400 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



It is but natural that irrigators should 

 Irrigation favor a class of investment creative of 

 Bonds. their very foundation, nor is it strange 



that thoughtful investors readily acknowl- 

 edge the merits and superiority of a class of security so 

 rigid in its basic principles and yet so elastic in detail. 



Take as an illustration the great Standley Lake and 

 Dam, nine miles northwest of Denver. The lake or 

 reservoir will empound over one hundred thousand acre 

 feet of irrigation water for use in the season 1910, with 

 as much more as a final capacity. Then consider the 

 great dike thrown across the valley, over a mile in 

 length, with an elevation of one hundred and forty-two 

 feet. This monster earthwork is over six hundred feet 

 thick at the base and under all this mass has been 

 placed drainage or seepage wells in great number to 

 control possible undercurrents, and through the center 

 length has been driven, in solid clay, sheet steel piling, 

 tongue and grooved, to bed rock. Then a base core, near 

 three hundred feet wide, of puddled clay, is carried 

 tapering to the top, with a concrete face and parapet 

 presented to the waters as they come tumbling from the 

 mountain gorges and canals to be stored for irrigating 

 the lands below and beyond, which lands thus reclaimed 

 from the desert wastes, together with all irrigation im- 

 provements, compose the basic value of irrigation bonds. 



We might multiply illustrations, citing Wyoming, 

 Idaho and other great irrigation districts, but it suf- 

 fices, in this enlightened period, to recall but a few 

 well-known features and effects relied upon by investors : 



Irrigation Bonds are divided into three general 

 classes, Municipal District Bonds, Corporation Bonds 

 on lands in private ownership and Corporation Bonds 

 issued against lands under the provisions of the Federal 

 Law known as the "Carey Act." 



The security lying back of irrigation bonds is con- 

 sidered superior to farm mortgages, which do not ex- 

 ceed forty per cent of the value of farm land and are 

 rightly considered a first-class security. When such 

 farm mortgages are placed with a trustee, and bonds 

 issued against them to not more than two-thirds of their 

 value, this security is considerably increased. And 

 when such bonds are further secured by mortgage on 

 vast properties of an Irrigation Company, it will be seen 

 that the protection is fully as ample as the most careful 

 investor desires. 



Arid land, when water is applied, becomes the most 

 productive farm land in America. Colorado, which con- 



tains one of the largest irrigated areas of any state, will 

 serve as an illustration of the productive power of irri- 

 gated lands. It should be remembered that all of the 

 plow land in Colorado, save that used for "dry farm- 

 ing," is irrigated land. And the farm products of Col- 

 orado last year were valued at over one hundred and 

 forty-three million dollars. 



Rocky Ford canteloupes, grown on irrigated land in 

 Colorado, are famous the world over. They sell for 

 $2.50 per crate, while other melons on the same market, 

 grown from the same seed, sell for thirty cents a crate. 



Peaches from the Grand Junction district bring 

 from four to six times as much as middle west peaches. 



Fruit lands in the Denver-Greeley district often 

 yield more than one thousand dollars per acre. 



Colorado potatoes maintain the highest standard 

 everywhere, and sugar beets stand first in the produc- 

 tion of sugar. 



In California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyo- 

 ming and Montana, irrigated land is among the most 

 valuable and productive farm land in America. 



Perpetual sunshine and water supply under perfect 

 control, yield crops of the highest grade from the lands 

 upon which irrigation bonds are based. Every farmer 

 is his own weather man and is able to give to each crop 

 just the water it needs at the time when it is needed. 



It is safe to say that good irrigated land is worth 

 from three to five times as much as the best rainfall 

 land, measured by production. 



We have again and again watched irrigation proj- 

 ects begun and carried to completion. We have seen 

 barren land blossom into fertility. We have seen it 

 multiply in value, over and over, until some of it has 

 grown to be the most valuable farm land in America. 



Irrigation bonds now pay a higher interest rate 

 than one can secure on any large class of securities 

 equally safe. One reason is that the bonds are a com- 

 paratively new form of investment. They have only 

 come into wide popularity in recent years. 



Irrigation bonds are usually issued in denomina- 

 tions of one hundred dollars, five hundred dollars and 

 one thousand dollars. This opens the field to the small 

 investor, as well as banks and capitalists. 



We know of no class of bonds which at present offer 

 equal security combined with equally attractive income. 



Unlike the vast majority of bonds, irrigation securi- 

 ties are paid, and not simply refunded at maturity by 

 substituting new ones. Each series is retired as fast as 

 it falls due by the payment of actual cash. 



