THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



19 



Pulse The Irrigation Industry 



WHAT THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IS 

 DOING FOR IRRIGATION. 



BY ELWOOD MEAD, CHIEF OF IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS, 

 OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



(.An address delivered at the National Irrigation Congress, Colorado Springs , 

 October 9, 1902,] 



The passage of the National Irrigation Act was 

 one of the most significant events of the last session 

 of Congress, and is destined to have a far reaching in- 

 fluence in increasing population in the arid States and 

 in shaping the laws and customs under which their 

 people will live and work. It shares with the Panama 

 Canal in public interest. The bureau which has its 

 administration in charge has before it great responsi- 

 bilities and great opportunities, and it is the duty of 

 all friends of irrigation to contribute in every way 

 possible to the success of its labors. This requires that 

 there shall be moderation, patience, and co-operation 

 with those intrusted with the work. The making of 

 surveys and preparation of plans is a labor which re- 

 quires time and ought not to be hurried. Harmony 

 and public spirit are essential and every one who has 

 the best interests of the West at heart must seek to 

 promote these. Speaking for the Department of Agri- 

 culture, I can say that this is the spirit and purpose 

 with which its irrigation work is being prosecuted and 

 will be carried on in the future. 



Irrigation,' however, is more than a matter of 

 ditches and acres. The construction of irrigation works 

 and overcoming material obstacles are only one feature 

 of western agriculture. After the channels are dug 

 and the dams built, new and different issues have to 

 be dealt with. The problems of the engineer are suc- 

 ceeded by those of the farmer. Irrigation is not unlike 

 railroading. The location of the railway line, the fix- 

 ing of grades, and the laying of the track are only the 

 beginning of a railroad. Much of its after success de- 

 pends upon the ability and judgment shown in these 

 preliminary steps; but when the line is completed, the 

 work of the engineer ceases and that of the passenger 

 and traffic manager begins. The questions of rates, the 

 questions of the relation of the road to the public wel- 

 fare are then : natters of vital interest, and their solu- 

 tion requires a different training and a different kind 

 of ability from that which built the road. 



So in irrigation. The value of the works con- 

 structed under the National Irrigation Act will, in the 

 end, be measured by the success of the farmers who 

 live under them, and the success of the farmers de- 

 pends in large measure upon the skill and economy with 

 which water is used, and upon rights to water being 

 established and protected. Just and effective water laws 

 and proper officials to administer these laws are as much 

 a part of an irrigation system as ditches and dams. 

 The building of National irrigation works is destined 

 to make this more apparent than it has been in the 

 past, because when there is an abundance of water in 

 the stream there is no need of public control : but when 

 we seek to use not only the natural flow but to store 

 the floods and to water farms stretching for hundreds 

 of miles along rivers, and even across State boundaries, 

 the distribution of the water supply, so that each one 



will be assured of his proper share, is a problem in 

 administration as complex and important as that which 

 confronts the managers of the great trunk railway lines. 

 The value of the irrigated farm and the pleasure and 

 profit of the farmer depend in large measure on men 

 being able to till their fields without having to watch 

 the stream to see that some one does not steal their 

 water supply. Stable water rights and proper protec- 

 tion are as essential to the success of irrigation as are 

 stable railroad rates to the prosperity of the business 

 world. 



The Department of Agriculture is the branch of 

 the Government created to promote the growth of rural 

 populations and to foster conditions- which will make 

 farm life pleasant and prosperous. This Department is 

 therefore vitally concerned with irrigation, because it 

 is the foundation of agriculture in nearly one-half 

 of the country, and is the means by which a balance 

 in population between the East and West can be brought 

 about and the demands of our growing trade with 

 the Orient fully supplied. There are several bureaus 

 of the Department which deal with questions relating 

 to irrigation, and especially to the prosperity of the 

 arid region, in which valuable work is being done. But 

 I wish to speak particularly of the irrigation investi- 

 gations carried on by the Office of Experiment Stations, 

 which deal with the agricultural and economic questions 

 which must be solved in order to lay an enduring foun- 

 dation for the future agricultural life of the arid West. 

 This office supervises the expenditures of the fund pro- 

 vided for agricultural research in the different States, 

 under which $15,000 go annually to each agricultural 

 experiment station in the arid region. It is also charged 

 with the promotion of agricultural education through- 

 out the Union. Its irrigation work brings a closer as- 

 sociation between what is being done by the State and 

 what is being done by the Nation, and is an agency for 

 securing harmony and co-operation in working out the 

 perplexing questions which confront the State and Na- 

 tion in the control and use of water supply. 



Dr. A. C. True, the director of this office, has for 

 many years been an active and earnest friend of irri- 

 gation development. He realizes that it is the founda- 

 tion of western agriculture, and has used his influence 

 with State boards of agriculture and trustees of agri- 

 cultural colleges to give it the largest possible recog- 

 nition in their work. Irrigation investigations carried 

 on under this office help to broaden the work of the 

 State stations and furnish information for Congress 

 and the whole country regarding both the problems 

 and possibilities of the arid West. It occupies, there- 

 fore, a distinct field. It is working to promote the 

 success of National works by helping farmers to use 

 water with more skill and success. It is aiding the 

 States in studying the causes which have made water 

 right litigation so costly and harassing and by the 

 publication of reports is helping to bring about a bet- 

 ter understanding of the issues involved and a more 

 speedy and lasting settlement of these questions. In 

 this work have been enlisted the irrigation experts of 

 every one of the agricultural colleges of the West and 

 the co-operation of all of the State 'engineers' offices. 

 The. experience and results of widely separated localities 

 are being brought together, and irrigators of one sec- 

 tion are being shown what has been learned elsewhere. 



The most valuable work of the office, however, is 

 its studies of irrigation laws and institutions. The char- 

 acter of rights to water established by law will do more 

 than a-11 other influences combined to determine whether 



