RECLAIMING THE EARTH 



protected by the mighty Spirit of the Water, 

 the conqueror of the Great American Desert. 



On June 17, 1905, the third anniversary of 

 the passing of the reclamation act, the waters 

 of the Truckee and Carson rivers in western 

 Nevada were turned into the huge canal which 

 had been constructed in that state, the initial 

 performance under the reclamation act; na- 

 tional irrigation in America had begun. This 

 unit, as it is called, of the entire system of all 

 these various states will irrigate over three 

 hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, — 

 desert land through uncounted centuries. Nine 

 millions of dollars will be spent before this 

 unit is finished. There will be ninety miles 

 of main canals and twelve hundred miles of 

 lateral canals and ditches. The opening was 

 an event of no mean importance. So the work 

 of reclamation goes forward by the national 

 government, the development of each unit in 

 each state, each project for the utilizing of so 

 many more thousands of acres of land, being 

 hailed by the residents of each commonwealth 

 as a new inspiration for progress. 



Irrigation is no new thing under the sun. 

 Thousands of years before the dawn of the 



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