1904 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



215 



which is capable of abundant yields 

 when properly tilled and irrigated. The 

 deficient rainfall taxes the ingenuity 

 and energy of the enterprising citizens 

 of the state, and they have developed 

 and conserved the available water sup- 

 ply more systematically here than any- 

 where else in the Union. 



The summits and slopes of the moun- 

 tain ranges which rim the valleys, con- 

 densing the moisture from the Pacific 

 winds, receive the most abundant rain- 

 fall. The streams draining these slopes 

 carry the water to the tillable lands of 

 the valleys, where it is diverted directly 

 into the main canals of the irrigating 

 systems, often after being used several 

 times in generating electric power, or 

 it sinks into the alluvium which par- 

 tially fills and underlies the valleys gen- 

 erally. The excess storm water from 

 the mountains, which sinks into the 

 gravels of the plains and is there aug- 

 mented by the winter rains of the low 

 lands and the water which returns to 

 the soil from the irrigating ditches, 

 forms an important underground source 

 of supply, which has been extensively 

 utilized of late for irrigation and domes- 

 tic purposes. It is this source of sup- 

 ply, its quantity, quality, the laws gov- 

 erning its distribution and circulation, 

 and the manner and extent to which it 

 is being developed, as well as the future 

 possibilities, that are being considered 

 by means of an interesting and impor- 

 tant series of investigations now being 

 conducted by the western section of 

 that branch of the Geological Survey 

 known as the Division of Hydrology. 



In the course of this investigation, 

 upon which a party of scientists is en- 

 gaged under the direction of Mr. W. C. 

 Mendenhall, hydrologist, it is estimated 

 that 10,000 wells will be visited, meas- 

 ured, and tested. These vary in char- 

 acter from shallow domestic wells to 

 twelve-inch bores, i,ooofeet in depth, 

 which yield 100 miner's inches or more 

 of artesian water. They are distributed 

 from the head of the valley to southern 

 California in the vicinity of Redlands, 

 Riverside, and San Bernardino, famous 

 for their orange groves and charming 

 vistas, to the fertile peat lands of Orange 

 county, close to the shores of the Pa- 



cific and the beautiful Pasadena and Los 

 Angeles itself. Past developments have 

 recorded a number of artesian basins 

 varying in area and importance, and 

 in'any thousands of acres of other water- 

 bearing lands, from which a more or 

 less abundant supply may be secured by 

 pumping, tunneling, or other engineer- 

 ing devices. 



It is difficult for the easterner to 

 comprehend the vital importance to 

 Californians of the water supply and of 

 everything pertaining to it, or to realize 

 the amount of capital, energy, and skill 

 devoted to increasing and preserving it ; 

 but when we consider that by a careful 

 distribution of available water, lands 

 formerly worthless have been given a 

 value of $2,000 or more per acre, and 

 whole communities with property inter- 

 ests, representing many millions of dol- 

 lars, have been built upon sterile plains 

 which, without the water brought to 

 them by engineering skill at enormous 

 expense, would be inhabited only by 

 coyotes and jack rabbits, and would 

 yield nothing but greasewood and 

 prickly pear, we begin to understand 

 how intimately the problem of water 

 supply is bound up with the life of the 

 community ; or when we remember that 

 in the days of the Padre, and after, of 

 the first Mormon settlers, only the small 

 areas of naturally moist land were re- 

 garded as of value, and that these 

 yielded then and yield now only hay 

 and grain, or serve as stock ranges, and 

 compare these areas with the modern, 

 immensely more valuable communities, 

 in which the citrus fruits are raised and 

 the majority of wealthy homes have 

 been established through the develop- 

 ment and distribution by engineering 

 skill of the flowing waters from the 

 mountains or the underground waters 

 in the valleys, we may comprehend the 

 intense interest felt by all southern Cali- 

 fornians in everything that pertains to 

 the water question ; for they, better 

 than anyone else, realize that the life 

 of all the better part of their delightful 

 land depends upon the maintenance of 

 this supply. 



There are communities which sup- 

 port enthusiastically the plans of the 

 Bureau of Forestry for the reforesta- 



