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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



The First National Irrigation Congress 



IN 1891 AT 

 Salt Lake City 



By ARTHUR HOOKER, Secretary National Irrigation Congress 



Shrewdness and determination shown by the men 

 who made up the first irrigation congress at Salt Lake in 

 1891 amounted almost to the ability to prophesy the great 

 work to be accomplished by the organization in the suc- 

 ceeding twenty years. Paramount questions of agricul- 

 tural development in the West were discussed by repre- 

 sentative men of the West and the "Salt Lake Platform" 

 as adopted by the first congress September 17, 1891, 

 stands today as an interesting record of the work the 

 organizers of the National Irrigation Congress had in 

 mind in its earliest days. The "Salt Lake Platform," as 

 adopted and published in the proceedings of the first con- 

 gress is as follows: 



"Resolved, That this Congress is in favor of grant- 

 ing in trust, upon such conditions as shall serve the public 

 interest, to the States and Territories needful of irrigation, 



O.B.Cblontr Oswaktlsfest 



Governors of Irrigated States. 



all land now a part of the public domain within such 

 States and Territories, excepting mineral lands, for the 

 purpose of developing irrigation, to render lands now arid, 

 fertile and capable of supporting a population. 



"Resolved, That it is the sense of this convention 

 that the committee selected to propose and present to 

 Congress the memorial of this convention respecting pub- 

 lic lands, should ask as a preliminary to the cession of 

 all the land in the territories in accordance with the reso- 

 lutions of the convention, a liberal grant to said Terri- 

 tories and States to be formed therefrom, of the public 

 lands to be devoted to the public school purposes. 



"Whereas, Large areas of arid lands and semi-arid 

 lands, situated upon the great plains of the Dakotas, 

 western Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma were settled 

 upon in good faith, by. hpmeseekers, under the supposi- 

 tion that they were entering agricultural lands and, 



"Whereas, The settlers upon,, such lands have ex- 

 pended much time and labor upon the same; and paid 

 into the United States Treasury therefor many millions 

 of dollars, only to discover that irrigation, to a greater 

 or less extent is necessary in making homes for them- 

 selves thereon,' therefore, be it 



"Resolved, That the representatives of all the States 

 and Territories directly concerned in irrigation, do hereby 

 pledge their unwavering support to the just demands of 

 such settlers, that the general government shall donate 

 at least a portion of the funds received from the sale of 

 such lands towards the procurement of the means neces- 

 sary for their irrigation. 



"Resolved, That this Congress heartily endorse the 

 irrigation work of the Agricultural Department of the 

 National Government in the collection and dissemination 

 of information, especially its admirable progress cover- 

 ing the whole field of irrigation development, and that 

 it favors large appropriations for this work hereafter." 



This "Salt. Lake Platform" is regarded generally as 

 being the forerunner of the United States Reclamation 

 Service and of the Carey act, which are representative of 

 the effective interest taken in irrigation by the Federal 

 government that has resulted in the reclamation of mil- 

 lions of acres of the best lands in the West, which could 

 not have been brought under cultivation within a cen- 

 tury without government aid as outlined. General re- 

 vision and improvement in the homestead laws affecting 

 lands in the states where irrigation is necessary or im- 

 portant has followed the recommendations of the Irri- 

 gation congress from year to year. To many minds, how- 

 ever, the most significant achievement of the Congress 

 has been in bringing about the general awakening of 

 the East to the importance of the West and the necessity 

 for national recognition of the needs of the Western 

 states. 



This better understanding between the East and West 

 regarding measures for the agricultural development of 

 the entire country has been brought about through the 

 free and open discussions of the Irrigation Congress in 

 which eastern representatives and men of influence in 

 National affairs have taken part. Another feature of im- 

 portance in the work of the Congress has been the af- 

 fording of an opportunity for concentrated effort on the 

 part of those who have been most active in the develop- 

 ment of western irrigation. Broad and general ideas have 

 been formulated, discussed and revised through the work 

 of the Irrigation Congress in a manner which has in- 

 sured their successful presentation as national issues. 



Of special interest at this time is the outline of the 

 call for the first Congress issued by Governor Arthur 

 L. Thomas of Utah who, in his welcoming address to 

 the delegates at Salt Lake September 15, 1891, said: 



"The Congress is called for the purpose of hasten- 

 ing the reclamation of arable arid land, so far as possible, 

 and for the purpose of petitioning Congress to cede to 

 the states and territories the arid lands within their 

 borders, for the purpose, first, of reclaiming the same; 

 second, in aid of the public schools; and, third, for such 

 other public purpose as the Legislative Assemblies of 

 the states and territories may respectively determine." 



The many ideas of the representatives of some six- 

 teen states who met at the first session of the Congress 

 were at variance regarding details but the general move- 

 ment met with a response that was practically unanimous 

 and differences over details vanished. 



