148 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



resources of the State, without objectionably increas- 

 ing its area. 



WHAT CONGRESS CAN DO. 



There are a few important changes that it is still in 

 the power of the Federal Government to make. The 

 section of Arizona north of the Grand Canon could be 

 transferred by Congress to Utah; and the headwater 

 region of the Gila river, from New Mexico to Ari- 

 zona. The northwestern corner of Arizona, drained 

 by the Little Colorado and San Juan could be joined 

 to the northwestern third of New Mexico, drained by 

 the Little Colorado, San Juan and Rio Grande (as far 

 south as the 34th parallel), and the whole organized 

 into a new Territory, with an area of 66,500 square 

 miles and a population in 1890 of about 85,000. Then 

 if that corner of Utah drained by the San Juan, and 

 that corner of Colorado drained by the San Juan and 

 Rio Grande, can be added to it, be it so ; but if not 

 the new Territory would have area, resources and 



Eopulation for the making of a great and powerful 

 tate. The remainder of New Mexico would have 

 74,000 square miles, with a population in 1890 of 

 72,000. The northern portion ought to join the rest 

 of the upper Arkansas basin in the state of South 

 Colorado; and the remainder, tributary to the Pecos 

 and Rio Grande, should join the western end of 

 Texas, tributary to the same rivers, in what I have 

 called the State of Rio Grande. But if these last 

 changes cannot be made, the Territory still has all 

 the requirements for a successful commonwealth. 



Congress also has power to incorporate Indian 

 Territory with Oklahoma, which it ought to do, in- 

 stead of organizing it into a new Territory as proposed 

 by Senator Berry. Then if a little strip of Southern 

 Kansas can be added to it, good ; but if not, the Ter- 

 ritory will still be well equipped for an early admis- 

 sion as a State. 



It may be worth while to consider that the Carey 

 law could probably be made to apply to new States 

 in the arid region as well as to those already in ex- 

 istence. In that case several additional millions of 

 acres of the public domain would be made available 

 for reclamation and settlement under the repartition- 

 ment. 



THE INTERNATIONAL PROBLEMS. 



The international irrigation problems along the 

 frontiers may one day find their settlement in Con- 

 tinental union. Until then they are not very serious. 

 The basin of the Columbia river extends 250 miles north 

 into British territory, but neither side of the interna- 

 tional line in this region belongs strictly to the arid 

 zone. East of the Rocky mountains, however, the 

 boundary ought to be re-drawn a little farther north, 

 so as to give to Montana and West Dakota the head 

 waters of those streams that flow from the Canadian 

 side and form a part of the Missouri system. In ex- 

 change for this, the United States might be willing to 

 part, for the present with that corner of West Dakota 

 through which the Moose river flows in, and back 

 again, from the British domain. 



On the Mexican frontier our government ought to 

 purchase the territory on both sides of the Colorado 

 river between the present boundary and the Gulf of 

 California and to thus give to Arizona the undisputed 

 right to the whole of the lower course of the river, to- 

 gether with the long desired opportunity for a sea- 



port. Along the Rio Grande river the international 

 irrigation problems could perhaps be solved most 

 satisfactorily, to Americans, by the acquisition of that 

 section of Mexican territory tributary to the Rio 

 Grande system. In that case it would probably be 

 desirable to acquire also the corresponding area di- 

 rectly to the west along the Gulf of California. This 

 would give the United States at least two large and 

 wealthy irrigation States south of the present Mexi- 

 can boundary. But the possibility of such a solution 

 may be too remote for serious consideration. There 

 is, however, a 200-mile strip of Mexican territory 

 along that portion of the river between El Paso and 

 Presidio, where the water-shed lies but a short dis- 

 tance south of the stream, which might be purchased 

 and added to the area of the State on the American 

 side. This would probably obviate any international 

 dispute as to the division of waters caught or stored 

 in American territory. 



BOUNDARIES OUGHT TO BE CHANGED. 



State boundaries are not sacred monuments to be 

 held under all conditions forever inviolate. We live 

 as a Nation under no injunction to " Remove not the 

 ancient landmark which thy fathers have set.'' The 

 Federal Constitution makes express provision for 

 such changes in declaring that " New States may be 

 admitted by the Congress into this Union ; but no new 

 State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdic- 

 tion of any other State; nor any State be formed by 

 the junction of two or more States or parts of States, 

 'without the consent of the legislatures of the States 

 concerned as well as of the Congress.'' Very early 

 in the history of the country Virginia gave a 

 portion of her domain for the formation of Kentucky : 

 North Carolina gave of her territory to make Tennes- 

 see, and Virginia and Connecticut ceded to the 

 Federal Government their rights north of the Ohio 

 river for the organization of the Northwest Territory. 

 Since then changes in State and Territorial lines have 

 not been infrequent. Surely Kansas, Nebraska, the 

 Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado and the other States of 

 the West ought not to hesitate if the good of the 

 Nation demands that they follow such illustrious and 

 patriotic examples. 



It cannot be claimed that this western country has 

 reache^ a stage of advancement where such a re- 

 drawing of boundaries must not be permitted. In 

 1890 the whole of the arid region had a population 

 only equal to that of the Thirteen Colonies at the 

 close of the Revolutionary War, about 3,000,000 souls; 

 and all the territory west of the 97th meridian, in- 

 cluding the larger parts of Texas, Kansas and Ne- 

 braska, had only about 5,000,000, which was the pop- 

 ulation of the United States by the Census of 1800. 



The West of to-day is to the West of the future 

 what the Thirteen Colonies were to the America of 

 this last decade of the Nineteenth Century. Its civil- 

 ization is but begun and irrigation is its paramount 

 interest, its- corner stone. We are building for a 

 thousand years perhaps ten thousand. Measured in 

 the light of the possibilities of the future, these basic 

 errors of boundary take on colossal proportions. 

 They cannot be continued without our becoming 

 particeps criminis in their evil results. The peace and 

 prosperity of the West and the best good of the Amer- 

 ican Republic demand that they be remedied, and 

 without delay. 



