THE IKR1GATION AGE. 



557 



PITTSBURGH LAND SHOW TO BOOM IRRIGATED 



LANDS. 

 By Mary J. Tierney. 



Irrigation will receive another boom by the National 

 Land and Irrigation Exposition to be held at Pittsburgh, 

 October 17 to 29, and tne stimulus that will be given to 

 the sale of irrigated lands will, no doubt, arouse the in- 

 terest of all students of irrigation, and those connected 

 with the various reclamation enterprises, throughout the 

 country. The Pittsburgh Land Show will be held at the 

 ouquesne Gardens, which is said to be the largest build- 

 ing of its kind in the world, and which is an ideal site 

 for expositions of this kind, being happily situated upon 

 street car lines with perfect transportation facilities to all 

 parts. 



The building is installed with its own electric light- 

 ing plant, so that direct and alternating currents will be 

 at the disposal of the exhibitor. The building will be 

 gorgeously decorated and illuminated, and an excellent 

 variety of exhibits from all parts of the country have 

 been arranged for. The United States government are 

 sending an exhibit and government lecturers will explain 

 the present conditions, and will give illustrated lectures 

 on irrigation, forestry, scientific agriculture and its kin- 

 dred subjects. 



The Agricultural State Board of Pennsylvania and of 

 other states will also be represented with exhibits, as will 

 a number of agricultural colleges and universities, cham- 

 bers of commerce, and boards of trade from various 

 parts of the country. Among the railroads which have 

 already contracted for space are the Union Pacific, the 

 Cotton Belt, the Southern and the Iron Mountain, while 

 reservations have been made by several other roads. 

 The exhibits will include the usual pictures of farm life 

 and models, while enormous quantities of grains, fruits 

 and vegetables will also be on exhibition. 



The Alabama and Sumatra Tobacco Company are 

 preparing an exhibit of more than usual interest and will 

 show the wonderful progress that has been made in the 

 cultivation of Sumatra wrapper leaf in the United States 

 and will have samples of all kinds of tobaccos on hand. 

 The Pittsburgh Land Show is being held under the 

 auspices of the Pittsburgh Gazette Times and Pittsburgh 

 Chronicle, the two oldest and most influential newspapers 

 in the community, and has on its executive staff several 

 of the most experienced and best known exposition build- 

 ers in the country. 



Irrigation will be well taken care of and a large sec- 

 tion has been set aside for the exhibition of models, pic- 

 tures and other subjects pertaining to irrigation and 

 drainage. 



There is no better location in the country for a land 

 show than Pittsburgh and an enormous attendance is 

 being looked for. The section is one of prosperity and the 

 people are thrifty and have money to invest. Hundreds 

 of rolling mill workers, who earn large salaries, are in 

 the market for farm lands, and owing to the nature of 

 their work are unable to follow their occupation for any 

 number of years, and as they are well paid, they are 

 usually, after a few years of labor, in a position to buy a 

 farm of more or less magnitude. To these people, the 

 Land Show will be of especial interest and it will give 

 them an opportunity of learning something about farm 

 lands and opportunities in the more distant sections of. the 

 country and to teach them something about the wonderful 

 results of irrigation in the vast tracts of western country 

 of which they know but little. The Pittsburgh papers 

 have been running stories of land show interest for sev- 

 eral months, and a strong enthusiasm has been worked 

 up among the people of the surrounding country. 



Newspaper stories have been sent out to all of the 

 farm and agricultural journals, trade magazines and prin- 

 cipal daily newspapers all over the country, while all of 

 the smaller papers contiguous to Pittsburgh have entered 

 into the spirit of the show with most encouraging co- 

 operation, and have devoted columns of space to the 

 coming Exposition. The publicity department has also 

 been active, and the country is covered with artistic pic- 

 torial posters for miles around. Colored lithographs and 

 type billing-matter decorates the windows of most of the 

 local stores and tack cards and banners are plentifully 

 distributed along the country roads which lead to the 



innumerable suburban cities. The National Land & Irri- 

 gation Exposition, which will be popularly known as 

 Pittsburgh's big land show, will undoubtedly be one of 

 the most complete exhibitions of its kind ever held in 

 this country, and its value as a means of education cannot 

 be overestimated. Apart from its interest as an exhibi- 

 tion of earth products it ,will convey to the farmer the 

 homeseeker and investor knowledge of priceless value, 

 and will stimulate the "Back to the Soil" crusade in a 

 manner which could never be arrived at by any other 

 means. 



The space room is practically all gone, there being 

 but a few spaces left to dispose of. It would be well for 

 those wishing to secure further information to write to 

 the National Land & Irrigation Exposition at their offices 

 in the Keystone building, Pittsburgh, Pa., addressing their 

 inquiries to Francis C. McCarty, Director of Administra- 

 tion, or to Sydney Wire, Director of Publicity. 



THE FOUNTAIN VALLEY, COLORADO. 



Peach orchards in Colorado, through irrigation, have 

 been made to produce returns sufficient to increase the 

 value from $25 to $50 per acre to as high as $2,500 to 

 $4,000 per acre. Under irrigation peaches bring a profit 

 of from $150 to $250 per acre; pears $200 to $300 per acre 

 per season, and apples have been known to produce as 

 high as $1,000 per acre. 



It is rather difficult to convince an easterner that land 

 can be made to produce this much in the way of earn- 

 ing in one year, but many of the eastern people who are 

 going on from Chicago and the central states points to 

 the Irrigation Congress will have an opportunity of 

 seeing Colorado and learning definitely, as eye-witnesses, 

 the facts above stated. 



It is expected that the Fountain Valley, which ex- 

 tends from Colorado Springs to Pueblo, will be visited 

 by many of the delegates to the Congress, as well as the 

 visitors. The opportunity will then be given them to see 

 the land of the Fountain Valley Land and Irrigation 

 Company, which extends from about 3^2 miles southeast 

 of Colorado Springs to one mile south of Fountain, a 

 distance of about twelve miles. This tract includes the 

 bottom and mesa lands on the north and east side of 

 Fountain river. The reservoirs and much of the finest 

 of the land cannot be seen from the railroads or wagon 

 roads, and one can get no fair conception of the magnitude 

 of this irrigation system or the quality and extent of the 

 lands 'without inspecting them at close range. 



The Fountain Valley Land and Irrigation Company 

 expect to be in position to entertain those who may stop 

 off at Fountain and Colorado Springs, and no doubt facili- 

 ties for transportation in the form of automobiles, etc., 

 will be placed at the disposal of visitors and prospective 

 buyers. 



There are lying unfilled in the state of Colorado 

 today, a million or more acres of land which could be 

 made exceedingly valuable by the application of water. It 

 will take some years, however, for proper systems to be 

 developed which will bring this land all under cultivation. 



In a recent interview Governor Shafroth stated that 

 it will take 30,000 additional farms to supply Colorado's 

 cash market, which is considered one of the best markets 

 in the world, owing to the fact that a large per cent of 

 the produce in the state is disposed of to mining camps 

 where good prices in cash are always paid. Governor 

 Shafroth also states that Colorado has room for several 

 hundred thousand farmers who will be able to supply 

 the markets of neighboring states or of the far East. 

 This can only be done when the land now lying unculti- 

 vated is put under water and properly developed. Colo- 

 rado is also a great state for stock growers and it should 

 be particularly good for swine growers and feeders. It 

 is an ideal state for poultry raising and some of the 

 settlers who have made a specialty of poultry have done 

 well; in fact, have made money. This is particularly true 

 of some of the settlers on the Fountain tract. 



Those who stop at Fountain should not fail to go 



eastwardlv from there to the higher mesas and get a 



view of the mountain range which takes in Pike's Peak, 



Cheyenne mountain, the Sangre de Cristo range, and, on 



(Continued on page 564.) 



