THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



107 



as was given the subject by Dr. Elliott, formerly 

 of the Bureau of Drainage Investigations, would 

 permit of some plan being carried out which would 

 eliminate the alkali or reduce its quantity without 

 taking away the humus or salts essential to plant 

 life. 



The statement of Dr. Galloway is rather ter- 

 rifying and would be inclined to hold up, rather 

 than encourage, appropriations for extensive work 

 in connection with his bureau. 



Mr. E. C. Parker, a St. Paul land expert, agrees 

 with Dr. Galloway that irrigated soils in the West 

 are being threatened. Mr. Parker was formerly 

 connected with the state agricultural college and 

 was at one time in the service of the Chinese 

 government as soil expert. 



Land men generally are not inclined to believe 

 that conditions are as serious as Dr. Galloway and 

 Mr. Parker state, although they generally disclaim 

 exact scientific information on the subject. 



Mr. Parker states that, as he understands Dr. 

 Galloway's statement, the water will carry away 

 the food elements of the soil, as improper irrigation 

 takes the plant foods and this solution is carried 

 away at the time of the leaching process, which is 

 the method of eliminating the alkali. 



The whole matter evidently simmers down to 

 a careful study of the quantity and application of 

 water upon all soils where irrigation is necessary 

 and a very careful examination of the possibility 

 for natural drainage. 



Frequently one will find a field waterlogged 

 and made useless by over-irrigation, while an ad- 

 joining field with the same quantity of water does 

 well and produces good crops. This is due, no 

 doubt, to the formation which, in one instance, 

 allows the ground water as a result of lack of drain- 

 age, to accumulate from one irrigation and another, 

 and eventually come to the surface and destroy all 

 plant life. 



The only solution in a case of this kind, so far 

 as we know, is proper drainage, and this should be 

 studied very carefully to learn if some system may 

 not be devised whereby the alkali may be eliminated 

 by the means of gross feeding plants to bring the 

 soil back to a comparatively dry condition and, 

 by draining the remaining water table, clear the 

 soil without taking away the plant food for a 

 reasonable distance below the surface. 



The writer is not sufficiently familiar with the 

 subject to offer suggestions, excepting in a general 

 way, and would not attempt, in any event, to be- 

 little or criticise the judgment of either Dr. Gallo- 

 way or Mr. Parker, or others who have made a 

 life study of this subject. 



It wou-ld not be a bad idea, however, for the 

 Department of Agriculture to secure the co-opera- 



tion of a man as well posted as C. G. Elliott, 

 former chief of drainage investigations. Dr. Elliott 

 has made a careful study of these conditions 

 throughout certain over-irrigated areas in Califor- 

 nia and would, no doubt, save the government a 

 great deal of money through his .assistance and 

 advice. 



The House of Representatives' 

 Sub-Committee Committee on Expenditures in the 

 Report on Interior Department, of which Repre- 



Arizona sentative James M. Graham of Illinois 



Affairs is chairman, in a recent report has 



dispelled the mirage that for years 

 hovered over the Roosevelt dam in Arizona and 

 has laid a foundation for a sweeping investigation 

 of the Reclamation Service and all of its affairs. 



A sub-committee consisting of Representatives 

 W. L. Hensley (chairman) of Missouri, Oscar Cal- 

 loway of Texas and Louis B. Hanna of North 

 Dakota visited Phoenix and, unlike previous in- 

 vestigators, proceeded to learn actual conditions 

 from the farmers. The committee was assisted by 

 M. C. Burch, attorney of the Department of Justice, 

 and Edward C. O'Brien, special assistant to the 

 Attorney General. The usual blandishments of the 

 reclamation officials and the captivating entertain- 

 ment of the large land speculators seems to have 

 been wasted on the desert air, judging from the 

 printed report. 



The report sketches in outline the history of 

 irrigation along the Salt and Gila rivers since its 

 beginning with the Indians. On both sides of the 

 Gila lies a reservation of the Pima? and Maricopas, 

 who have irrigated for hundreds of years. White 

 settlers above them appropriated their water until 

 they had little or none left. One of the arguments 

 used to secure the passage of the Reclamation Act 

 was the opportunity to build a dam on the Gila 

 which would save these wards of the government 

 from starvation and also .provide water for 100,000 

 acres of the public domain where actual settlers 

 could make homes. As soon as the act was passed, 

 George H. Maxwell, the report states, was able 

 to sidetrack the Gila plan and substitute a scheme 

 to supply the large land speculators along the Salt 

 river with water by means of the Roosevelt dam. 

 When the Southern Pacific made known its desire 

 to secure the dam site on the Gila for a railway 

 right-of-way, the engineers of the Reclamation 

 Service met and decided the site not feasible for 

 a dam, although the same engineers, when urging 

 the passage of the Reclamation Act, stated in effect 

 that the site was suitable for a structure that could 

 be made "as enduring as time." 



According to the report, the estimated cost of 

 the Salt river project was $3,800,000, and the actual 



