THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



States, received a grant of one million acres, to be re- 

 claimed under State control, Mr. Mead proceeded at 

 once to apply his ideas of public supervision to this 

 grant. Upon his recommendation the legislature pro- 

 vided that these lands should be reclaimed by con- 

 struction companies upon conditions which furnished 

 the best security to the capital employed, yet provided 

 at the same time for the sale of lands to actual set- 

 tlers and for their ultimate ownership of the canals. 

 A maximum price was fixed for water - rights, which 

 were made inseparable from the land. Other States 

 copied the law verbatim from the statute-books of Wy- 

 oming. 



Aside from the great work accomplished by Mr. Mead 

 in reforming the irrigation laws and customs of the West, 

 Wyoming has made another contribution of large im- 

 portance to the country's progress along this line. Two 

 of her United States Senators, Joseph M. Carey and 

 Francis E. Warren, have identified themselves conspic- 

 uously with great measures calculated to create homes 

 for millions. Senator Carey was the author of the Act 

 of 1894, commonly known as the Carey Law, which gave 

 one million acres to each of the western States upon con- 

 dition that the land bo reclaimed and settled within ten 

 years. Senator Warren is the leader of the new and grow- 

 ing movement which aims at Federal appropriations to bo 

 used in the construction of great reservoirs beyond the 

 reach of private enterprise. With signal ability and de- 

 votion these two Wyoming statesmen have labored for 

 years to open the arid public domain to settlement ; to 

 solve the vexed questions arising from the unrestricted 

 use of the open range ; and to provide enlightened Icgis- 



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