THE IK RIG ATI ON AGE. 



263 



fornia, through which runs the Southern Pacific, large 

 areas of unproductive- land are rapidly being brought 

 to a state of high cultivation and usefulness through 

 the pumping system. 



This work is in its infancy, and there is no doubt 

 that its development during the next fifteen years will be 

 far beyond the imagination of the average man who has 

 not thoroughly investigated the possibilities and wonder- 

 ful resources of these underground waters. Most of this 

 work is now being done by private parties because the 

 expense is insignificant as compared with other methods 

 of irrigation. A half dozen farmers can join their re- 

 sources in the purchase of pumping machinery sufficient 

 to irrigate small farms and insure them sc constant and 

 unfailing supply of water at a comparatively small cost. 

 The work can be done quickly. A promising section 

 having been selected, pumping machinery can be in- 

 stalled and the water brought to the surface in the 

 course of a few weeks, whereas the construction of 

 surface irrigation ditches requires months and years. 

 This system of irrigation as an adjunct to the great 

 surface work that has been planned, and is now being 

 put into operation by the Government and large private 

 land companies, will reclaim almost every portion of 

 the arid West and add immeasurably to our vast agri- 

 cultural domain. 



THE IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS OF THE UTAH 

 EXPERIMENT STATION. 



DR. JOHN A. WIDTSOE, 

 Director, Utah Experiment Station. 



. ON SHOSHONE PROJECT. 



State Engineer Johnston Will Talk on Great Government 

 Enterprise. 



State Engineer Clarence Johnston has a number of 

 very fine photographs of the Shoshone canon and vicin- 

 ity, which he took on the occasion of his examination 

 of the Government dam site some weeks ago when ac- 

 companied by the consulting engineers. The site se- 

 lected by the Government for its first reservoir in the 

 State is very picturesque. 



Below the junction of the forks of the Shoshone 

 the river passes through a deep gorge which is cut 

 through a mountain. The walls of this canon rise to 

 a height of about 3.000 feet above the river, making 

 it one of the deepest and wildest canons in the State. 



One of the views is taken from a granite promon- 

 tory 1,400 feet above the river. From this height the 

 river looks like a small stream and yet the walls of 

 the canon rise high above the point from which the 

 picture was taken. 



Other views show the mouth of the canon, the 

 neighboring mountain, the bench along which the great 

 canal will run, the town of Cody and neighborhood as 

 well as a number of views of the river. 



Professor Johnston is having some colored lantern 

 slides made of these pictures and will deliver a lecture 

 on the Shoshone project illustrated by these views 

 before the Young Men's Literary Club. 



It is hoped that the club will call an open meeting 

 for the occasion, as there are many who would be in- 

 terested in hearing of the Shoshone project and seeing 

 pictures of the great canon, which will be the location 

 of the great dam for which the Government has appro- 

 priated over $2.000,000. Wyoming Tribune. 



THE ANTIQUITY OF IRRIGATION. 



History teaches that the great nations of antiquity 

 lived in irrigated countries. In the great valley of the 

 Mesopotamia, where written history begins, were located 

 the wonderful cities of Babylon and Nineveh, sur- 

 rounded by the most perfect canals and other irrigation 

 .devices yet known to man. Egypt, also, which looms 

 large in the history of the world, has always depended 

 upon irrigation for its wealth and prosperity. On the 

 American continent, especially in Mexico and Peru, the 

 numerous remains of skillfully constructed canals show 

 that the most prosperous among the early inhabitants 

 of this continent were those that resided in the irrigated 

 districts. The coincidence of a high civilization with 

 the practice of irrigation is not, in any sense, accidental. 

 Countries in which irrigation is necessary usually pos- 

 sess relatively dry and warm climates, under the influ- 

 ence of which extremely fertile soils are produced, 

 which with the control over the growth and quality and 

 yield of crops that irrigation affords, makes possible a 

 more satisfactory system of agriculture than can be de- 

 veloped in countries of abundant rainfall. In the days 

 of the ancients, the art of irrigation was undoubtedly 

 developed to a degree commensurate with the best knowl- 

 edge of those times, and, undoubtedly also, the prin- 

 ciples concerning the actual tillage of the soil were not 

 better understood in those days than were those relating 

 to the application of water to soils for the production of 

 plants. 



THE CONDITION OF FARMING A CENTURY AGO. 



The learning of the ancients has been, in a large de- 

 gree, lost to us, and we know little mote concerning the 

 methods of agriculture and irrigation of antiquity than 

 is indicated by the ruins of their magnificient irrigation 

 works. 



With the loss of the earliest civilization, the art of 

 agriculture was reduced to a practice based upon em- 

 pirical rules, some of which were good, many of which 

 were bad, and all of which had been formulated without 

 special reference to the laws of nature. In fact, during 

 very many centuries of the earth's history the condition 

 of the art of agriculture has been such that it has at- 

 tracted only those who were incapable or unable to fol- 

 low the more developed and progressive professions. 

 Nevertheless, the thinkers of all ages have clearly under- 

 stood that the prosperity and happiness of a nation root 

 in the agriculture of the country, and that no country 

 can "be truly and permanently great which does not prac- 

 tice an intelligent system of soil cultivation, in which 

 some of its best minds are enlisted. Many attempts 

 were made in early days to apply the little that was 

 known of the operations of nature to the betterment of 

 agriculture, but the elementary condition of science 

 itself made such attempts void of results of any conse- 

 quence. One hundred years ago, the practices of agri- 

 culture were in this lamentable condition, resting only 

 upon the vague traditions of the past, and inviting into 

 the service only the most inferior classes of men in the 

 community. The great land owner alone could be a 

 farmer, and at the same time command intellectual and 

 social enjoyment. 



