138 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



arctic frizid zone and large part of the north temper- 

 ate, exerted an attractive influence upon the oceanic 

 waters, causing the flooding of the lands of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley and long reaches of its tributaries. 

 These incoming waters, coming from a warmer zone, 

 increased the protruding glacial melting, and the con- 

 stant change of trend of the current of the incoming 

 floods increased the spread of silt. The poet says the 

 mills of the gods grind slow, but grind exceeding fine. In 

 this case the mills were mighty, and mighty the grist 

 to be ground. 



Let no one believe for a moment that the foregoing 

 was the only source of our soils. 



The volcano and earthquake deeply plowed the 

 surface and the furrows they turned were craters, con- 

 ons and mountain ranges. Air and water, world-build- 

 ing partners, decomposed in their laboratory the solid 

 surface rock. The air in playful gale took up the pow- 

 dered rock in clouds of dust and spread it far and 

 wide. The water took up the coarser part and bore it 

 to lower levels, where in chemical bath its reduction 

 would be completed. 



While the above glacial army, under the com- 

 mand of the world-building gods, was pushing down 

 mountains, filling up valleys and scooping out basins 

 of lakes and inland seas, its work, though great, 

 ended at Cincinnati, Ohio, or about the fortieth 

 parallel of north latitude. No trace of their hand- 

 writing is found south of Cincinnati. 



But traces of changes equally stupendous are seen 

 everywhere, showing that mighty degrading forces 

 have been at work. The blue grass region in Kentucky 

 owes its fertility to the melting down by decay of hun- 

 dreds of feet of the solid surface rock, leaving standing 

 here and there mounds hundreds of feet high and some 

 of them acres in extent of the more obdurate rock that 

 has so far resisted decay as silent witnesses of the 

 changes that have taken place. 



In Kentucky, Tennessee and the north ends of 

 the gulf states the streams of drainage have cut down 

 their beds in places 1,600 feet through solid rock. 

 Volcanic ash, though sometimes sterile, belched forth 

 in state-covering showers, often makes a fertile soil. 

 To all of the above and more add decayed animal and 

 vegetable matter and you have mainly the soils of to- 

 day. 



CITY ON A MOUNTAIN TOP. 



Cloudcroft is situated on the top of the Sacra- 

 mento Mountains in southern New Mexico, at an alti- 

 tude of about 9,000 feet. Near the tops of the moun- 

 tains the rain and snowfall is sufficient for the growth 

 of crops, but it comes in the summer and winter, leav- 

 ing the spring and early summer dry, and this, together 

 with the cold nights, makes the growing season short. 

 The only crops grown successfully here as yet are white 

 potatoes and oat hay. In the canons at and below 7,000 

 feet, while the rainfall is less, there is considerable 

 water, derived from springs, and this, if carefully used, 

 will irrigate much of the area to which it can be ap- 

 plied. Here, in addition to potatoes, oats, barley, In- 

 dian corn, cabbage and other vegetables, and fruit are 

 grown very successfully. Some persons have begun to 

 grow berries and it is believed that this will prove to 

 be one of the best small fruit sections of the territory. 

 At the higher altitudes considerable attention has, in 

 recent years, been paid to the growing of Angora goats, 

 which, seem to thrive particularly well there. 



PROPOSE SENSIBLE CHANGES IN LAND LAWS. 



President's Commission Adopts Many Suggestions of The Irri- 

 gation Age and Recommends Legislation Which 

 Will Help the Settler. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE feels justified in claiming a 

 decided victory in the partial report of the special com- 

 mission appointed by President Roosevelt to make sug- 

 gestions regarding public land laws. This commission 

 is composed of General Land Commissioner W. A. Rich- 

 ards, Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot and Chief Engineer 

 F. H. Newell, of the Reclamation Service. 



The committee recommends the outlines for a law- 

 permitting homestead entries upon agricultural lands 

 within forest reserves, such entries to be located along the 

 valleys on purely agricultural lands and not to extend 

 to valuable timber on the hillsides. This is a wise and 

 just provision, and THE IRRIGATION AGE has constantly 

 urged that small farmers should be allowed to settle 

 along the fertile valleys in the great forest reserves, 

 which, when improved and adorned with homes, would 

 only add to the attractiveness and value of the re- 

 serves. 



The most important recommendation, however, and 

 one which THE IRRIGATION AGE has always vigorously 

 advocated, is an amendment to the commutation clause 

 in the homestead law which will prevent timber thieves 

 from annexing valuable timber lands under the pretense 

 of settlement upon them for agricultural purposes. The 

 abuse of this clause of the homestead law needed correc- 

 tion, and THE IRRIGATION AGE has always contended 

 that it would be a simple matter to prevent it by proper 

 legislation. The President's "commission has taken the 

 same view of the matter and recommends a change in 

 the law which will prevent entries located within for- 



* 



est reserves or where the land is chiefly valuable for 

 timber. 



The report recommends the repeal of the timber 

 and stone act, and provision for selling the timber on 

 public land in large or small quantities as it may be 

 needed for industrial purposes. While there seems to 

 be no objection to such a provision, the meager report 

 of this part of the commission's recommendation is not 

 sufficiently clear upon which to form a correct judgment. 

 If the Government goes into the business of, selling tim- 

 ber lands, it will open up a great field for corruption, and 

 the most careful safeguards to protect the interests of 

 the Government should be provided. 



