260 



THE IERIGATION AGE. 



The Hanford Irrigation and 

 Power Company Project in 

 the State of Washington 



When the first large irrigation projects in the Pa- 

 cific Northwest were proved to be successful, making 

 possible the reclamation of thousands of acres of arid 

 land then worthless, enthusiasts coined this term : 



"Irrigation is king." 



Developments in the state of Washington during 

 the past ten years have made certain the prophecy of the 



uplift of the agricultural class, and for the production 

 of enormous wealth from that vast region mapped thirty 

 years ago in the school geography as the Great American 

 Desert. 



So complete has been the triumph of irrigation and 

 so thorough has been the scientific demonstration of 

 irrigation as the most modern method of production of 

 fruit, grains, grasses and all agricultural products, that 

 the United States government, through the reclamation 

 service, is today engaged in the expenditure of the 

 enormous sum of $50,000,000 in irrigation enterprises. 

 This money, obtained from the sale of government 

 lands throughout the West, is appropriated for the con- 

 struction of masonry dams, tunnels, canals and laterals 

 in irrigation projects known to be feasible and practical, 



View of Main Canal Hanford Irrigation & Power Company's Canal, Near Priest Rapids on Columbia River. 



pioneers in irrigation. Irrigation is indeed king, in that 

 the artificial watering of large bodies of arid and un- 

 productive land has proved that by this means more 

 wealth can be taken from the soil from a five-acre 

 fruit farm in Washington than from an eighty or one 

 hundred-acre corn or wheat farm in Kansas, Iowa, Min- 

 nesota or Nebraska, and with a tithe of the labor. 



"Irrigation is king," again, from the fact that the 

 government of the United States itself, as well as the 

 people of all the states, have recognized the artificial 

 watering and reclamation of the arid lands in the West 

 as the most gigantic implement in man's hands for the 



existing in a half a dozen or more of the arid and semi- 

 arid states west of the Eocky Mountains. 



The state of Washington is most fortunately situ- 

 ated in respect to the profitable reclamation of arid or 

 semiarid lands ; more fortunately situated, there is 

 every reason to believe, than any other state in the 

 union. This is because of the fact that the irrigated 

 farms of Washington have in addition to unsurpassed 

 railroad and water transportation facilities, the best 

 markets obtainable, namely, a dense urban population 

 in Western Washington consisting of the cities of Seat- 

 tle, Tacoma, Bellingham and Everett with a combined 



