336 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



that the question is the one most vital 

 thing to the entire West, the one question 

 which if acknowledged by congress will 

 change millions of acres of waste and bar- 

 ren places into smiling fertility and wealth, 

 then it will not take western senators and 

 congressmen long to see that this is a 

 question upon which they must unite to a 

 man, and with a united western delega- 

 tion the battle is won. This is the power 

 which the western press possesses." 



Irrigation's ^^ e Ri se an d Future of Ir- 



Future. rigation in the United 



States, is the title of an interesting article 

 from the pen of Prof. Elwood Mead, in 

 the Agricultural Yearbook, just issued. 



The earliest pathway of civilization on 

 the American continent, says Prof. Mead, 

 led along the banks of the streams. In 

 various parts of the Southwest, notably in 

 the Salt River Valley of Arizona, in 

 northern New Mexico, and along the 

 southern borders of Colorado and Utah 

 are well-defined remains of irrigation 

 works which have outlived by many cen- 

 turies the civilization to which they be- 

 longed. In at least one instance the bank 

 of an ancient canal has been utilized as a 

 part of modern works. 



Riding up the valley of the Rio Grande, 

 in the first half of the sixteenth century, 

 Spanish explorers found in the midst of 

 arid surroundings beds of beautiful roses, 

 "not unlike those in the garden of Cast- 

 ile," as they noted in their diaries. They 

 also found Pueblo Indians irrigating the 

 thirsty soil, as their forefathers had done 

 for centurias before them and as their 

 descendants are still doing to-day. In 

 this valley and along the tributary streams, 

 and at other places in the desert wastes of 

 the Southwest, Spanish settlements sprung 

 up and maintained themselves by means 

 of these life-giving waters. The ditches 

 at Los Cruces, N. M., have an unbroken 

 record of three hundred years of service, 

 the history of which was written in the 

 banks of the canals and in the fields irri- 

 gated. This is due to the sediment with 

 which the waters of the Rio Grande are 



laden. Year after year this has slowly 

 added layer on layer to the sides and bot- 

 toms of these ditches, until from being 

 channels cut below the surface of the soil 

 they are now raised two or three feet 

 above. It is here that one yet can find 

 agriculture almost as primitive as that of 

 the days of Pharaoh, where grain is reaped 

 with the sickle and thrashed by the tramp- 

 ling of goats, 



American en -Tsin, Newchwang and 



witi^Chlna. Chefoo, which are mentioned 

 as the points of greatest ac- 

 tivity and danger, aside from Pekin the 

 capital, in the present trouble in China, 

 are especially important in relation to- 

 American trade in that country. They 

 are in the northern part of the country 

 and it is in them that American goods 

 seem to be in the greatest favor. The 

 growth of our trade in that section is de- 

 scribed somewhat in detail by a recent 

 publication of the treasury bureau of sta- 

 tistics, which describes Tien Tsin as the 

 most important city of northern China. 

 The commissioner of customs, Mr. Alfred 

 Hippisley, writing in 1898 of the 1897 

 trade, calls attention to the importance of 

 American trade at that port, and adds that 

 it is the only trade which increased in 

 1898 over that of 1897, saying that Amer- 

 ican drills, American sheetings and Amer- 

 ican kerosene had especially increased in 

 imports during the year, while the cotton 

 goods from other countries were showing 

 a decrease. 



Consul Reade, of the United States, 

 says that Tien Tsin ranks in commerce 

 next to Shanghai and Canton, and in a re- 

 port to the state department says: "Tien 

 Tsin, by its geographical position, is the 

 point of accumulation and distribution of 

 all merchandise destined for the United 

 States or intended for consumption in the 

 northern provinces of China. Direct 

 shipments from the United States to Tien 

 Tsin are impracticable, it being in all 

 cases more advantageous to sbip to Shang- 

 hai or Hongkong and then transship to- 



