90 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



will have the biggest corn on earth, this 

 fall, too. In fact there isn't anything de- 

 sirable in sight that she has not taken in. 

 McCook, Neb. , Tribune. 



Postmaster Hesing of Chicago says the 

 present fight is " the proletariat against 

 the plutocrat." Some time ago it was 

 simply a craze that had died. Ogden, 

 Utah, Standard. 



They call that man a statesman whose 

 ear is tuned to catch the slightest pulsa- 

 tions of a pocketbook, and denounce as a 

 demagogue anyone who dares to listen to 

 the heartbeat of humanity. William 

 Jennings Bryan. 



WHAT CONGRESS DID. 



IN summing up the work in behalf of 

 irrigation, accomplished at the last 

 session of Congress, Senator Francis E. 

 Warren of Wyoming writes that the fin- 

 ished work consists of : 



Two appropriations amounting to $54- 

 500 for the gauging or measurement of 

 the water flow of streams. 



An appropriation of $175,000 for topo- 

 graphical surveys. 



An amendment to the so-called Carey 

 law permitting the states to pledge their 

 state selection of United States lands, un- 

 der the 1,000,000 acre allowance, as secu- 

 rity for the money or labor necessary to 

 take out irrigating canals for the reclama- 

 tion and preparation of the lands for 

 settlement. 



A provision (in the river and harbor act) 

 that the United States Engineers shall 

 examine and report upon at least one 

 reservoir site each in Wyoming and Col- 

 orado. 



Of the first mentioned, $4,500 was ap- 

 propriated in the annual Agricultural 

 appropriation act for gauging streams, 

 and $50,000 in the sundry civil act. The 

 gauging of streams is comparatively a new 

 work. Some $15,000 was expended for 

 the purpose during the last fiscal year. 

 While not entirely devoted to irrigation, yet 

 quite a portion of the gauging work to be 

 prosecuted under these appropriations 

 will be in localities where irrigation is 

 intended. 



The appropriation for topographical 

 work is in the sundry civil act, and is 

 $25.000 more than for the last year, and 

 the act contains a provision that at least 



two iron posts shall be erected in each 

 township of six miles square of the public 

 survey, erected as near township or section 

 corner stones as possible, and bearing 

 upon each a label showing the altitude 

 above sea level. 



The amendment to the Carey law is con- 

 tained in the sundry civil appropriation 

 act. It simplifies and makes applicable 

 and practical the original law, which pro- 

 vides for appropriating a million acres to 

 each state, to be selected by the state, and 

 reclaimed through irrigation, for bona fide 

 settlers, in tracts not to exceed 160 acres 

 to each owner. Most of the arid states 

 found difficulty under the law as first 

 enacted in securing parties who were will- 

 ing to advance the capital to construct the 

 necessary canals without security (except 

 the prospect of selling water rights to set- 

 tlers). Hence, until titles were perfected, 

 investors would constantly fear the absorp- 

 tion of the lands by settlers procuring 

 them direct from the government under 

 homestead and other acts, leaving ditch 

 builders in the lurch. The indefinite lan- 

 guage of the original act has made its in- 

 terpretation by the Interior Department 

 somewhat difficult, and has placed obsta- 

 cles in the way of states securing the ben- 

 efits which were originally supposed to be 

 conferred. 



A GLANCE OVER THE FIELD. 



CALIFORNIA. 



A vein of hard coal is reported as found 

 nine miles north of San Jacinto. 



The flow from the Eady tunnel near On- 

 tario has been increased from 30 to 35 

 inches. 



Orange county will have a good crop of 

 walnuts this year, a product for which it 

 is becoming famous. 



The new cannery at Fresno paid only 

 $12 a ton for apricots and the farmers 

 kicked vigorously thereat. 



River gauges, such as have proved 

 great money-savers in the Sacramento, 

 are to be placed in the San Joaquin river. 



The Hermosa Water Company has in- 

 creased its flow of water six inehes, and 

 5,000 feet of pipe has been put in to 

 carry it to the irrigators. 



White men are to be employed in the 

 places of Chinamen in the celery beds of 

 the Santa Ana valley. This is a settle- 

 ment of a long pending conflict. 



