THE IKEIGATION AGE. 



299. 



are being investigated and undertaken by co-operative 

 associations and corporations. The field is so vast 

 that there need be no conflict between private and public 

 works; the Government naturally looking generally to 

 enterprises of greater magnitude than those which in- 

 vite private capital, or those presenting complications 

 more easily solved by public undertakings than by en- 

 terprise under private control. 



The larger proportion of our present irrigated area 

 consists of lands entered by settlers under the desert 

 land law, who in addition to the expense of reclama- 

 tion have paid $1.25 an acre for their lands, which be- 

 fore reclamation were arid and practically valueless. 

 In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, final entry 

 was made on 264,533 acres under the desert land act; 

 and while this entire acreage was not fully irrigated 

 at the time of making final proof, as the law only 

 compels the irrigation of a portion of each forty-acre 

 tract at that time, and in many instances the topography 

 of the lands entered prevent the reclamation ,of the 

 entire tract, unquestionably the major portion of our 

 increased irrigated area for the year is of lands irri- 

 gated under the provisions of the desert land act. The 

 importance of this reclamation under the desert land 

 act is increased by the fact that a very considerable 

 proportion of the lands thus irrigated consists of com- 

 paratively small tracts in isolated localities, which be- 

 come the nuclei of a mixed 1 farming and stock growing 

 business, assuring the most advantageous utilization 

 of the surrounding non-irrigable grazing territory. 



Under the desert land donation act, commonly 

 called the Carey Act, which was passed in 1894, a very 

 considerable area has been irrigated and settled in small 

 farms in a number of States ; most satisfactory progress 

 under this law having been made in Wyoming, where 

 about 65.000 acres have been thus reclaimed, with 

 several projects for the irrigation of considerable tracts 

 under way. This law, particularly where supplemented 

 by wise State legislation, has all the safeguards of the 

 national irrigation law to insure home making on small 

 tracts, and has made possible the development of larger 

 areas and more expensive projects than could ordina- 

 rily be undertaken by individuals or associations oper- 

 ating under other land laws. 



In addition to the irrigation of public land under 

 these laws, development is constantly going on for the 

 reclamation of lands already in private ownership, in- 

 cluding, in the Southwest, lands included in Spanish 

 and Mexican grants. The opportunities for the irriga- 

 tion of small areas by the impounding of flood waters 

 in reservoirs whose cost is within the means of the aver- 

 age farmer are almost unlimited in the arid region; 

 and as the demand for agricultural products and the 

 search for lands upon which to found homes increases, 

 while the knowledge of the practice and value of irri- 

 gation becomes more general, the utilization of these 

 opportunities will be constant and in the aggregate the 

 lands thus reclaimed will constitute a very consider- 

 able as well as a most valuable portion of the irri- 

 gated domain of the country. 



So numerous are the opportunities which careful 

 research and investigation will present for large and 

 expensive works, costing from hundreds of thousands to 

 tens of millions of dollars, for the irrigation of from 

 thousands to hundreds of thousands of acres, that for 

 some time at least the disposition will undoubtedly be 

 to pay most attention to, and make the major portion 

 of the expenditures, under the national irrigation law, 



on enterprises of considerable magnitude; though un- 

 questionably enterprises for the irrigation of compar- 

 atively limited areas will be undertaken, and in many 

 instances such are at the present time the most earn- 

 estly urged and would undoubtedly be of the greatest 

 immediate benefit, not only in furnishing opportunities 

 for home building, but also in testing all features of 

 the national irrigation law. With the utmost activity 

 in extending work under the national law, there will re- 

 main abundant opportunities for the investment of pri- 

 vate capital in works which will insure fair returns on 

 the investment and be of great benefit in providing 

 homes under the favorable and agreeable conditions 

 which surround agricultural pursuits in irrigated re- 

 gions. 



Except for the fact that the Government expects 

 no profit on its enterprises under the national irriga- 

 tion law, but provides water for the irrigation of lands 

 at the actual cost of the' construction of works, there 

 is no essential difference between the methods of the 

 Government under the national irrigation law and judi- 

 cious irrigation undertakings by private enterprise. The 

 Government proceeds to the irrigation of its lands ex- 

 actly as any wise and careful landowner might do, and 

 on the completion of the works, the titles to individual 

 water rights are maintained and protected as in the 

 case of lands irrigated by individuals or private organ- 

 izal^ons. 



There is at this time in the national irrigation 

 fund, available for construction under the national law, 

 about $16,000,000. The reclamation service of the 

 geological survey having charge of the work under the 

 law, has made examinations of projects in all of the 

 States and territories to which the bill is applicable. 

 Two projects are already under construction, one in 

 ITevada and another in Arizona, and enough projects 

 have already been examined which will probably prove 

 to be feasible to consume, together with the projects 

 already undertaken, all of the funds now available. 

 The beginning of construction on some of these enter- 

 prises will quite likely be delayed for some time yet, 

 by reason of the necessity of further surveys and exam- 

 inations, and construction on each project will neces- 

 sarily extend over a considerable period of time, during 

 which, if the proceeds of the sales of the public lands 

 do not fall below normal by reason of radical repeal or 

 amendment of land laws or periods of depression and 

 low prices of farm products, which always curtail the 

 demand for public lands, the fund will be annually rein- 

 forced by from two to four millions of dollars. In all 

 probability the annual proceeds from the sales of public 

 lands available for work under the national law will 

 never again reach the large sum available for the last 

 fiscal year. 



The practical workings of the national irrigation 

 law in all of its features will not be fully tested for a 

 number of years to come; not until considerable areas 

 of public lands are watered and settled and paid for 

 under the provisions of the act can we have practical 

 demonstration of the wisdom of all of its provisions; 

 but it is a matter of gratification to those who had to 

 do with the framing and passage of the act, as it must 

 be to all American citizens interested in the develop- 

 ment and growth of their country, to know that, so far 

 as the work has proceeded, the law appears to be wisely 

 drawn to meet all conditions, elastic enough to provide 

 for the development of projects of widely differing char- 

 acter, and yet sufficiently guarded to be safe. 



