THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



fornia and Colorado. It happened that his land ad- 

 joined the abandoned mill-race, and he readily obtained 

 the right to turn the water upon a part of his farm. 

 The result, though not surprising to the practised irri- 

 gator, was a revelation to his thoroughly disheartened 

 neighbors. The soil which produced nothing in the 

 previous summer responded to the new method of culti- 

 vation with enormous crops of all varieties of products. 

 In quality they surpassed anything previously grown in 

 that region. As these facts became known a new hope 

 arose, like a star in the night, against the dark back- 

 ground of past discouragements. The Garden City 

 " experiment " became the Mecca of students of irrigation 

 throughout the wide region devastated by the drought. 

 The ruined crop of the previous year and the useless 

 mill-race gave birth to an influence which in fifteen 

 years has assumed far-reaching proportions. 



Kansas is the mother of irrigation on the plains. When 

 the people heard of the miracle wrought by the waters 

 of the abandoned mill-race their optimism instantly fore- 

 told a better civilization than they had dreamed of. 

 Irrigation began here with canal-building in the valley 

 of the Arkansas river. For a time the work was prose- 

 cuted with remarkable vigor. As early as 1890 over 

 four hundred miles of large canals had been built, at a 

 cost of nearly three million dollars. But the industry 

 came suddenly face to face with an unexpected and 

 almost fatal obstacle. 



The Arkansas river rises in the mountains of Colo- 

 rado and waters a broad and fertile valley before cross- 

 ing the boundary into Kansas. In the upper State 

 enterprise was busy with the diversion of its waters. 



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