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The National Geographic Magazine 



ing of the engineers. A year ago last 

 spring I drove across this tract of land 

 with the supervising engineer, and we 

 camped for the night on the banks of the 

 river at a point which we marked out as 

 the site for the future metropolis of the 

 valley. In fact we drew a rough plan of 

 the town, which was afterward enlarged 

 and then approved by the department. 



That night, save for our own camp- 

 fire there was no other evidence of human 

 habitation within 30 miles of us ; only 

 a vast expanse of sage brush extending 

 to the horizon on every side. Last Octo- 

 ber, in a passenger coach, I went over the 

 same route, traveling on a new line of 

 railroad. I passed three new towns hav- 

 ing a total of more than 120 business 

 houses, including three newspapers, one 

 private and two state banks. Every 80 

 acres under that project has a dwelling 

 upon it, and where a little over a year ago 

 the desert was in full control, there now 

 dwell nearly 4,000 people. All of this 

 development has taken place before the 

 water has actaully been supplied to a 

 single acre. Next spring Uncle Sam will 

 hold a public sale on this project, when 

 he will put on the market the lots em- 

 braced in the three town sites which have 

 been laid out thereon. 



An effort is being made to secure the 

 consent of Congress to permit the money 

 received from the sale of these town lots 

 to be loaned to these towns for the con- 

 struction of water works and sewerage 

 systems, the money to be repaid in ac- 

 cordance with the provisions of the rec- 

 lamation act and the work to be done 

 by the government. 



THE VAEEEY 0E SNAKE RIVER IN WYOMING 



A tremendous development has taken 

 place in the last few years in the great 

 valley of Snake River, and approxi- 

 mately 1,000,000 acres have been re- 

 claimed from the desert. All of the nor- 

 mal flow of this stream above Glenn's 

 Ferry is now utilized and the further ex- 

 tension of irrigation works makes the 



question of flood storage an exceedingly 

 important one. This question has not 

 been overlooked, and the government has 

 reserved numerous lakes at the head- 

 waters of the Snake in Wyoming, and in 

 the near future will begin the construc- 

 tion of storage works. Water rights are 

 being adjudicated and a plan is being 

 formulated whereby all of the canal sys- 

 tems, by contributing to the cost of these 

 works, may have their water supply in- 

 creased. 



THE AMERICAN NIEE 



It is a far cry from Idaho to Egypt, but 

 not so far after all if we remember that 

 there is an American Egypt and an 

 American Nile. Rising in the snow- 

 capped mountains of western Colorado- 

 and Wyoming, the Colorado, America's 

 Nile, drains an area of 230,000 square 

 miles and pours a turbid flood into the 

 Gulf of California. In its lower valley r 

 the climate, soil, and products are singu- 

 larly like those of the great valley of 

 Egypt. Here the date palm grows in all 

 its tropical luxuriance, and the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture is only waiting the 

 advent of canal-borne water to introduce 

 more than 200 varieties of this fruit. 

 Here the orange and pomelo produce 

 abundantly. It is a spot where Nature 

 smiles the whole year upon the labors of 

 the husbandman, and it is so hot that 

 dwellers there are said not to worry 

 about their future home. 



Across the great Colorado River, about 

 12 miles above Yuma, the government is 

 throwing a dam the like of which this 

 country has never seen before. It is of 

 the East India weir type, a great mass of 

 masonry resting upon sand. This style 

 of dam was made necessary for the rea- 

 son that no bed rock was found at this 

 site, nor was any found at any other point 

 on the Colorado where it would have been 

 feasible to construct a dam for irrigat- 

 ing the lower valley. The Laguna dam 

 will have an extreme length across chan- 

 nel of 4,780 feet. Its height will be only 



