AMERICAN IRRIGATION. 



ITS ORIGIN. AN OLD INDIAN GIVES THE FIRST 



LESSEN IN IRRIGATION TO THE EARLY 



WESTERN IMMIGRANTS. 



JOEL, SHOMAKER. 



American irrigation passed its first half -century milestone at the 

 close of the year 1897, with the conquest of an area extending over 

 twenty States, and including five million acres reclaimed from the native 

 condition of desert aridity. The dawn of the present year accompanies 

 the sunshine of prosperity to one hundred and twenty-five thousand 

 peaceful farmers residing on the many oases made possible by the science 

 of modern irrigation, controlled by the mind of man. These marvelous 

 changes have been effected at an average cost of less than ten dollars 

 per acre for constructing canals and distributory mains to convey the 

 artificial rain moisture from the mountains of perpetual glaciers to the 

 fields of intensive vegetation. The progress in science, education and 

 public improvements has kept pace with irrigation and the Great West 

 has become the wonder of the closing century. 



In 1847 a band of Mormons, under the leadership of Brigham Young r 

 entered the Great American Desert in quest of a suitable location for a 

 modern land of Zion, or a country flowing with milk and honey. The 

 parched and deserted sandy plains exhibited no signs of vegetation and 

 death and desolation claimed complete sovereignty over mountain and 

 plain within a radius of one thousand miles. An old Indian, remember- 

 ing the legends of his forefathers regarding irrigation, taught these 

 wanderers the system of diverting the flow of mountain streams 10 the 

 desert, and opened the gateway to the colonization of a wonderfully pro- 

 ductive country. The water was turned upon the desert and the seed 

 germs of dormant ages broke forth, causing almost instantaneous vege- 

 tation, affording food for man and animals. This discovery gave a key 

 to the unlocking of a tributary country where one hundred million acres- 

 could be redeemed from the arid bondage of centuries. 



Capital was invested in irrigation canals, of gigantic proportions, 

 and the conquest of arid America followed the golden star of the Pacific 

 coast to the cultivated fields, orchards and vineyards of the trans Miss- 

 issippi half continent. The expenditures in California for impounding 

 mountain waters and conveying the moisture to vegetation, has reached 

 at least twenty-five million dollars, and the era of reclaimation has but 

 fairly begun its conquering march over trackless deserts to comfortable 

 homes of thousands of future owners. This State has thirty-eight irri- 

 gation districts, including over one million acres under cultivation, the 



