THE 1RR I GA TION A GE. 302 ' 



applied, and mechanical skill of the first order was brought to bear. 

 Artesian wells were sunk where the existence of water beneath the 

 surface had never before been suspected, and flowing wells, which, 

 surprise the eye and seem miraculous, water hundreds of the richest 

 acres of the world. Tunnels have been bored into the mountains. 

 Ditches were lined with cement to prevent the seepage which had 

 wasted half the water in all old systems. Miles of piping have been 

 laid. Mountain springs have been found and their waters carried 

 long distances at vast expense. The results are now known to all the 

 world as something marvelous in an age of marvels. The work has 

 not yet come to an end, and the time may come when hardly an ara- 

 ble acre in all that wonderful region will be unwatered and idle. 



" This is but an instance, though perhaps the foremost one, of. 

 the practical results of modern irrigation. Yet systems even still 

 more colossal have been made, used, and have passed away, upon 

 American soil. The most extensive of these remains are found in 

 Arizona, a region then and now almost the heart of aridness, and yet 

 one that was once occupied by choice by the unknown people of an 

 unknown time, who lived and toiled in those valleys, which have long 

 since reverted to the primeval desert. 



" . . . The question of irrigation in the United States has in 

 recent years become a topic of absorbing interest. The public lands 

 which are arable and lie in the humid and sub-humid regions are prac- 

 tically all now occupied, and the process of spreading out and occupy- 

 ing has had its first check. Yet the soil of the arid region is very 

 rich. There is every inducement to settlement if there were only a 

 certainty of even a half supply of water. So recently has the emer- 

 gency confronted us that no action has as yet been taken by the gen- 

 eral government beyond the appointment of a commission to investi- 

 gate general facts and establish boundaries, whose final report has 

 never been acted upon. The various states and territories have 

 locally interested themselves. The instances of successful irrigation 

 in southern California have been mentioned, and exist elsewhere in 

 localities far apart over a wide area. But they may be said truly. 

 hardly to affect the general situation, which is one of great magnitude 

 and vast importance. These beginnings have led to investigations 

 and imitation, and the following are some of the facts that now appear :. 



" According to the census of 1890 Colorado had under irrigation 

 4,068,409 acres, or about 6,337 square miles; Arizona had 65,821 acres;. 

 New Mexico, 91,745 acres; Wyoming, 229,676 acres; Montana, 350,582 

 acres. California exceeds the largest of these figures, and there is a. 

 still smaller acreage in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. It will be 

 seen how small a proportion of the area of these regions is at this 

 date under the dominion of the plow. " 



In conclusion the editor says: "These interesting data furnish a 

 rough hint of the future of the area under consideration, and dimly, 

 prophesy of the inevitable course of empire in that direction. 



"But we cannot dwell upon this subject. It is well worth the ser- 

 ious study of people everywhere, and especially of New England,, 

 many of whose citizens, strange as it may seem, are much more, 

 familiar with England and the continent of Europe, than with the sec- 

 tion of their own country here considered." 



