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The National Geographic Magazine 



a small amount, while from North 

 Dakota there has come an enormous 

 fund. In the latter state there is little 

 possibility of development by irrigation 

 because of the difficult)' of finding irri- 

 gable lands and an adequate water 

 supply. North Dakota and Oregon and 

 Oklahoma have large funds. In Okla- 

 homa, with its subhumid climate, there 

 is little need of irrigation development, 



Floating through Gunnison Channel, Using a Rubber 

 Bed as a Raft (page 27) 



and in fact it is almost impossible to 

 find any reclamation project of consider- 

 able magnitude in that territory. 



PRESENT RECLAMATION WORK 



Examinations leading to construction 

 are being carried on widely. At the 

 points where dams may be erected for 

 water storage the foundations must be 

 studied, and for this purpose diamond 

 drills are used to ascertain the character 



of the bed rock. Work of construction 

 has been begun in two localities — one in 

 Nevada and the other in Arizona. In 

 Nevada the work in hand is that on a 

 canal to take w T ater from Truckee River 

 into lower Carson reservoir site. Lake 

 Tahoe, at the head of the Truckee 

 River, is the highest large lake in the 

 United States and in many respects is 

 an ideal reservoir site, and its waters if 

 wisely used will go far 

 to promote the pros- 

 perity of Nevada. 



In California, over 

 the state line from Ne- 

 vada, are opportunities 

 for water storage. In 

 the mountains are little 

 valleys in which water 

 can be held. It is im- 

 possible for Nevada, as 

 a state, to utilize these 

 reservoir sites, as it can- 

 not go across the state 

 line. The national gov- 

 ernment is alone cap- 

 able of doing this work. 

 A dam put across Car- 

 son River near its lower 

 end will flood back the 

 water and make an im- 

 mense reservoir, capa- 

 ble of supplying several 

 hundred thousand acres 

 of land which is now 

 absolutely desert and 

 almost impossible to 

 cross. 



The interstate char- 

 acter of these problems 

 of reclamation is exceedingly compli- 

 cated. The Rio Grande, rising in Colo- 

 rado and flowing through New Mexico, 

 forms the boundary between Texas and 

 Mexico ; the Arkansas rises in Colorado 

 and flows through Kansas, Oklahoma; 

 Indian Territory, and Arkansas ; the 

 South Platte and North Platte flow from 

 Wyoming into Nebraska ; the head 

 waters of the Colorado rise in Colorado, 

 flow through Utah, and form the bound- 



