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THE IEEIGATION AGE. 



TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 



Sunnyside, the largest town in the district, has 

 a population of about 700, Zillah has about 250 and 

 there are several small centers with a school house, 

 church and store. The present population of the dis- 

 trict, rural and urban, is about 6,000. 



SUNNYSIDE CANAL EXTENSION. 



It is proposed to extend the Sunnyside canal a 

 distance of about sixty miles to cover lands in the 

 lower Yakima and Columbia River valleys. This would 

 also mean the enlargement of the present canal ulti- 

 mately to several times its present capacity. The area 

 of arable lands lying under the proposed extension will 

 exceed 200,000 acres. Of this area 56,000 acres were 

 selected by the State of Washington more than a year 

 ago under the provisions of the Carey act. Under the 



View of Sunnyside Canal, Washington, Mt. Adams in Distance. 



conditions of said act the securing of title by the State 

 to these lands is contingent upon their reclamation, 

 which is provided for in proposals filed with the proper 

 State authorities by the Washington Irrigation Com- 

 pany. The State's selection lists are now before the 

 honorable Secretary of the Interior for his approval. 

 Should this action be favorable, and there is no reason 

 to anticipate otherwise, the construction of the proposed 

 extension may be said to be assured. It is apparent 

 that the consummation of the project will mean a long 

 step in the advancement of the irrigation interests of 

 the Yakima Valley and of the State at large. 

 Further, it will lead incidentally to the creation of a 

 State reclamation fund as already provided by law, of 

 over $500,000, to be used in the advancement of gen- 

 eral State irrigation projects, besides doubling, as al- 

 ready stated, the present irrigated area of the State. 



The arid region of the United States has already 

 assumed large importance in national affairs. It con- 

 tains all that is left of the one time seemingly unlim- 

 ited public domain. In its development lie the largest 

 opportunities for successful home making and the con- 

 sequent upbuilding of the nation. Upon a map of the 

 United States it comprises one-third of the area and 

 embraces a part of sixteen States and Territories. 

 Point out one, or any part of one, that possesses the 

 advantages of arid Washington in geographical impor- 

 tance of location, in existing and prospective transpor- 

 tation facilities, in the extent and variety of its sur- 

 rounding resources, in climate and fertility of soil. 

 Consider then that the value of water irrigation de- 



pends upon what can be grown with it. On this subject 

 Ehvood Mead, in "Irrigation Institutions," says: "In 

 no part of the West, outside of California, can so many 

 kinds of crops be grown on the same acre of land as 

 in the irrigated valleys of central and southern Wash- 

 ington. Alfalfa meadows and prune orchards, hop 

 fields and vineyards, apples, peaches and Hamburg 

 grapes, all nourish alike in the open air, and the fields 

 and orchards under the canals present a: marvelous con- 

 trast to the light colored, ashy deserts which surround 

 the watered areas. As Washington has no rival except 

 California in the diversity of its products, it also is 

 second only to California in the value of irrigated land." 



It appears, therefore, that natural conditions, pub- 

 lic interests, the individual interests of homrseekers, all 

 favor and demand that the irrigation development of 

 Washington, through Government aid, shall be given 

 precedence over any portion of the arid West. To ac- 

 complish this end certain State legislation is deemed 

 necessary by those in charge of the administration of 

 the reclamation act. Irrigation development through 

 government agencies and by the investment of private 

 capital should go hand in hand. The one should sup- 

 plement, not supplant the other. The great work al- 

 ready done by private capital should be safeguarded 

 and protected. It is only through the recognition of 

 these principles by the law making body that the best 

 interests of the State will be subserved. 



We are showing in this connection, along with sev- 

 eral other illustrations, a cut of an irrigated field in 

 the Sunnyside district, Washington. The original pho- 

 tograph of this was taken by Mr. Elwood Mead, of 

 the office of Experiment Stations, United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, and is a good illustration of 

 the process of furrow irrigation. Professor Mead had 

 the photograph enlarged and colored and it was exhib- 

 ited at the Paris Exposition. Mr. Walter N. Granger, 



Sunnyside Canal, Wash. 



of the Sunnyside district, to whom we are entitled for 

 the use of this illustration, informs us that Professor 

 Mead always considered it the best picture of furrow 

 irrigation that he had ever seen. The picture repre- 

 sents a timothy meadow which was owned by Mr. 

 Granger at the time the photograph was taken. 



Send $2.50 for The Irrigation Age 

 1 year. a.nd the Primer of Irrigation 



