The Extent of Irrigation. 171 



little less than 13 ^ex cent of the total. Deducting the aggre- 

 gate acreage of desert and wooded lands, there are left about 

 615.600,000 acres, the greater part of which supports a scanty 

 herbage which, either green or sun-cured, is readily eaten by 

 cattle. This may all be grouped under the head of grazing 

 lands, since at one time or another of the year herds of cattle or 

 sheep can find sustenance. Most of this latter class of land, com- 

 prising over two-thirds of the area west of the 100th meridian, 

 has a fertile soil and climate favorable to agriculture in all re- 

 spects save that of moisture. With water, great crops could be 

 produced, but without it nothing but the scanty native grasses 

 succeed. The area which has actually been redeemed by irri- 

 gation is quite small, not to exceed 1 per cent. The eleventh 

 census of the United States found that in 1889 only 3,631,381 

 acres* were irrigated, this being but four-tenths of 1 per cent of 

 the entire area west of the 100th meridian. Besides the area 

 irrigated a relatively small area was cultivated by "dry "farm- 

 ing, the yield being, however, small. 



The further extension of agriculture within the arid region 

 rests on the complete utilization of the water supply. As 

 previously stated, the streams have been employed to a large 

 extent and there now remain only a few rivers from which 

 water for irrigation is not diverted.f These flow on undisturbed 

 because of the great expense, and the engineering difliculties 

 encountered rendering doubtful the financial success of any 

 undertaking. In the case of many of the smaller streams the 

 aggregate of the claims to the water exceed by far the ordinary 

 quantity discharged, and, as a result, most of the claimants must 

 be satisfied with an amount of water less than that to which 

 they assert ownership. At the same time a large proportion of 

 the water of these streams flows to waste either in floods or in 

 winter, all of which could be used to advantage if it could be 

 held by storage.'! The enormous cost of creating reservoirs for 

 the waste waters and the small apparent profits have to a large 

 extent deterred private capital from entering upon such projects. 



* Eleventh Census of the United States, 1890, Irrigation in Western 

 United States by F. H. Newell, p. 3. 



t Water Supply for Irrigation by F. H. Newell, in thirteenth annual 

 report of the United States Geological Survey. 



j Hydrography of the Arid Regions by F. H. Newell, in twelfth an- 

 nual report of the United States Geological Survey, p. 224 et seq. 



