504 



THE 1ERIGATION AGE. 



Colorado Pioneer Irrigation 

 State 



BY R. H. FAXON, 



IT is a peculiarly appropriate and equally significant fact 

 that the Eighteenth National Irrigation Congress, 

 Pueblo, September 26-30, 1910, will be held in the" city 

 named for the tribe of Indians that first practiced ihe 

 ancient art of irrigation in this country the Pueblo Tribe. 



The Indians inhabited portions of what are now the 

 territories of New Mexico and Arizona, as well as southern 

 Colorado. Their descendants were still cultivating the 

 land and practicing irrigation when the Spanish came to 

 these parts, centuries ago, with the sword in one iiand 

 and the cross in the other. Traces of the work of this 

 tribe are still to be found in the great Southwest, and the 

 marvel of modern engineering is the precision with which 

 they constructed their ditches and their works 



The Mormons, in Utah, were the first English-speak- 

 ing people to entertain the practice of irrigation in any- 

 thing like a systematic manner, in the West, and their 

 successes are a matter of history. Southern California was 

 the next English-speaking section of the West to put 

 water on the land, and it partly gn:w from the labors of 

 the placer-miners, who utilized the water with which they 

 washed their ore to grow crops Ppon the lands. 



Colorado, in its northern section, was one of the first 



One of the most gratifying things of the year, and a 

 result that may be directly traced to the influence of the 

 National Irrigation Congress, is the act of Congress ap- 

 proved February 25, 1910, amending the census act in 

 several particulars but more especially providing for a 

 complete census of private irrigation projects. 



This contemplates the acreage, the crops, the capital 

 invested, and will furnish accurate and official figures for 

 the benefit of not only irrigationists and agriculturists, 

 but engineers, capitalists, and publicity experts. This 

 inquiry will be made a portion of the regular census-taking 

 to begin April 15. The unusual effort put forth by the 

 friends of the Eighteenth National Irrigation Congress 

 and its officials is directly responsible for this marked 

 progress and result. 



An irrigation publicist has recently figured, in a care- 

 ful and conservative way, that a census today would show 

 fully 250,000 farms in the United States under ditches, 

 watering more than 15 million acres of lands. The state 

 of Colorado, within which the Eighteenth Congress will 

 be held September 26-30, next, leads all other states, 

 having 3J/2 million acres under water, and 20,000 miles of 

 canals and laterals. California has the largest number of 

 irrigators, while the state of Washington has the greatest 

 percentage in the number of irrigators. 



The world at large has 75 billion acres under irriga- 

 tion. 



It is interesting to know that there were but 20,000 

 acres under irrigation in 1870, compared with the 15 mil- 

 lions at present. That was 40 years ago. The National 

 Irrigation Congress was born in 1890. So the life of the 



Mineral Palace and Park, Where the Eighteenth National Irrigation Congress Will Hold Its Sessions. 



portions of the West to lend its attention to this ancient 

 art, and its success has been marked. Every problem >n 

 irrigation and there are many has been solved in the 

 Fort Morgan, Fort Collins, Boulder, Greeley districts and 

 on the North Platte and Cache la Poudre. 



It has been estimated that there are 40 million acres 

 in the West susceptible of irrigation, of which the 25 

 government projects now complete or in process of 

 construction will comprise more than 3 million acres. 

 Private projects have already taken care of more than 

 10 million acres, and other private projects now in 

 contemplation or under way will have an additional acre- 

 age of 5 millions. Added to this must be enumerated 

 proposed government projects, 13 in all. ready for funds 

 to construct them, having an acreage of 3J4 millions. 



There are many private projects in the country of 

 enormous proportions, but the largest actually under way 

 is the DeWeese project at Pueblo, which will take care 

 of 300,000 acres, and on which work is now beginning. 

 There is a chain of related projects on the Snake river in 

 Idaho of larger acreage, but not a single project like the 

 DeWeese at Pueblo; and another of large acreage, the 

 Horseheaven in Washington, which is now being organ- 

 ized, will plan to put 600,000 acres under water. Projects 

 promoted by private capital and having 100,000 acres are 

 by no means unusual, and two of these are in the Pueblo 

 county. 



congress that gave the West and the country the national 

 reclamation act and really started this great development 

 work, is exactly one-half the time that has elapsed since 

 there were but a paltry 20,000 acres under water in the 

 United States. 



It is, then, quite appropriate that the latest and 

 greatest of the annual sessions of the most potential de- 

 velopment agency of the country should be held in the 

 state that leads all in the acreage under irrigation, and in 

 the city named for the tribe of Indians that introduced 

 and successfully practiced irrigation in this country first 

 of all, centuries ago. 



BIG SALES OF CYCLONE DRILLS. 



THE Cyclone Drill Company, of Orrville, O., report the 

 following sales: 



Nine blast hole drills for John B. Carter Company 

 for various contracts in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Four 

 prospecting machines for Jacobs & Davies for testing 

 foundations for the large government dam on Tennessee 

 River, near Chattanooga, Tenn. Blast hole drill for Shore 

 Line Stone Co., Monroe, Mich. Blast hole drill for Em- 

 pire Limestone Co., Buffalo, N. Y. Blast hole drill for 

 Barr-Clay Co., Streator, 111. Blast hole drill for France 

 Slag Co., Toledo, Ohio, together with a number of water 

 well drills and prospecting outfits for various concerns. 





