THE 1RRIGA TIO .V A GE. 9 



reservoirs for impounding the immense volumes of surplus water 

 flowicg down the many mountain streams, to waste in the ocean. If 

 the sources of the Missouri river were controlled, and the surplus 

 held in suitable reservoirs, erected in Montana, the Dakotas and 

 Nebraska, and that water properly distributed throughout the 

 irrigable districts, there would be thousands upon thousands of 

 prosperous homes created in what is now the worthless deserts, and 

 the annual appropriation for the improvement of the Mississippi 

 river be unnecessary. This would enhance the value of every farm 

 and increase the business interests of every industrial city in the 

 Mississippi Valley. 



The art of irrigation is an important study, which necessitates 



WHEAT ELEVATOR, TACOilA, WASH. 



the mental development of the agriculturist. It contains no elements 

 of chance; there is no need for speculation on crop failures or suc- 

 cesses; and the farmer who attempts to master its wonderful intri- 

 cacies, will become a learned man, in all that constitutes a broad 

 financiering education. Certainly our government is directly 

 interested in the moral, physical and financial growth of her millions 

 of noble men and women making up the agricultural or wealth-pro- 

 ducing classes. In building reservoirs and constructing canals in the 

 Rocky Mountain states the government would not only enable 

 thousands to erect new homes, but would protect a similar number of 

 equally good and industrious citizens from annual losses by reason of 

 inundation of surplus waters. 



If the forests are preserved and the watersheds are held in tact 



