THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



405 



last the world for ages, so deep is this 

 deposit. Regarding the decadence of the 

 lake a writer recently said: 



"When the Great Salt Lake is gone it 

 will be missed as a wonder and as a salt 

 factory: for little else. Its waters destroy 

 vegetation instead of nourishing it. 

 .Should the fresh waters of Utah Lake, 

 however, be evaporated or disappear into 

 the earth thousands of square miles would 

 cease to be habitable. Some years ago 

 the Utah Lake region was made a govern- 

 ment reservation, an act which has kept 

 irrigation companies from drawing water 

 either directly from it or from its feeders. 

 In itself it has become a mighty reservoir, 

 the Jordan performing the functions of a 

 canal in carrying its Eden-making flow 

 through the valley. From the proximity 

 of snow-capped mountains it would seem 

 that mountain streams would furnish all 

 the water necessary for irrigation. The 

 snow, however, does not ,melt until the 

 season of crop-planting is past, and when 

 the freshets come down they frequently do 

 more damage than good. The average 

 of snowfall, too, is jess upon the Wahsatch 

 Mountains than upon either the Colorado 

 or Wyoming ranges." 

 A An Indiana paper has taken a 



very progressive step in offer- 

 ing small money prizes for 

 short articles on practical irrigation. Not 

 irrigation out of books, but the real article 

 tested and used by farmers. The paper 

 wants to learn of their methods and experi- 

 ence and the answers received and publish- 

 ed each week are very good. 



In the year that she has reigned 

 Woman's over Holland Queen Wilhei- 



Good 

 Step. 



mina has done more to rouse 

 the country to new endeavors in every 

 department of art and labor than perhaps 

 any other sovereign has done. She has 

 stimulated the army oy her presence at 

 reviews and has increased the pay so as 

 to make it more of an inducement for 

 young men to enter it. Her mother's 

 words, spoken at the young queen's 

 ascention to the throne have been more 

 than verified. ''I have no hesitation, I? 

 .said she "in giving my daughter her 

 Jringdom,for I know her to be a wise, good 

 woman. She will rule the kingdom 



Fails to 

 Overflow. 



her fathers well and will make Holland 

 great in all things in -vhich a small 

 country can become great. With the 

 wisdom of mature years this young girl 

 queen has had the welfare of Holland at 

 heart and is a model queen and women. 



For centuries the river Nile 

 has brought down Irom the 

 highlands of Abyssian and 

 central Africa its freight of fertile soil on 

 which the people of Egypt depend for 

 existence. It has irrigated, cleaned and 

 fertilzed the land. The annual rise of the 

 Nile is watched for with the keenest 

 anxiety by the Egytion powers. Occas- 

 ionally the flood is so low that it leaves a 

 vast territory uninundated, which is the 

 great calamity this year. It means 

 poverty to many struggling fellow-men 

 and bankruptcy to others. It will no 

 doubt be a stimulant to the proposed dam 

 that is to be built and may quicken its 

 completion. 



Eastern mill owners and 

 Eastern manufacturers have set a 

 Experiment. gQQ^ example for western 

 farmers to follow, in their construction of 

 the great Indian Lake reservoir. This 

 reservoir, which was recently inspected 

 by the proper state authorities and ac- 

 cepted as a part of the state's canal system 

 was built by the mill owners of the upper 

 Hudson, with the consent and aid of the 

 state, to increase the summer flow of the 

 Hudson. After the construction of the 

 reservoir the state became responsible for 

 the maintenance of it and for its control. 

 The reservoir has a capacity of 5,000,000- 

 000 cubic feet and the supply of water for 

 the Champlain canal and the Hudson 

 river beginning at Troy, will be decidedly 

 increased, while the mill owners of that 

 section have provided for an unfailing 

 water supply. By this means the cost of 

 manufacture is reduced and the plants are 

 kept busy through the summer. New York 

 has already taken active measures to pre- 

 serve her forests and they will add mater- 

 ially in this water storage, preventing the 

 rains to run away in disastrous floods. 

 Reservoirs are needed throughout the 

 West and if they could be built by some 

 such method as this it would be a blessing 

 for the arid West. 



