FEDERAL IRRIGATION TALK. 



AN INTERESTING STATEMENT ON THE SUBJECT 



OF INTERIOR. 

 BY SECRETARY HITCHCOCK. 



One-third of the whole area of the United States, exclusive of 

 Alaska and the outlying possessions, consists of vacant public lands 

 open for entry and settlement under the homestead act. This one- 

 third includes some of the richest agricultural lands of the world, 

 capable of producing enormous crops under the influence of an almost 

 cloudless sky. There is one obstacle, however, which prevents its 

 utilization, and this is the scarcity of water at certain times and seasons. 



There is a considerable amount of water throughout this vast ex- 

 tent of public lands, but it is so situated or distributed that artificial 

 means must be provided for conserving the floods and distributing the 

 needed supply to the thirsty lands. When this is .done there will be 

 opportunities for thousands or even for millions of homes within the 

 portion of the United States now almost uninhabitable. The creation 

 of these homes would add enormously to the material wealth of the 

 nation and the utilization of this vast area as farming land will in no 

 way reduce the value of the lands now cultivated. The crops produced 

 within the arid regions are entirely distinct in their nature from those 

 of the humid east, and seek other markets. More than this, the pos- 

 sible population of the country west of the Mississippi will vastly 

 enhance the volume of trade and manufacture throughout the rest of 

 the country, and will make more valuable the productive areas adja- 

 cent to the great manufacturing centers of the east. 



* * * 



In my annual report I have given a general estimate of the extent 

 of the public lands and of the irrigable area. In round numbers it may 

 be said that nearly six hundred million acres of land remain .west of 

 the Mississippi river. There is water sufficient for the reclaimation of 

 at least 74,000,000 acres. A still larger area can probably be brought 

 under cultivation through the complete conservation of floods and 

 pumping of waters from underground. This, however, can be accom- 

 plished only through a wise system of laws providing for an adminis- 

 tration of the lands in accordance with their available water supply. 

 By wise action the many millions of acres can be made capable of sup- 

 porting a great population, but by neglect but a small portion of this 

 land can be utilized. . 



That this vast acreage, capable of sustaining and comfortably sup- 

 porting under a proper system of irrigation, a population of at least 

 50,000,000 people, should remain practically a desert is not in harmony 



