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DRY-FARMING CONGRESS, WICHITA, 1914 



The birthplace of irrigation in the United States was in the state of 

 Utah. The first irrigation was practiced in that state about 1847. We 

 have a man with us this afternoon who comes from the state of Utah, who 

 I am sure will be able to entertain us with a very instructive address on 

 "Supplementing the Natural Precipitation by Subterranean Waters." 



We will now have the pleasure of listening to Mr. Lewis A. Merrill, 

 Agricultural Commissioner, Salt Lake Route, Salt Lake City, Utah. 



Address of Mr. Merrill 



SUPPLEMENTING THE NATURAL PRECIPITATION BY SUBTERRA- 

 NEAN WATERS 



The utilization by pumping of the natural underground waters is 

 bringing in a new era in the agricultural development of western America. 

 It has been remarked recently by a conservative authority that in the 

 future more land will be irrigated by means of the pump than is now 

 irrigated from the natural surface streams. 



We have, by no means reached the limit of utilization of our moun- 

 tain streams. Much of the water now wasted in flood time may yet be 

 made use of by building storage reservoirs. The water now wasted by 

 over irrigation in some of our older communities, may be distributed over 

 more acres and thus materially increase the irrigated area of these com- 

 munities, bringing a corresponding stimulus to their prosperity. Many 

 thousands of acres of water-logged land may be reclaimed by drainage and 

 a double benefit ensue by providing more water for irrigation. But the 

 greatest single factor affecting our growth agriculturally is the use which 

 will be made of the pump both in raising water from streams to higher 

 levels and in utilizing the natural underground supply which is otherwise 

 lost. 



Much of the land which is being developed under the enlarged home- 

 stead act for dry-farm purposes cannot be depended upon with our present 

 knowledge and skill, to produce crops profitably. A large part of the land 

 which has been settled upon during the past three years lies in sections 

 where rainfall is very limited and great areas of this land have soil of 

 such a nature as to require more water than is supplied through the 

 natural rains for the productions of good crops. Hence, in such cases 

 there is but one thing to do: Procure water for supplementing the de- 

 ficient rainfall. 



Back in the schooldays of most of us we can remember that south 

 of the Great Salt Lake our geographies showed a vast unpopulated area 

 in many of the textbooks set down as a desert region. 



Down along the east of this great area stretched the Wasatch Moun- 

 tains with their various tributary ranges only partially explored and even 

 the little communities which had sprung up beside the water courses open- 



