1 90 1 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 





The reclamation of the unsettled arid 

 public lands presents a different problem. 

 Here it is not enough to regulate the flow 

 of streams. The object of the Govern- 

 ment is to dispose of the land to settlers 

 who will build homes upon it. To ac- 

 complish this object water must be brought 

 within their reach. 



The pioneer settlers on the arid public 

 domain chose their homes alone streams 

 from which they could themselves divert 

 the water to reclaim their holdings. Such 

 opportunities are practically gone. There 

 remain, however, vast areas of public land 

 which can be made available for home- 

 stead settlement, but only by reservoirs and 

 main-line canals impracticable for private 

 enterprise. These irrigation works should 

 be built by the National Government. 

 The lands reclaimed by them should be 

 reserved by the Government for actual 

 settlers, and the cost of construction should 

 so far as possible be repaid by the land re- 

 claimed. The distribution of the water, 

 the division of the streams among irriga- 

 tors, should be left to the settlers them- 

 selves in conformity with State laws and 

 without interference with those laws or 

 with vested rights. The policy of the Na- 

 tional Government should be to aid irriga- 

 tion in the several States and Territories 

 in such manner as will enable the people 

 in the local communities to help them- 

 selves, and as will stimulate needed re- 

 forms in the State laws and regulations 

 governing irrigation. 



Will Benefit Entire Country. 



The reclamation and settlement of the 

 arid lands will enrich every portion of our 

 country, just as the settlement of the Ohio 

 and Mississippi valleys brought prosperity 

 to the Atlantic states. The increased de- 

 mand for manufactured articles will stimu- 

 late industrial production, while wider 

 home markets and the trade of Asia will 

 consume the larger food supplies and ef- 

 fectually prevent western competition with 

 eastern agriculture. Indeed, the products 

 of irrigation will be consumed chiefly in 

 upbuilding local centers of mining and 

 other industries, which would otherwise 

 not come into existence at all. Our people 

 as a whole will profit, for successful home 

 making; is but another name for the up- 

 building of the nation. 



The necessary foundation has already 



been laid for the inauguration ol I 

 just described. It would be unw 

 begin by doii much, tor a 



deal will doubtless be learned I 

 what can and what cannot at- 



tempted, by the early efforts, which 

 of necessity be partly experimental in 

 character. At the very beginnii 

 Government should make clear, beyond 

 shadow of doubt, its intention to pursue 

 this policy on lines of the broadest public 

 interest. No reservoir or canal should 

 ever be built to satisfy selfish personal 01 

 local interests; but only in accorda 

 with the advice of trained experts, after 

 long investigation has shown the locality 

 where all the conditions combine to make- 

 file work most needed and fraught with 

 the greatest usefulness to the community 

 as a whole. There should be no extrava- 

 gance, and the believers in the need of ir- 

 rigation will most benefit their cause- by 

 seeing to it that it is free from the least 

 taint of excessive or reckless expenditure 

 of the public nione\ s. 



Whatever the nation does for the ex- 

 tension of irrigation should harmonize 

 with, and tend to improve, the condition 

 of those now living on irrigated land. \\ e 

 are not at the starting point of this de- 

 velopment. Over two hundred millions 

 of private capital have already been ex- 

 pended in the construction of irrigation 

 works, and many million acres ol arid 

 land reclaimed. A high degree of enter- 

 prise and ability has been shown in the 

 work itself; but as much cannot be said in 

 reference to the laws relating the 

 The security and value of the hi 

 created depend largely on the stability 

 titles to water; but the majority of t 

 rest on the uncertain foundation ol court 

 decisions rendered in ordinary suits at law. 

 With a few creditable exceptions, the arid 

 States have failed to provide for the certain 

 and just division of streams in tin* 

 scarcity. Lax and uncertain laws have 

 made it possible to establish rights 

 water in excess of actual 1 

 ties, and many streams have already pa; 

 into private ownership, ora control equiva- 

 lent to ownership. 



Proper Disi ribu i ion of Wati 



Whoever controls a stream practically 

 controls the land it renders i 

 the doctrine of private ownership ol v. 







