362 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



UTAH THE HOSTESS STATE 

 Twentieth National Irrigation Congress. 



Although business sessions of the Twentieth National 

 Irrigation Congress will be held at Salt Lake, the capital 

 city, September 30 to October 3, next, the whole state of 

 Utah will act as hostess for the gathering of delegates 

 and visitors to this great organization. Practically every 

 county in the state is participating in the arrangements 

 for entertainment of the Congress and the interest taken 

 by the various communities of Utah in this gathering ex- 

 tends beyond the plans for providing for the comfort and 

 convenience of the Congress as a body and caring for the 

 accommodation and entertainment of the individual dele- 

 gates and guests of the Congress. 



Utah is proud as a. state of being known as the 

 pioneer irrigation state of the Union and the state pride 

 as the hostess for the First National Irrigation Congress 

 is a feeling in which every business man and agriculturist 

 in Utah participates. The entertainment of the Twentieth 

 Congress this year, however, marks the third session held 

 in Utah, as this honor was accorded to Ogden in Sep- 

 tember, 1903, and three Utah men have served as presi- 

 dent of the Congresses in other years. 



Utah lies almost entirely in what is known as the 

 Great Basin and her territory is also included in the arid 

 to semi-arid belt where the cultivation of the soil de- 



Presidents of National Irrigation Congress. 



pends entirely on irrigation or on scientific conservation 

 of moisture in methods of agriculture. The state is, gen- 

 erally speaking, a broad expanse of plains, mountain 

 chains, elevated plateaus or benches, mesas and valleys 

 which offer a variety of agricultural conditions which are 

 scarcely to be duplicated in any other single state in the 

 Union. Naturally a large area of the state can never be 

 brought under the plow because of its rugged, moun- 

 tainous character. Other parts of Utah are so situated 

 that even with the development of scientific conservation 

 and distribution of water to its fullest extent it will not 

 be classed as irrigated land. Of these lands the "dry 

 farmer" will look after his few million acres while the 

 remainder will remain as Nature wills possibly awaiting 

 the further development of man, who may yet discover new 

 uses for what is now regarded as the waste in Nature. 

 It is this mountain territory, however, which gathers, 

 stores and then distributes the water which is transform- 

 ing the deserts into gardens and rewarding the intelli- 

 gent industry of the farmer in a measure beyond the 

 rosiest dreams of the agriculturist in the days when the 

 growing of crops depended upon the whims of the weather 

 in the distribution of rainfall. 



Study of the first principles of geology is simply a 

 matter of intelligent observation in Utah where the deep 

 soils have been washed to valley and plain from the 

 mountains. This process can be observed on all sides 

 and the soils of many parts of the state can be traced 

 to their sources by simply watching the process which 

 removes the mountains with their richness to the valleys 

 below. The rains, winds, frosts and suns of ages have 

 spread this soil in blankets of great depth and wonderful 

 fertility while the various elevations of valleys and plains 

 afford variety of climatic, conditions suited for a range of 

 products from cotton to barley and northern apples to 

 pomegranates. 



Utah's total area is 52,597,760 acres, but of this area 

 only about three per cent is under cultivation and little 

 more -than 1,250,000 acres have yet been brought under 

 irrigation in -this, the pioneer state of irrigation. Irriga- 

 tion-enterprises projected, some of which are already in 

 various stages of construction, will add at least 50- per 

 cent to the irrigated area of the state and with the com- 

 pletion of these Utah will have only started to utilize its 

 comparatively small acreage available for irrigation at 

 reasonable cost. These comparisons furnish subjects for 

 thought and discussion among those most interested in 

 the advancement of the -industrial welfare of the state 

 and also explain why Utah is vitally interested in the 

 broad- principles and aims of the National Irrigation Con-, 

 gress. 



Latest statistics on farm lands of Utah show that 

 there are approximately 22,000 farms in the state, while 

 the average irrigated farm is under 40 acres and decreas- 

 ing in size each year. This indicates the trend towards 

 more intensive cultivation and, although the irrigated 

 acreage of the state is sure to continue its rapid increase, 

 agricultural experts declare that the raising of grain and 

 similar products on irrigated lands in Utah will diminish 

 rapidly and eventually be superseded entirely by crops re- 

 quiring more intensive cultivation and yielding greater 

 returns for labor. 



Some of the larger irrigation projects of the state 

 are within easy reach of Salt Lake and many visitors to 

 the Congress will avail themselves of the opportunity to 

 look over the operations of the Strawberry project now 

 nearing completion under direction of the United States 

 Reclamation service. 



The canal system maintained and operated by. Salt 

 Lake .City is also a feature that will be of general in- 

 terest to practical irrigationists. This system includes a 

 pumping station on Utah lake, 30 miles from the city, 

 and a canal which brings lake water to the bench lands 

 above the city where it is exchanged with the farmers 

 for the pure flow of the canyon streams which furnish 

 the city mains with about 34,000,000 gallons a day. 



The University of Utah, located at Salt Lake, will be 

 another point of interest for delegates and visitors to the 

 Congress, while many will also wish to visit the Agri- 

 cultural College of Utah at Logan and the various ex- 

 perimental farms in other parts of the state operated by 

 the extension division of the college. 



