THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



waved over that region, and behold, a million beauti- 

 ful orange trees in all their semi-tropic luxuriance 

 stand before him! It is Riverside. Riverside, the 

 peerless, as her proud and happy citizens delight in 

 believing. But what has been done at Riverside and 

 Redlands and Ontario and the unrivaled colonial 

 settlements 'round about can be accomplished, in a 

 measure at least, on millions of acres of the arid belt. 

 To be sure, the orange, the lemon, the fig and the 

 pomegranate may not flourish over large areas, but 

 that is not necessary, or even desirable. On every 

 acre of such lands the apple, peach, plum, pear, 

 grape and all the cereals and grasses will flourish 

 luxuriantly, to say nothing of potatoes, melons and 

 the endless line of vegetables, including sugar beets. 



A TRAVELER'S VIEWS. 



As showing how the startling transformations 

 wrought out by the irrigation of a sandy waste, within 

 a few years' time, strike a world-wide traveler, the 

 following is clipped from a long and interesting letter 

 by a well-known traveler, published in a late number 

 of the St. Paul Globe: 



" Riverside presents the most striking instance in 

 Southern California of the marvelous transformation 

 effected by scientific irrigation. The irrigation of 

 land, which to a majority of the American people 

 seems like a new idea, and one that is only adopted 

 as a last resort, is in reality as old as history itself. 

 It has been practiced in Egypt, in Syria and other 

 arid sections of the old world from time immemorial, 

 but never has been brought to such scientific perfec- 

 tion as here in Southern California. Twenty years 

 ago the country around Riverside was a barren and 

 desolate plain without house or tree, and was consid- 

 ered almost as worthless as the desert of Arizona. It 

 ^\vas assessed at 75 cents an acre, and the owner act- 

 ually appeared before the county board of equaliza- 

 tion and protested, claiming that the assessed valua- 

 tion was more than the actual value of the land. But 

 by the ingenuity of man the waters of the Santa Ana 

 river have been turned upon this arid plain, and the 

 desert has been made to bloom and blossom as the 

 rose. Vacant land that was considered dear at 75 

 cents would now be called cheap at $500 an acre." 



MORE INFORMATION ON "IRRIGATION IN THE CANADIAN 

 NORTHWEST.' ' 



That the Federal government is keenly alive to 

 the importance of data being obtained without delay 

 is apparent from the fact that steps towards the or- 

 ganization of irrigation survey parties were immedi- 

 ately taken, and these are already in the field under 

 the able supervision of Mr. J. S. Dennis, Chief In- 

 spector of Surveys, to whom the inspection of irriga- 

 tion works is also to be intrusted. This gentleman 



was sent to all irrigation centers in the United States, 

 last winter, by the Dominion government for the 

 purpose of studying the question, with a view to its 

 application in the Canadian Northwest, and also to 

 collect material and valuable information for the 

 final revision of the "Irrigation Act 7 ' prior to its in- 

 troduction into Parliament for discussion. 



The proposed irrigation survey of Southern Alberta 

 and Western Assiniboia extends from the fourth 

 meridian on the east to range 5 west of the fifth and 

 from the international boundary on the south to 

 township 29 on the north. Permanent bench marks 

 will be established at all points where such are liable 

 to prove useful as a basis for future irrigation opera- 

 tions throughout the district mentioned, and all riv- 

 ers and streams cross-sectioned at various points. 

 The rate of flow will also be measured by means of 

 current-meters, and the volume of discharge calcu- 

 lated. In addition to this, the general topography of 

 the country traversed will be carefully sketched in, 

 and these topographical notes will extend as far as 

 possible on each side of the line run, and the proba- 

 ble volume of all sources of water supply deter- 

 mined. 



AN OPPORTUNITY. 



Mr. C. E. Moorman, of Solomonville, Arizona, 

 writes that he considers the present an opportune 

 time for someone to engage in building an adequate 

 irrigation system with reservoirs in that valley. 



At present water is very scarce for irrigation, partly 

 occasioned by too many ditches and a consequent 

 loss of water in division and seepage .in the bed of 

 the river between dams. One undertaking this en- 

 terprise would probably find it best to arrange with 

 each of the present ditches for their water and so 

 consolidate the whole supply at the Narrows where 

 there is rock bottom and sides where the river leaves 

 the mountains, and then carry the water from a suffi- 

 cient dam at this place some distance and all around 

 the foot hills as far as was desired, possibly forty or 

 fifty miles, making storage on the way, and at proper 

 intermediate places construct lateral ditches supply- 

 ing the present ones with water according to their 

 priority in quantity and time of appropriation, and, if 

 possible, acquire all such water rights and then rent 

 the use of water as in other localities. The capital 

 necessarily involved would be perhaps about $150,000 

 to construct a proper and permanent system. 



This valley is about 45 miles long and will average 

 from three to five miles wide, and has now not one-half 

 of the land irrigated, but the Gila could, with a 

 proper system with storage, water the whole of the 

 irrigable land throughout the whole season. 



A railroad is now building into the valley which 

 will be the means of opening the way for settlers. 



