IO2 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



can be demolished. In his April article in these 

 pages Major Powell says (page 149, volume six, /. A.) 

 that the total area of arid and sub-humid lands is 

 763,800,000 acres. He estimates that of this great 

 arid empire there have passed into private ownership 

 148,900,000 acres. Remembor, he said at Los Angeles, 

 that "there is not water enough, and never can be, to 

 irrigate more than one-third of the land already 

 owned by private individuals." We have seen his 

 estimate of " the land already owned by private 

 individuals "less than 150,000,000 acres. One-third 

 of this is less than 50,000,000 acres. Now, in a parallel 

 column, he estimates tffe available water supply at 

 75,000,000 acres, which is an increase of 50 per cent, 

 upon his Los Angeles statement. True, he qualifies 

 this statement by saying that "it would be imprac- 

 ticable " to apply all of this water. But here opinions 

 may differ, especially upon the vastly important 

 question of the duty of water. We think Major 

 Powell must have disappointed himself when he came 

 to figure the lands in private ownership and the water 

 supply, as these figures certainly fail to connect with, 

 the Los Angeles speech. The duty of water is as 

 much the basis of an estimate of the extent of the 

 water supply as the number of second feet that can 

 be obtained for purposes of irrigation. Major Powell, 

 of course, saw this very clearly, but in his statement 

 of the scientific basis of water duty he made a start- 

 ling blunder on which he seems to have based all his 

 subsequent reasoning. He said that " an acre inch of 

 water weighs 11) short tons." This statement had 

 no sooner reached the readers of THE AGE than 

 scores of letters began to pour in reminding us that 

 an acre-inch of water weighs ten times that amount, 

 or 113 tons. The mistake was purely mathematical, 

 but as the entire train of reasoning appears to have 

 been erected upon it, it was none the less fatal to the 

 scientific exposition. Furthermore, instance after 

 instance of practical experience have been quoted to 

 show that the crops thrive all over the arid region 

 with far less water than science seems to demand. 

 When practical experience lies open before us the 

 deductions of science to the contrary do not count. 

 Science might demonstrate that oranges would not 

 grow in Riverside, but those who have picked the 

 perfect fruit from the Riverside trees would merely 

 laugh in the face of science. 



But we need not go into fine-spun the- 



-Mrt/. MrQW&H 



Answers ones to answer Major Powell of Los 

 Himself. Angeles with Ma j or p owe n O f Washing- 

 ton. The former said, "not one acre more should 

 be granted to individuals for irrigation purposes." 

 In his April article he concedes that Wyoming has 

 water for at least 5,000,000 more acres than has yet 

 been taken by private owners; that Montana has 

 water for at least 2,000,000 acres more; that Idaho 



CHARLES P. ROSS, OF NEBRASKA, 

 Member of National Executive Committee of Irrigation Congress. 



has water for at least 3,000,000 acres more. Every- 

 body knows this to be true, and more than that, 

 everybody knows that in every State west of the 

 Missouri river, possibly excepting Kansas and Ne- 

 braska, there are some avid lands yet remaining 

 susceptible of easy irrigation. This fact is so patent 

 and notorious that when it is placed beside the bald 

 statement in the Los Angeles speech the keenest 

 intellect is unable to comprehend how the original 

 statement could ever have been made. Other dis- 

 crepancies in the speech are also easily susceptible 

 of detection by the layman. In saying that there was 

 not water enough "to irrigate one-third of the lands 

 held in private ownership," it was implied that all land 

 so held is irrigable. Nothing could be wider of the 

 truth. Vast portions of railroad selections and land 

 grants lie in high mountain districts and other places 

 that can never be irrigated. The simple truth is that 

 the arid regions are full of unexplored problems. No 

 one has ever measured the mountain snow fall, esti- 

 mated the artesian possibilities, gauged the winter 

 floods, or carefully calculated the innumerable oppor- 

 tunities for storage. There is much more to be 

 learned about the economical use of water. But in the 



