THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



311 



wells or deep trenches. The existence of the subsurface 

 waters of the river valleys of western Kansas has long 

 been known, and has often been brought to public at- 

 tention by popular articles and by official reports. Like 

 every other natural resource, its importance, at one time 

 little recognized, has been seized upon by the so-called 

 "boomers" and exaggerated to the extent of creating 

 distrust and depreciation. It is, however, one of the 

 most important of the natural advantages of the State, 

 and one upon which the foundations of prosperity must 

 be carefully laid. 



"By a thorough employment of the underground 

 waters, with the best methods, much of the vacant land 

 of the State will be utilized for agriculture, and the 

 remainder can become a source of revenue, indirectly, 

 at least. Taking the Arkansas valley, as best illus- 

 trating these conditions, the general statement may be 

 made that water can be had everywhere within the valley 

 at moderate depths, and in quantities such as to be in- 

 exhaustible to ordinary pumping machinery if properly 

 installed. The volume and the rate of delivery are, of 

 course, dependent largely upon the coarseness of the 

 sands or gravels and upon the thickness and extent .of 

 the beds. Careful surveys have not as yet been made 

 to determine the extent and character of these beds, but 

 sufficient work has been done to obtain a broad compre- 

 hension of the subject" 



With the accuracy and vision of the prophets of old, 

 the commissioner of the general land office in the year 

 1868 his name was Joseph S. Wilson foretold the 

 glory and development of the upper Arkansas valley and 

 of Garden City. To look now at the concluding para- 

 graph of that portion of his report entitled, "Observa- 

 tions Accompanying Annual Report of 1868 of the 

 Commissioner of the General Land Office on Forest 

 Culture," and then to realize that this officer pointed out 

 forty years ago the things that were scoffed at by most 

 people within the past ten years, but which are now ac- 

 complished facts, leave nothing but admiration for his 

 clear vision. 



This officer of the government of forty years past 

 and gone said in so many words that what western 

 Kansas needed, and what it might have, in time, 

 through the government, was a national forest, a deter- 

 mination of what was indisputable though not assured 

 the underground waters of the Arkansas river and 

 their utilization in agriculture. All of these things 

 have since developed, and all within the past few 

 years. 



Here is what the commissioner says in concluding 

 his report on forest culture: 



"The production of a thriving forest at some point 

 west of the one hundredth meridian, as it would estab- 

 lish the fact of its practicability, would, without doubt, 

 contribute greatly to the value of our part of the do- 

 main. 



Whether an enterprise of the kind, under the 

 auspices of the government, would be likely to realize 

 the expectations of its projectors, would depend very 

 much upon the character of the persons who might be 

 charged with the duties and responsibilities of the 

 undertaking. 



"It is scarcely to be doubted that the artesian well 

 system might be rendered a great success on the plains. 

 All the conditions appear favorable. The rainfall in 

 the vicinity of the . mountains is as great as in many 



portions of central Europe; and the melting snows on 

 the highest crests feed the stream flowing from the sides 

 of the mountains until late in the summer. 



"The quantity of water thus flowing toward the 

 plains is very great, but much the greatest quantity 

 sinks in the sand within 50 or 100 miles of the foot of 

 the mountains, and as the strata dip eastward, the water 

 follows the same course, descending until it reaches an 

 impermeable bed ; and it seems very reasonable to sup- 

 pose that there are reservoirs at various points beneath 

 the surface of the plains that could be utilized by such 

 wells. 



"Even the water that falls on the plains themselves, 

 not by any means inconsiderable, soon sinks into the 

 parched and sandy soil, in much larger quantities than 

 those carried off by drainage or evaporation. 



"If this matter were thoroughly tested and the 

 fact established, the confidence it would inspire as to the 

 reclaimability of the least inviting portion of the plains 

 would be very great, and would result in the rapid set- 

 tlement and improvement of that part of our national 

 territory." 



For years the government and the wise men who 

 lived on the Great Plains talked of these things, fol- 

 lowing the predictions contained in this musty old re- 

 port I happened to run across. Nothing came of it, 

 though the belief that the underground waters would 

 eventually be utilized persisted in a later generation of 

 government scientists and officials, and, locally, at Gar- 

 den City, in the minds of such believers in the country 

 as "Buffalo" Jones, I. L. Diesem, C. A. Schneider, and 

 those who helped agitate the opinions and theories they 

 had. The great development present todav in the upper 

 Arkansas valley and principally around Garden City is 

 due to the fact that the things pointed out and pre- 

 dicted by that commissioner of the general land office 

 forty years ago have been put in effect and force by the 

 government and by private individuals. The proof that 

 the underground waters existed and could be used; the 

 establishment of successful experiments; the eventual 

 Garden City reclamation project now in use ; and, last 

 of all, the Garden City national forest, carrying out the 

 letter and the spirit of the suggestion and prophecy of 

 Commissioner Wilson in 1868 these have given the 

 upper Arkansas valley the impetus that is now carrying 

 it forward to big things. 



The great movement in Kansas now for forestation 

 had -its inception in the Arkansas valley west of the one 

 hundredth meridian. Whatever there is the agitation 

 for tree growing in Kansas is due to the constant and 

 persistent agitation west of the one hundredth meridian. 

 The want of trees, for use, for climatic effect, and for 

 adornment, has been pathetic. All the power and 

 strength of the west end is set in this direction, and the 

 law will have to come. It had its start its real start 

 given it when the national government established the 

 Garden City national forest in the sand hills south of 

 the Arkansas river, beginning at Garden City on the 

 east and extending to the Colorado state line. The fact 

 that thousands and thousands of western yellow pine 

 and other sturdy young trees have been set out on this 

 national forest in the past vear more than 5,000 of 

 them in ten days in December, 1908 and that these 

 trees grow and thrive ; that they are produced from seed 

 in a government nursery at Garden City ; that the sandy 

 (Continued on page 313.) 



