THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VOL xv . 



CHICAGO, MAY, 1901. 



NO. 8 



The President The transition from barron 

 and Irrigation, alkali wastes to scenes of rich 

 vegetation and luxurient growth, the re- 

 sult of irrigation, must have impressed 

 the president and his party with not only 

 the great productivity of irrigated land, 

 but with the significance of the word 

 "irrigation" to the western country. 



In viewing the fertile valleys of the 

 southwest, rich from the fruits of the or- 

 chards and the crops from the fields, and 

 dotted with prosperous homes and thriv- 

 ing towns, where a few years ago barren 

 plains starved the cactus and the sage 

 brush, did Mr. McKinley realize that the 

 reclamation of the arid West carries with 

 it the creation of a great and populous 

 empire within our own territory? The 

 wonderful irrigated belts of the West are 

 but an earnest of the transformation of 

 this region, which would follow the in- 

 auguration of a policy of national recla- 

 mation by which the flood-waters now 

 wasted would be saved for the use of the 

 farmer. 



It is hoped that the President, on his 

 trip, has arrived at an appreciation of the 

 question which of all others is most vital 

 to the people of the arid region, namely, 

 water. 



Sugar from Henry Oxnard. who may be 

 Water. s& ^ to ^ t ^ e or igi na l beet 



sugar man in the United States, says Na- 

 tional Irrigation for May, states that sugar 

 beets reach their highest degree of perfec- 

 tion, commercially, under irrigation. In 

 sugar content, purity, and yield per acre 

 the greatest excellence is produced by giv- 

 ing the crop the moisture needed at just 



the right time. The sugar beet industry 

 in this country is a young giant, and the 

 irrigated beet area is rapidly increasing. 

 Destitute A recent Arizona dispatch 

 Indians. states that the Gila river on 



the Sacaton reservation is again dry, and 

 this being the source of irrigation no grain 

 will be harvested by the Pima Indians 

 Great destitution, the dispatch states, will 

 ensue, and government aid will be required 

 to relieve the situation. 



This was the proposition which Congress 

 was asked to take up last session but re- 

 fused For centuries as far back as we 

 have any record these Indians had grown 

 their irrigaten crops, one of the few Indian 

 tribes which had never cost the United 

 States Government a moment of anxiety. 

 Some years ago the! white settlers began 

 to divert the waters of the Gila river 

 above the lands of the Pima Indians; they 

 were even encouraged to do so by the Gov- 

 ernment. There has not been enough 

 water for both, and as the Indians are not 

 citizens but only wards of the government 

 their rights have been totally neglected 

 and for several years past, as more and 

 morf water has been taken out above 

 their crops have been practically absolute 

 failures. 



Congress was asked at its recent session 

 to make some permanent provision 

 whereby the Pirn as could be restored their 

 birthright given back the water stolen 

 from them through the construction of a 

 storage reservoir along lines approved by 

 government experts, but no action could 

 be secured. So the Indians are going on 

 retrograding, being forced to become beg- 



