2 I 



The National Geographic Magazine 



can be used over and over again in the 

 construction of other works. To elim- 

 inate speculation and to put a stop to the 

 greedy acquisition of large areas, it was 

 further provided that no man could own 

 more than i6o acres under any of these 

 works, and such owner must actually re- 

 side upon and cultivate his land. 



The policy of national irrigation is 

 broadly paternal, yet it is so thoroughly 

 common sense and business-like that the 

 wonder is it was not adopted long ago. 

 With the examples of other nations in 

 similar works constantly before us for 

 years, it is well nigh inexplicable that our 

 nation, the most progressive in the world, 

 should have been so tardy in initiating 

 the work upon which it finally engaged 

 less than five years ago. 



THE PROJECTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION WILL 

 RECLAIM AN AREA EQUAE TO THE TOTAL 

 ACREAGE IN CROPS OF CONNECTICUT, 

 MASSACHUSETTS, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 

 AND FLORIDA 



The full importance of national recla- 

 mation is obtainable only by comparison. 

 The twenty-five projects upon which the 

 government is now engaged, when devel- 

 oped to their full extent, will add 

 3,198,000 acres to the crop-producing 

 area of the United States. Add to these 

 thirteen other projects which are held in 

 abeyance, pending the completion of the 

 first mentioned, and which will reclaim 

 3,270,000 acres, and we have a grand total 

 of 6,468,000 acres. This enormous area 

 today is practically worthless. It returns 

 revenues neither to the states in which it 

 is located, nor to the nation to which it 

 largely belongs. It is utilized only a 

 short period in each year for grazing no- 

 madic herds that are driven over it. Po- 

 tentially, it is the richest, the most fertile 

 and productive land in the world, and is 

 capable of supporting in comfort an agri- 

 cultural population as dense as can be 

 found in any of the older settled parts of 

 our country. By expending $60,000,000 

 on the 25 engineering works now in 

 process of construction, the Reclamation 



Service will reclaim 3,198,000 acres, or a 

 cultivated area equal to the total acreage 

 in crops in the four states of Connecticut,. 

 Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and 

 Florida. The diversified crops, enor- 

 mous yields from irrigated lands, and the 

 excellent prices for all farm products 

 in the West warrant the assumption that 

 this land will return annually an income 

 larger than the farmers receive in the 

 four states named. For comparison, let 

 us say that the revenues per acre will be 

 the same. It is apparent, then, that this 

 area reclaimed will each year increase the 

 value of farm crops by $60,000,000; it 

 will add $232,000,000 to the taxable prop- 

 erty of the people ; it will furnish homes 

 for 80,000 families on farms and in vil- 

 lages and towns. 



The settlement of the desert will be 

 followed, and in some instances preceded, 

 by the construction of hundreds of miles 

 of railroads, of electric lines, by the de- 

 velopment of power for manufacturing 

 and for municipal and domestic use, by a 

 great building movement, and by in- 

 numerable investments which accompany 

 the creation of commonwealths. All 

 these will aggregate millions of dollars, 

 assuring employment for thousands of 

 skilled and unskilled laborers, and fur- 

 nishing a home market for the bulk of 

 the products of the new farms. This im- 

 mense development of agriculture in the 

 West does not menace the prosperity of 

 the eastern and middle western farmer. 

 Our statistics show that nearly 80 per 

 cent of the desert crops are forage and 

 consmned at home. The products ex- 

 ported are special crops, which are in no 

 sense competitive with eastern grown. 

 The desert's cereal crops do not come 

 east. The Orient has opened wide its 

 doors for desert wheat and barley, for the 

 various forest products, and for the out- 

 put of western coal mines. Western de- 

 velopment means additional markets for 

 eastern manufactured products — cotton, 

 woolens, steel and hardware, boots and 

 shoes, and the high-grade household com- 

 modities. With the enormous increase 



