CHAPTER VIII 

 IRRIGATION 



IfiHiGATioiir is the process of watering land by artificial 

 means and is widely practiced in the arid and semi-arid 

 apple regions throughout the western states. 



The history of irrigation dates from the earliest times. 

 Egyptian and Babylonian records show clearly that irriga- 

 tion was known several thousand years b. c. Irrigation 

 in America was practiced in prehistoric times by Indian 

 tribes of the Southwest, but the first irrigation by English 

 speaking people of the United States was by the Mormons 

 near Salt Lake City, Utah. Under the guidance of Brig- 

 ham Young, the Mormons succeeded in turning the waters 

 from the canyons and streams into the desert and first 

 proved the possibilities of western irrigation. The history 

 of the western fruit regions in nearly every case dates 

 from the time that water was put on the land. The Wen- 

 atchee district as recently as 1900 was largely a barren 

 desert. Now it is one of the leading apple regions of the 

 world, producing 12,000 cars of box apples in 1919. 



Irrigation as a factor in the commercial apple industry 

 of North America is confined to the apple-growing regions 

 west of the Mississippi and the Okanogan district of 

 British Columbia. It is most widely practiced in the 

 Pacific Northwest. Practically all of the Idaho, Wash- 

 ington, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and much of the 



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