THE IRRIGATION AGE. 5 



eral Government today owns 100, 000, 000 acres of land, which is worth- 

 less only because it is arid. This " unwatered empire" can be re- 

 claimed by irrigation and rendered capable of sustaining a population 

 of at least 50,000,000 people. In the words of the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture in his last annual report: "More than one-third of the country 

 depends upon the success of irrigation to maintain the people, the in- 

 dustries, and the political institutions of that area, and the future 

 growth will also be measured by the increase of the reclaimed area. 

 In a region which, in the extent and diversity of its mineral wealth, 

 has no equal on the globe, the riches of the mines in the hills are 

 already surpassed by the productions of the irrigated farms in the 

 valleys, and the nation at large is at last awakening to the fact that 

 the development of the use of the rivers and arid lands of the West 

 will constitute one of the most important epochs in our increase in 

 population and material wealth." 



These stupendous possibilities also present a colossal problem. 

 How may this gigantic desert be transformed into a land of pros- 

 perity? Who is to redeem the national domain by a comprehensive 

 system of reservoirs? It has been demonstrated by twenty years of 

 experience in irrigation development and by the reports of Govern- 

 ment experts and engineers that the great problem can only be solved 

 by the Federal Government. Capt. Hiram M. Chittenden, Engineer 

 Corps, U. S. A., in his report on " Surveys for Reservoir Sites," de- 

 clares emphatically that reservoir construction in the regions of the 

 West can properly be carried out only through public agencies. "Pri- 

 vate enterprise can never accomplish the work successfully. As be- 

 tween state and nation, it falls more properly under the domain of the 

 latter." 



It is estimated that $143,000,000 would reclaim the arid lands of 

 the West; that an expenditure by the Federal Government of 

 $15,000,000 a year for ten years would open up lands for the settle- 

 ment of a population as big as that of the entire country at present. 

 An appropriation of $100,000 was made at the last session of Congress 

 for preliminary surveys to discover the best locations for the im: 

 mense reservoirs. 



The assistance of every organization and of every individual in 

 forwarding this all- important work should be welcomed and assisted 

 in every possible way by the citizens of California, who will substan- 

 tially derive more benefit from its consummation than the inhabitants 

 of any other section of the country. 



" The National Irrigation Association," continues the Herald, "is 

 doing most valuable work in awakening interest throughout the 

 country, East and West, in the cause. The policy that the association 

 advocates is, in brief, that the Federal Government shall build, 

 wherever necessary, the irrigation works required for the reclama- 

 tion of the arid public lands, reimbursing itself from sales of the land 



