458 IRRIGATION PRACTICE 



spoke and wrote of the great opportunities of the West 

 under irrigation. 



However, the year 1870 was almost reached before 

 the American people began to give serious attention to the 

 irrigable West, so strange and forbidding did irrigation 

 seem to the rainfall farmers. With the opening of the 

 ; 70's came a slight change of heart. Many colonies were 

 established, and with every year the emigration increased. 

 In 1878, Major J. W. Powell's report on the arid lands was 

 published by the government. The public interest became 

 aroused. The westward movement was already covering 

 the. Great Plains, and overflowing steadily into the region 

 where irrigation was at that time generally held to be 

 indispensable. All classes of people discussed the Great 

 West as a great hope of the Republic. 



From 1870 to 1880, the population of the mountain 

 states doubled; from 1880 to 1890, it almost doubled 

 again. The future of irrigation was safe. Then, the cau- 

 tious men of money thought their opportunity had come. 

 Great sums were spent in building splendid canals above 

 fertile lands, with the thought that the farmers who settled 

 below the canal would pay a royal annual tribute for the 

 water delivered to the land. But the process of settling 

 a new country is slow; irrigation succeeds best under a 

 close social and economic organization in which canal- 

 owner and water-user must be equal members, and the 

 West is large; so, in face of the slow adjusting of difficulties 

 and the slower settlement of the projects, capital often 

 became discouraged and surrendered its property at a loss 

 rather than to await the sure harvest that the years would 

 bring. Occasionally, also, as in all enterprises, the careless 

 or dishonest or ignorant speculator appeared and for a 

 time misled both capital and farmer. 



