332 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The Fifteenth National Irrigation Congress. 



A Record Breaker Twenty-three Hundred Delegates Attended Judge Cloudy, President; B. A. 

 Fowler, Secretary Albuquerque, New Mexico, Next Meeting Place. 



The Fifteenth National Irrigation Congress goes 

 down in history as the most successful gathering of the 

 organization. Xot only in point of attendance was it a 

 great success, but also as denoting the growth and de- 

 velopment of irrigation and kindred branches. Sacra- 

 mento citizens went out of their way to entertain the 

 delegates and other visitors, and that it was royally done 

 everbody who attended will testify. What the irriga- 

 tion Congress means to the national government was 

 evidenced by the number of government reclamation 

 service officials present. 



The congress was opened by the address of welcome 

 of Mayor M. R. Beard of Sacramento, to which Gov. 

 Geo. R. Chamberlain, president of the congress, respond- 

 ed. Vice-President Fairbanks spoke at some length. 

 Portions of his address follow: 



the faithful execution of the law will result in bringing 

 under a high state of cultivation many millions of acres 

 of land which are now unproductive. 



"The effect of irrigation in this western country can 

 be appreciated only by those who are familiar with it 

 from personal observation. The change made in the 

 conversion of an arid waste into fruitful fields seems al- 

 most incredible. There is no more radical transforma- 

 tion to be found anywhere than in the parched valleys 

 and plains which have been irrigated and which prior 

 thereto produced nothing but sagebrush. The most un- 

 productive land has become the most fertile. From the 

 worst, it takes rank as the best. It is hard to find any- 

 where more apparently unproductive land than that 

 which is occupied by sagebrush, and no more bountiful 

 harvests are gathered than those which this same forbid- 



A Partial View of Convention Hall, Fifteenth National Irrigation Congress. Scene on Opening Day. 



"The suggestion that the government should par- 

 ticipate in the work of irrigation awakened some oppo- 

 sition among those who had given little thought to it 

 and who failed to realize its tremendous possibilities. I 

 look upon no incident of my public service with more 

 satisfaction than the support which I gave to the re- 

 clamation act upon the statute books. The measure now 

 speaks for itself. Its critics have become its supporters, 

 and the marvel of it all is that its virtues were not ear- 

 lier foreseen and such a measure sooner enacted. The 

 work of development under it may sometimes seem to 

 be slow. The results, however, are sure. Those who 

 are familiar with what has been done by the government 

 will agree that much progress has been made and that 



ding land produces when touched by the vitalizing influ- 

 ence of irrigation. 



"There are promising fields today where there was 

 no sign of habitation before we entered upon the present 

 reclamation policy, and what is being done is but pro- 

 phetic of what we shall accomplish if we faithfully ad- 

 here to the policy upon which we have entered and carry 

 it out to the limits of its possibilities. 



"We have long since passed the experimental stage 

 and it only remains to push the work wherever feasible 

 with the utmost vigor. The reclamation of every 10 or 

 20 acres of land means the creation of a homestead 

 which will comfortably support a family of industrious, 

 intelligent and patriotic American citizens. 



