THE IRKIGATION AGE. 



403 



REPORT OF SEVENTEENTH IRRIGATION CONGRESS 



Unprecedented Attendance, Instructive Addresses, Earnest Discussions, 

 Strong Impetus Given to Irrigation Cause. 



In completeness of preparation, in numerical strength 

 of attendance and in the entertainment of visiting dele- 

 gates during the five days of its existence, the seventeenth 

 session of the National Irrigation congress passes into his- 

 tory as the most successful of gatherings since the incep- 

 tion of the organization. 



Not less than 2,000 accredited delegates participated 

 in the several sessions. Attracted by the preliminary press 

 notices, large numbers of tourists, traveling to the Alaska- 

 Yukon-Pacific exposition, remained a day or two to at- 

 tend the congress and to learn of the details of irrigation 

 work. It is declared by prominent irrigators who attended 

 that there was more interest exhibited in the cause of ir- 

 rigation than ever before and that lasting results must 

 obtain. 



Through the untiring efforts of the Board of Control, 

 various features of entertainment had been planned, and 

 in their execution excited the interest and amusement of 

 visitors. In the parades, both visitors and citizens of Spo- 

 kane joined to present a picturesque pageant and to incite 

 enthusiasm in the cause of irrigation. 



Almost every state in the union was represented by 

 delegations and because of the widespread interest thus 

 created much comment has come from local newspapers. 

 An aggressive press bureau distributed speeches and min- 

 utes of the convention with such dispatch and regularity 

 that newspapers in all parts of the country published ex- 

 cerpts and accounts of each day's meeting. 



Of interest to those who were seeking information as 

 to irrigation methods were the displays and demonstrations 

 of the various plans to which water may be spread upon 

 arid lands. For the practical irrigator the addresses, dis- 

 cussions and illustrated lectures proved of value.* 



Musical organizations presented frequent numbers and 

 programs for each session were arranged with a view to 

 preventing loss of interest and decreased attendance. So 

 carefully had the board handled its work that the ranks of 

 delegates on the floor showed little variance throughout 

 the convention. 



While there was some criticism of the course of the 

 work of the congress, each delegate gave unstinted praise 

 to the city of Spokane and to these civic and commercial 

 bodies, that by their cooperation and energy, had induced 

 the large attendance and so admirably prepared for accom- 

 modation and entertainment of visitors. 



MONDAY MOKNING. 



As the gavel in the hands of R. Insinger, secre- 

 tary of the Board of . Control, of Spokane, rapped for 

 attention at 10 o'clock on the morning of August 9, 

 . the scene was most inspiring. Every seat in the great 

 assembly hall was filled. There was a generous attend- 

 ance of ladies, and about the banners of the various 

 state representations were many of the wives and daugh- 

 ters of delegates, who had embraced the opportunity to 

 view the great "Inland Empire" for the first time. 



Gathered in the rear of the speakers' stand were 



NOTE. Owing to limited space in this issue, many papers not 

 printed in full will be presented to readers in future numbers of the 

 AGE. 



the members of the Spokane Choral Society, whose sing- 

 ing of the irrigation ode soon after the opening of the 

 first session, was the signal for intense enthusiasm. So 

 favorable was the impression produced by the music 

 that the society was accorded a rising vote of thanks. 



Before surrendering the gavel to President Barstow, 

 Mr. Insinger reviewed in brief the work of the Board 

 of Control, declaring that its aim had been to avoid local 

 issues and interests with the object of making the con- 

 gress of national importance and benefit. In view of the 

 work of his board he argued for the installation of a 

 business system which should make the irrigation con- 

 gress permanently effective and result in even greater 

 success in the future. 



In taking his place in the chair, President Barstow 

 voiced a sentiment of praise for Spokane and the com- 

 plete success with with its efforts at entertainment had 

 been crowned. He then presented Governor Hay, of 

 Washington, who spoke in part as follows: 



The first National Irrigation Congress, composed of 11 

 delegates representing but four states and territories, met at 

 Salt Lake City in 1892. Today, this, the 17th annual con- 

 vention of that organization, composed of thousands of dele- 

 gates, represents every section of the United States. This 

 movement, inaugurated by a seemingly insignificant local 

 gathering, soon passed beyond mere sectional interest and 

 assumed the proportions of a great national awakening. 

 The idea that gave birth to the congress soon caught the 

 popular imagination because of its inherent merit and ob- 

 vious importance. The country readily grasped the true 

 significance of the purpose which animated the organizers 

 of this congress and its bearing on the future welfare of 

 the nation. The intelligent and effective agitation struck 

 a sympathetic chord, which reacted directly on the national 

 legislature, resulting in the passage of the government re- 

 clamation act of 1902. This act, known as the Newland s 

 bill, committed the federal government to a comprehensive 

 plan of reclaiming by irrigation those vast tracts of arable 

 land otherwise waste and useless. 



Reclamation by irrigation enlisted the attention of man 

 long before he was confronted by the need of conservation. 

 In fact, we have records of irrigation in certain portions of 

 the globe dating back to the very dawn of history, and in 

 some countries there are evidences of its use in pre-historic 

 times. This aid to agriculture was used by the Chinese 

 forty centuries ago, and has been practiced consistently in 

 that country to the present time. In Egypt, when the pyra- 

 mids were building and the sphinx an uncarved stone, the 

 waters of the Nile were diverted to enrich the soil by rude 

 and primitive methods that are still in use. Irrigation in 

 India can claim equal antiquity to irrigation in Egypt and 

 China. In India this aid to agriculture has been extensively 

 used than in any other country. 



At the present time, the total irrigated area in the land 

 of the Rajahs is approximately 69,000,000 acres, 43,000,000 

 acres of which are under control of the state, and 26,000,000 

 acres controlled privately. Here the constructive statesman- 

 ship of England has performed as magnificent a service as 

 it has in Egypt. British engineers have planned and con- 

 structed vast projects that are enduring monuments to the 

 genius of their country. Great canals, 600 and 600 miles long, 

 carry water from the Indus and the Ganges which is dis- 

 tributed through thousands of miles of laterals to the thirsty 

 acres. In that land of mysticism, where noary custom and 

 ancient precedent crush out initiative and smother progress, 

 where no idea can gain currency unless stamped with the ap- 

 proving seal of age, the husbandman still uses implements and 

 methods of a primordial age. He plows with a stick, treads 

 out the grain with a bullock and winnows with the wind. 



Irrigation In America is not of modern origin. Spanish 

 explorers in the early part of the 16th century found the 

 Pueblo Indians using the water of the Rio Grande to mature 

 their crops, and there are still extant evidences of irrigation 

 canals in Arizona that were constructed long before Colum- 

 bus crossed the Atlantic. Seventy years before the English 

 established their first permanent colony on this coast, Spanish 

 missionaries irrigated their garden patches along the Rio 

 Grande. 



The Anglo-Saxon pioneers in irrigation in this country 

 were the Mormons who constructed a project in Utah in 

 1847. A little later, the Horace Greely colony in Colorado 

 followed the example of the Mortnons. From this small be- 

 ginning, irrigation has been extended in that state until 

 at the present time 1.853.000 acres are being watered; while 

 it is estimated that there are approximately 2,300,000 acres 



