268 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



rials, will keep these lands in a state of continuous pro- 

 ductiveness. Without water this land is a desert and 

 has no value. That it is of no tangible value in its 

 present condition is proved by the fact that many thou- 

 sand acres which have been taken up at previous times 

 under the desert and homestead land laws have been 

 permitted to revert to the government before title was 

 perfected by the settler even afer expenditures had been 

 made on the land. In the event of the construction of 

 a large dam (at San Carlos) there will be built up in 

 the valley of the Gila river, where a desert now exists. 

 a community of fully 40,000 souls, and the creation of 

 many million dollars of taxable wealth without perma- 

 nent outlay on the part of the Government." 



Do any such possibilities exist under the Tonto 

 reservoir site? No. According to the estimates of the 

 geological engineers that reservoir, at best, can only 

 provide water to irrigate 50,000 acres less than the num- 

 ber of acres now owned and actually occupied by indi- 

 viduals and land speculators. Not a single acre of 

 public domain can be reclaimed by the Tonto dam. 

 Not a single new home can be made by the construction 

 of that costly pile. Of this truth the Geological Survey 

 is well advised, yet, for reasons best known to them- 

 selves, several prominent members of that branch of 

 the government are moving heaven and earth to divert 

 the attention of the public from the San Carlos reser- 

 voir and to enlist the government in the construction 

 of the Tonto. Strange, is it not ? 



There is another thing in Walcott's interview I 

 have to thank him for. He mentions that a high line 

 canal will be constructed along the side of the Tonto 

 reservoir and that this canal will develop three thou- 

 sand horse-power. He neglected to state, however, that 

 this canal involves the construction of twenty thousand 

 feet of costly tunnel. Mr. Lippincott, in his report on 

 the San Carlos, on page 41, suggests a high-line canal 

 along the margin of the San Carlos reservoir and states 

 that this canal would develop "over 8,475 horse-power" 

 and no tunneling would be necessary in the construction 

 of this canal. This power is in addition to the fifteen or 

 twenty thousand horse-power the dam itself would de- 

 velop. Then Mr. Lippincott goes on to say : 



"The section of Arizona in the neighborhood of San 

 Carlos is highly mineralized. Copper mines of great 

 value are found at Globe and Riverside. New and 

 effective processes have been discovered for reducing 

 copper matte electrically. Fuel is high priced. On the 

 above basis it is reasonable to presume that when the 

 time arrives for the building of this canal around the 

 reservoir, sufficient revenue can be obtained from power 

 to pay the interest on the cost of construction. This 

 power could also be used in cleaning out the reservoir 

 with dredges." 



Mr. Lippincott's investigations of the San Carlos 

 reservoir project were completed and his report filed 

 in December, 1889. Since that date there has been 

 great activity in the mineral districts immediately sur- 

 rounding San Carlos, especially to the west of the 

 reservoir site. Within a radius of thirty-five miles 

 around the site lies Globe, Troy, Kelvin, Riverside, Ray, 

 Mammoth, Dudleyville, Saddle Mountain, Phelps, 

 Dodge & Co. camp, Oracle, the camps on the eastern 

 slopes of the Santa Catalina mountains, the Gold Fields 

 and other mining camps. Millions of dollars have been 

 invested in these camps since Mr. Lippincott's report 

 was filed, and a number of great mines have been de- 



veloped. If the San Carlos dam was in a completed 

 state today, there is not, in my judgment, the shadow 

 of a doubt that the government could sell its power 

 privileges for more than the cost of the dam and sell 

 the 200,000 acres of fertile domain reclaimed at $10.00 

 per acre, in 80-acre tracts, in less than three years from 

 the date of the completion of the dam and thus make a 

 clean, clear profit of $2,000,000, or more than 200 per 

 cent on the original investment. Not only that, but, 

 as Mr. Lippincott has stated, would make "new homes 

 for forty thousand souls," and at the same time relieve 

 itself of the responsibility and expense of caring for 

 over eight thousand Indians. On this latter subject 

 we will again quote from Mr. Lippincott's report, as 

 follows : 



"The Government has expended large sums of 

 money for the introduction of irrigation on the Indian 

 reservations where it is desired to educate the Indian 

 into agricultural habits as a means of his civilization. 

 This is a well-established and wise policy, and has al- 

 ready been productive of much good, but is always in 

 the nature of an experiment, and more or less difficulty 

 and uncertainty is attendant upon the attempt to in- 

 duce the Indians to accept this mode of livelihood. In 

 the present case we have a tribe of Indians who have for 

 centuries been engaged in agriculture by irrigation, and 

 who were until recently the only successful irrigators in 

 Arizona. These Indians have been deprived of their 

 water supply through the agency of the white man, 

 directly encouraged by the United States Government. 

 It is an imperative obligation of honor that their sup- 

 ply should be restored to them, and the only practical 

 means of this restoration is by storage on the Gila river. 

 In addition to this there is held out the certainty that 

 unless this is done these Indians will retrograde from a 

 condition of industry and prosperity to one of mendi- 

 cancy and vice. Instead of an uncertain possibility of 

 elevating a savage tribe, we are confronted with the 

 necessity of preventing the destruction of a civilization 

 already attained. 



"The Government being the owner of more land 

 under the canal than can ever be watered by it, can en- 

 tirely control the appropriation of the values which will 

 be created by the construction of a reservoir and can 

 entirely recoup itself for all expenses incurred, and 

 thus discharge its obligations of honor with no expendi- 

 ture except the utilization of its own natural resources. 

 It is not a proposition for the Government to expend 

 money for the benefit of private individuals nor of any 

 particular section, and hence is not comparable with 

 river and harbor improvements, although the general 

 benefits are so comparable, as homes will be furnished 

 at low rates to thousands of industrious people, who 

 will come from all parts of the country, and a for- 

 bidding desert will be transformed into a rich oasis, 

 and a large community will be j;hus practically added to 

 the domain of the United States." 



(To Be Continued.) 



The irrigation expert sent to Oklahoma to survey 

 the territory for irrigation purposes reports to the Gov- 

 ernment at Washington that Oklahoma is so muddy 

 that he is unable to proceed with his work. 



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