THE IRKIGATION AGE. 



Thirty flillions of Acres Yet Reclaimable 



C. J. Blanchard, Statistician U. 5. Reclamation Service 



Within the last three years approximately 

 three million acres have been added to the 

 cultivable area of the United States by the 

 Reclamation Service and large corporations 

 engaged in reclaiming the desert. It is esti- 

 mated, as a result of these activities, that 

 not less than 30,000 families are now living 

 on farms of their own in this new region, 

 and probably an equal number of families are 

 supported in the cities, towns and villages 

 which have come into existence in the new 

 agricultural districts. 



The work is still only hi its beginning. 

 Conservative engineers have fixed the re- 

 claimable area at thirty million acres. On 

 the intensive system of farming which is 



the basis of 

 being prac- 



to most of the people who dwell east of the 

 Mississippi has suddenly come into promi- 

 nence as a land of golden opportunities and a 

 large influx of settlers has followed. An 

 enormous amount of money has already been 

 expended by the Government and by private 

 enterprise to make habitable many fertile val- 

 leys in the West. New communities are 

 springing up in the arid states and territories 

 so rapidly that it is difficult to keep pace with 

 the development. An especially interesting 

 and cheering phase of the growth of these 

 communities is the splendid class of citizens 

 who have established themselves in the 

 new country. They are largely the young, vigorous and 

 intelligent descendants of the pioneers of the Mississippi 





Finished Portion of Main Canal on Lower Yellowstone Project, Montana. 



ticed in the irrigated region, this vast area when watered 

 will provide homes for a million families on the land. 

 Another million will find homes and employment in 

 the urban communities which spring up in the midst 

 of the new farming country. 



Rapid as has been the development of the desert 

 West, it has not kept pace with the increasing demand for 

 homes. Notwithstanding the opening up to settlement 

 of millions of acres of irrigated land and land adapted to 

 dry farming, the undesirable efflux of our best citizens to 

 Canada has continued. It is a most important function 

 of the public press, and one which should not be neglected, 

 to make known the almost unlimited opportunities in the 

 West for homebuilders. 



The West which has remained so long terra incognita 



Valley who have been crowded out of the thickly settled 

 agricultural districts by reason of the growth in popula- 

 tion and the high price of farm lands. They represent 

 the best and most progressive citizens of our country, 

 and their coming to the West predicates the upbuilding 

 in an incredibly short time of agricultural communities 

 which will be as nearly ideal as can be found anywhere 

 in the world. 



The Great American Desert is vanishing from our 

 maps. It is being replaced by wide vistas of green fields 

 and blossoming orchards. Across its broad bosom rail- 

 roads and trolley lines are being extended, and cities, 

 towns and villages are springing up. In its sunny atmos- 

 phere an optimistic and energetic people have begun to 



