THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



REDEEMING THE WEST. 



What the Great Klamath Project Means in Government Reclamation. 



BY C. J. BLANCHARD IN Sunset, 

 Assistant, United States Reclamation Service. 



The tremendous significance of the government's 

 vast irrigation work in the West is here shown by these 

 authentic details of the great Klamath project. Ap- 

 pended is a table giving the present status also of all 

 authorized projects, contemplating the ultimate redemp- 

 tion of more than 1,800,000 acres. The consideration of 

 these and kindred matters is the object of the National 

 Irrigation Congress to be held at Boise, Idaho, Septem- 

 ber 3-8 inclusive. 



A famous railroad builder, whose lines of steel con- 

 nect more than eleven thousand miles of our continent, 

 once said : "Next to the Diety the engineer comes nearer 

 being a creator than men of any other profession. He 

 only wants a cheerful banker to advance the wherewithal 

 for expenses, and he will attack any problem in nature 

 and master every difficulty in construction." 



Having such a banker as Uncle Sam behind him, 

 the United States Reclamation Service engineer shows 



not the slightest hesitation in tackling propositions 

 which tax his ingenuity to the utmost and call for all 

 of his courage and resource in their accomplishment. 



The preliminary work of a national irrigation 

 project involves such a multiplicity of details that the 

 layman when informed of the formula under which the 

 work proceeds, is prone to wonder that actual construc- 

 tion is ever begun. Under the most favorable conditions 

 it is rarely possible to complete the preliminary surveys 

 of one of these large projects in less than a year, and in 

 csae the plans provide for the storage of water behind 

 high dams, construction can rarely be ordered until a 

 careful study of the stream flow has been made. This 

 study must be maintained for a sufficient length of time 

 to furnish an accurate record of the character of the 

 stream at all seasons of the year and over a period of 

 several years. But for the fact that the government, 

 through its Hydrographic Branch, had been maintaining 



Map of the Klamath Project Embracing Lands in Oregon and California, Showing Sources of Water Sup- 

 ply, and the Vast Region to Be Irrigated. 



