166 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



with either, were t'other dear charmer away." But 

 certainly the Grand Valley in Colorado would be 

 dangerously near the top. The thing for the settler 

 to determine, is to find the place where the chance of 

 prosperity in the long run, taking it over a series of . 

 years, is best. In Western Colorado the equilibrium 

 between production and consumption is likely to be 

 better maintained than is possible almost anywhere 

 else in the world. The amount of good land that 

 can be watered is comparatively small, while the sur- 

 rounding home markets are already very large and 

 constantly increasing, as they must continue to do for 

 many years. The soil is wonderfully rich, and the 

 water supply abundant and unfailing. Many a trav- 

 eler has looked at the big desert around Grand Junc- 

 tion and scoffed. In his ignorance he regarded it as 

 waste land. It is destined to be one of the fairest 

 gardens on earth, and the process of transtormation 

 is well begun. This is pre-eminently a fruit country. 

 It is all but semi-tropical in climate. It produces the 

 delicate fruits, and the writer was surprised to ob- 

 serve a man from California planting quite an acre- 

 age to English walnuts. 



But one cannot look upon such a valley 

 Developing , . . , ,. A . , , 



Under Hard as this without a keen realization or the 



Conditions. f o ]i v an( j injustice of our governmental 

 policy. Here is a tract of 100,000 acres which, until 

 quite recently, was government land. Two great riv- 

 eis, the Grand and the Gunnison, furnish water for 

 it. The moment a canal is undertaken speculators 

 rush in and take up the land, which they are neither 

 able or disposed to improve. Their purpose is to 

 take advantage of the private enterprise which is to 

 reclaim the land and profit by selling out to actual 

 settlers. The settlers do not come. Thus the irriga- 

 tion enterprise is a failure. The first extensive canal 

 built here involved a very large loss for the investors. 

 There was nothing the matter with the country or 

 climate, and there was a large demand for land, but 

 private enterprise could not control the situation, and 

 the speculator held the land at preposterous figures. 

 On both sides of this magnificent valley men with 

 very little means are struggling to develop new en- 

 terprises, and the owners of large bodies of land are 

 waiting anxiously for the outcome. Thus the devel- 

 opment of the valley halts and falters, when under 

 proper conditions it would rapidly go forward and 

 homes would be made for perhaps 100,000 people. 



If the Grand Valley had been located in 

 What . / 



Might Have France, Spain, Italy, Egypt, India or 



Been. Australia it is altogether likely the case 

 would have been entirely different. The land would 

 not have been open to settlement at all until re- 

 claimed. The government would have expended 

 $1,000,000 or $2,000,000 and reached out two strong 

 arms, in the shape of large canals, one on either side 



of the vallev. It would then have opened the land 

 to settlement in small tracts, probably not exceeding 

 twenty acres, at the actual cost of reclamation, which 

 would be from $5 to $10 per acre. The gov- 

 ernment would have been quickly repaid by direct 

 return from water rights and the people of the valley 

 left to administer the systems, as they do their other 

 public affairs. If this were the situation to-day in 

 the Grand Valley the railroads would be taxed with 

 passenger traffic, and in a few years this would be 

 one of the most populous and prosperous localities 

 on the continent. As it is, the valley must work out 

 its results by a slow and painful process, the settler 

 paying unreasonable profits to the remorseless spec- 

 ulator, and the water supply being in the hands of 

 private parties, who expect to levy tribute forever 

 upon the industry of the producer. This is the way 

 the American people render themselves ridiculous by 

 comparison with the enlightened peoples of countries 

 on which they look down with fine scorn. But in 

 spite of these mistakes and drawbacks the Grand 

 Valley is making progress. It has enjoyed a consid- 

 erable increase in population this year. The fame of 

 peach day at Grand Junction still travels, and the 

 latest acquisition of this enterprising community is 

 natural gas. The whole locality presents a fine field 

 for development. If the settler has the money to 

 pay the prices asked for the land, there is every rea- 

 son to believe he can prosper. 



Irrigation and settlement is making 

 The New 

 Utah Consti- quite rapid strides in Utah. But the 



tntion. subject was neglected to a deplorable 

 extent in the new constitution. The friends of irri- 

 gation anticipated no difficulty in having the new 

 State claim jurisdiction over all the waters flowing 

 within its boundaries. To their surprise, the cry was 

 raised that this would amount to the confiscation of 

 all water rights, and the convention hastily proceeded 

 to defeat the proposition. Hence Utah's neighbors 

 need look for no trouble from her on interstate ques- 

 tions. They are at perfect liberty to absorb all the 

 water they want and apply it to a beneficial use. 

 Utah has no constitutional grounds on which to stand 

 in defense of her own appropriators. Now, if Utah 

 were only Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico would 

 find very little obstruction to their claim to the nat- 

 ural flow of the Arkansas and Rio Grande. But a 

 matter of more immediate and pressing misfortune 

 was the failure of the constitution-makers to provide 

 Utah with a State administrative system. No State 

 is more sorely in need of a State Engineer, who shall 

 enforce the proper use of water and supervise the 

 operation and construction of irrigation works. It 

 seems strange that Nebraska should have an engin- 

 eer, while Utah has none to attend to her complex 

 and important irrigation interests. But it is some 



