THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



37 



COL. CHAS. L. STEVENSON, 

 Of Salt Lake City, Utah. 



Txr ,c Wyoming has also been foremost in 

 Wyoming . , 



and Mon- this winter s movements. Irrigation 

 tana Active. is the mQSt aDSOr bj n g j ssue before the 



present session of the legislature, and a good law is 

 certain to be passed. Wyoming already has a system 

 of administration that is the envy of all other States, 

 and it is a comparatively simple matter to provide 

 for the rest of the programme. This will doubtless 

 be one of the States to receive the earliest benefits of 

 the Carey law. Montana is moving aggressively 

 along the same line. Chairman S. B. Robbins of the 

 State Irrigation Commission continues his tireless ef- 

 fort to push his State to the front. He writes from 

 the capital that a bill has been drafted providing for 

 a State engineer, board of control, and six water di- 

 visions, all of which are features of the model Wyo- 

 ming law. The bill also provides for the formation 

 of districts somewhat like those in California and for 

 a form of public irrigation works. He says that su- 

 pervision of water companies is also favored. Gov- 

 ernor Rickards makes the following allusion to the 

 subject in his message to the legislature: 



The most practical way of dealing with the irrigation question 

 at the present time seems to be the utilization of the provisions 

 of the Carey law. Under this law, the State of Montana may se. 

 lect for reclamation one million acres of government land which 

 the Interior Department will withdraw from settlement under the 

 desert and homestead laws. To provide for the selection of this 



land and the encouragement of construction companies to build 

 canals, that cheap homes may be prepared for thousands of the 

 unemployed workmen of the east, are, in my judgment, the wisest 

 steps you can take in solving one feature of this vexed problem. 

 To irrigate these lands and sell them at a nominal price, guar- 

 anteeing the control of the canals to the people who acquire the 

 lands, after the water rights shall have been paid for, will insure 

 to Montana a substantial increase of population, and lay the 

 foundations for incieased revenues to the State. The successful 

 carrying out of this plan might induce Congress to extend fur- 

 ther aid in the same direction, and thus convert all desirable 

 portions of the arid belt into a productive domain. 



Kansas and ln nearl y a11 other states there are grati- 

 Nebraska fying indications of interest. Governor 

 ion - John E. Jones writes from Nevada that 

 irrigation legislation is under consideration and that 

 the State hopes to take large advantage of the Carey 

 law. Chairman Blalock informs us that he has con- 

 sulted Governor McGraw and other leading officials, 

 that members of the State Commission will appear 

 before the Legislature, and that there is much reason 

 to hope for good results. Idaho is very heavily 

 burdened with silver and senatorships, but there are 

 indications of awakening interest and a fair prospect 

 of action by the Legislature. Our Colorado advices 

 have not reached us in detail, but we receive assur- 

 ance of growing interest there also. Senator David 

 Boyd, of Greeley, has been made chairman of the 

 committee on irrigation, a post for which he is pre- 

 eminently fitted. This of itself is a very fair guarantee 

 of wise legislation. Kansas and Nebraska are alive 

 and doing their level best to get out from under the 

 ban of the drought. If a joint meeting of the legisla- 

 tures of these two States could be held on Broadway, 

 in New York, just below Astor Place, we think the 

 result would be a unanimous verdict for irrigation 

 legislation. At this point in the busiest street of the 

 busiest city in the United States a large store front is 

 covered with glaring red letters. Here is an extract : 

 "HELP THE STARVING FARMERS OF KANSAS AND 

 NEBRASKA. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WITH NOTHING 

 TO EAT AND NOTHING TO WEAR." How is this for 

 an advertisement of proud old Kansas and Nebraska? 

 Must bleeding Kansas bleed forever, and must her 

 friends wade through her gore on Broadway, just as 

 they do on her own prairies? If there is a spark of pat- 

 riotism and good sense in the legislatures of these 

 States it can be fanned into a blaze that will bring 

 speedy results this winter. 



California Thus far the onl y State tnat has not 



Alone shown satisfactory symptoms of interest 



' erent - in legislative development is California. 



This seems very odd, but is partially explained by 



the fact that California is in the throes of a struggle 



with a giant corporation. After many years of tame 



submission marked, however, by a growing spirit of 



protest, the grand old commonwealth has its fingers 



on the wind-pipe of this monstrous monopoly. Its 



