WATER STORAGE. 



BY F. H. NEWELL, Hydrographer, U. S. Gsological Survey. 



Presented before Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress, Wichita, Kan. 



The most important problem that can coma to any borly of public 

 men, commercial or otherwise, in the West, is that of tha increased 

 utilization and development of the vacant lands both in public and 

 private ownership. Before this question most of the other matters 

 sink into comparative insignificance, for without an increase in popu- 

 lation and productive capacity the West cannot continue to furnish a 

 market for the manufacture or a field of operation for the varied in- 

 dustries of the country. The utilization of the vast extent of vacant 

 land is not something which should be left to the farmer; it is pre- 

 eminently a matter for the business man, whether concerned in manu- 

 facturing, transportation, or in handling the products of others. In 

 fact the farmer, as such, has least concern with the development of 

 the resources of the vast West. As long as he has a market for his 

 produce, it makes little difference to him whether the vacant lands of 

 an adjacent county or state are populated. To the merchant, however, 

 the matter is entirely different. Continued stagnation or retarded de- 

 velopment must inevitably operate to reduce his chances of financial 

 success. 



The development of the agricultural resources of the western half 

 of the United States has prac ically come to a standstill, or at least is 

 going on only at the average rate of the whole United States. There 

 are. of course, local exceptions, but in comparison with the conditions 

 exi -ting ten years it appears as though development had stagnated. 

 The reason of this is not difficult to give. The greater part of the 

 lands are arid or semi-arid and although among the richest in the 

 world will not produce crops except by the application of water. Ir- 

 rigation has been introduced and carried forward in favored localities 

 all over the West and where the ditches have been built by the land- 

 owners the profits or increased land values have been enormous. The 

 opportunities for continuing developments in this line have nearly 

 ceased because of the fact that these choice spots have been taken. 

 There still remain great areas to which water can be brought from 

 rivers of notable size; but before this can be done, large sums of money 

 must be invested in the construction of expensive works. The exper- 

 ience of the last ten years has shown that these large irrigation works 

 do not pay, and probably cannot, as a rule, be made to pay a fair 

 interest on the investment. 



