POTENTIAL GREATNESS OF NEVADA 



measure of its capacity to support population. Upon 

 the all - important subject of the water supply of an 

 arid and half-explored country authorities seldom agree. 

 They cannot do so in advance of thorough scientific in- 

 vestigation, especially where the dependence is largely 

 upon flood waters, springs, and artesian wells. But the 

 most painstaking and systematic inquiry ever made into 

 this branch of Nevada's resources resulted in the con- 

 clusion that at least six million acres of rich soil could 

 be irrigated. 



Such was the report of a State Commission, appointed 

 under the auspices of the Irrigation Congress in 1893, of 

 which the late Governor John E. Jones was chairman 

 and L. E. Taylor, C. E., secretary. The material for 

 the report was gathered with the assistance of sub -com- 

 mittees in every county, and the conclusions undoubt- 

 edly represent the best judgment of practical men inti- 

 mately acquainted with the subject in its local details. 

 The estimate is based on the use of storage reservoirs 

 and the development of springs and artesian basins, as 

 well as upon the surface supplies more readily to be cal- 

 culated. The commission reported twenty lakes and 

 sixteen rivers of importance. Of the utility of the lat- 

 ter, it said that the Carson, Walker, and Truckee, flow- 

 ing eastward from the Sierras, would irrigate in Nevada 

 one million acres ; the Humboldt, another million ; the 

 Salmon, Bruneau, and Owyhee, in the extreme north- 

 east, four hundred thousand ; the Quinn, which de- 

 scends from its Oregon sources into Nevada, one hun- 

 dred and seventy-five thousand ; the Virgin, on the ex- 

 treme southeast, one hundred thousand. Minor rivers 

 and a multitude of flowing springs were counted availa- 



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