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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



present state is uninhabited and worth- 

 less. To those who dwell on the Atlantic 

 slope it seems a far cry to the Great 

 American Desert in which this work is 

 going forward. Our country is of such 

 vast extent, and the desert is so little 

 known, that the average Easterner gives 

 but slight heed to this particular phase 

 of our industrial development, dismissing 

 the subject as of no personal moment. A 

 more careful consideration of all the fac- 

 tors involved in national reclamation 

 makes it apparent that in many essential 

 particulars the creation of a new com- 

 monwealth in the arid West possesses 

 features of interest to every manufactur- 

 ing city in the East. The completion of 

 each engineering work initiates agricul- 

 tural development. Compact farming 

 communities are quickly established in 

 the zones of irrigation ; villages, towns, 

 and cities follow. Railroads extend their 

 branches to the remotest limits of the 

 new country, bringing the commerce of 

 the world to new markets. In a financial 

 way every large manufacturer in the 

 East is interested in the development 

 which is thus promoted. Eor many years 

 to come the hundreds of thousands of 

 settlers must look to the East for what 

 they wear, for machinery of all kinds, 

 for many of the necessaries and most of 

 the luxuries they require. 



homes for one million families 



Viewed from other than the commer- 

 cial aspect, the work of reclamation is of 

 national interest, because it will tend in 

 some measure to relieve the overcrowd- 

 ing and congestion of older settled por- 

 tions of the country. A conservative 

 estimate is that 30,000,000 acres of land 

 will be reclaimed in the arid West. On 

 this basis there will be homes on the 

 land for more than a million families. 

 Each family on the farm will support 

 another family in the urban communities 

 which will rise in these new agricultural 

 districts. 



Looking forward to 1950, when our 

 population is likely to be 150,000,000, 

 who can measure the importance of a 

 work which will guarantee homes and 



employment for ten millions of people,, 

 and which will bring into cultivation such 

 a vast food-producing area. 



National reclamation gave a wonder- 

 ful impetus to private enterprise, and as- 

 tonishing success in the settlement of 

 large areas has followed the efforts of a 

 number of corporations working in con- 

 junction with state governments. There 

 is more activity on the part of individ- 

 uals in irrigation work today than in any 

 previous time in our history. The de- 

 velopment and growth of our arid states 

 and territories during the past five years 

 have been amazing. Land values have 

 steadily risen and the much-desired sub- 

 division of large holdings is increasing 

 with the rise in values. I believe the 

 time will come, and at no distant day, 

 when the big land-owner will be regarded 

 as an undesirable citizen, and laws will be 

 enacted or taxes so assessed as to make 

 it unprofitable to maintain vast estates 

 of which only small portions are pro- 

 ductive, and which furnish no employ- 

 ment for the people. To my mind one of 

 the most cheering features of the present 

 growth of the West is this breaking up 

 of the great estates, many of which were 

 taken from the public domain by methods 

 more or less questionable. Here and 

 there are vast tracts of land held in 

 single ownership, or by corporations, 

 which interpose a barrier to the land- 

 hungry and offer obstacles to the proper 

 development of the country. 



In the main, however, the tendency 

 strongly is to subdivide. The great cat- 

 tle ranches are being cut up in quarter- 

 section farms, and four homes or more 

 to the square mile dot a landscape which 

 a short time ago held perhaps only a lone 

 ranch house within the radius of vision. 

 Ten years ago I drove for two days 

 across a part of Montana and never saw 

 a spot where the virgin sod had been 

 turned. You cannot drive a mile in any 

 direction in that section today without 

 seeing cultivated land. 



THE VERSATILITY OE THE WEST 



Versatility is not confined to any one 

 locality in the West. In the majesty and 



