 age of $38.72 per acre. The table for the government works includes 

 the year 1908, while the other does not, which would account for the 

 slight difference between the average cost found in the two w^ays. 



<»U. S. Dept. Com. and Labor, Bur. Census Bui. 16, p. 11. 



