32 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



by proper application to the land office, can immediately 

 take the water to their fields. 



The work is not in advance of the needs of the peo- 

 ple but is in advance of their knowledge of its possibilities, 

 for out of this 768,000 acres applications for water rights 

 have been received for only 425,000 acres, leaving 343,000 

 with water ready for the plow. The great problem, there- 

 fore, is no longer that of engineering, but how to put this 

 land into the hands of the men who will immediately 

 utilize it for crop production. The approximate invest- 

 ment in this 343,000 acres, which is now standing idle, is 

 a little over ten millions of dollars, so that in one sense 

 these ten millions of dollars are locked up until the farmer 

 makes application for the water and returns to the Govern- 

 ment his proportionate share of the money which has been 

 invested in this reclamation work. 



predicts that with the excellent harvests secured from the 

 irrigated lands this year, it will not be many months be- 

 fore the areas unutilized will be taken up and put in 

 crops. The opportunities for homemakers on a number 

 of these projects are so attractive, and the terms under 

 which these lands are disposed of so reasonable, that there 

 is every reason to expect a heavy rush of homeseekers 

 to take up these farms before the beginning of the next 

 crop season. 



In the office of the Reclamation Service in Chicago, 

 a systematic campaign is being carried on to disseminate 

 information about the opportunities for making homes on 

 these reclaimed lands. Room 802 in the Federal building 

 (postoffice) has been fitted up as an exhibit and lecture 

 room and is visited daily by hundreds of people who de- 

 sire to secure information about the Government's irri- 



Field of Wheat on Glein Ranch, Klamath Falls, Oregon. 



A considerable portion of this vacant irrigable land is 

 embraced in four projects now completed in Montana, 

 Wyoming, and Nevada. On other projects the farmers, 

 owing to lack of funds, scarcity of labor, and other con- 

 ditions, have not been able to prepare all of their land for 

 water, and thousands of acres were for this reason un- 

 productive this season. 



The Chief Engineer of the Reclamation Service, now 

 in the field, calls attention to these important matters, but 



gated lands. Around the walls are arranged beautifully 

 colored transparencies which show the principal engineer- 

 ing features of the projects and scenes on irrigated lands. 

 The exhibits consist of fruits, vegetables, and other farm 

 products. At stated times illustrated lectures are given by 

 the settlement agent, Mr. J. C. Waite, on the work of the 

 service, with particular reference to the phases which are 

 of particular interest to prospective settlers. In addition, 

 (Continued on page 58.) 



