FARM ORGANIZATION IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA. 13 
trouble with the heirs of an old Spanish land grant, who claimed 
title to the land. Their claims were purchased by the Yuma 1 'limp- 
ing Irrigation Co., and its title to the lands was confirmed by the 
Court of Private Land Claims. This decision was reversed by the 
Supreme Court, and about 1895 the land was thrown open to settlers 
by special act of Congress. 
In 1907 three irrigating companies were supplying water to ap- 
proximately 6,000 acres of farm lands in the valley, by means of 
pumping plants. These pumping plants and their canal systems were 
purchased by the United States Reclamation Service in 1907 and 
1908. Irrigation by pumping was continued until 1912 when gravity 
water developed by the project at Laguna Dam was conducted to 
the valley through a large syphon under the Colorado River. The 
development of the lands has progressed rather slowly since that 
date. In 1910 approximately 10,000 acres were irrigated, most of 
this land being in Yuma Valley, on the Arizona side. In 1915 
water was furnished by the project to a total of 27,000 acres, approxi- 
mately 22,000 acres of which are in Yuma Valley, on the Arizona 
side of the river. 
While the general topography of the valley is level, the immediate 
surface is rough, due to old river washes and lagoons, and to more 
recent sand dunes. This makes preparation for irrigation difficult 
and expensive. The average cost of clearing land and leveling it 
for irrigation approximates $40 per acre. Lack of sufficient capital 
to do this work properly has retarded the development of the valley 
and it has been further retarded by the high prices at which unde- 
veloped lands are held for sale by their present owners. 
GILA VALLEY. 
This valley lies near the center of Graham County and extends 
from San Jose, a few miles above Solomonville, the county seat, 
to San Carlos. It contains about 24,000 acres of irrigated lands, the 
greater portion lying on the south side of the Gila River, which 
furnishes the water for irrigation. There is no Government irriga- 
tion project here and no storage water is available. The river is 
subject to periodic floods occurring during the rainy seasons, and since 
the diversion dams are of a temporary nature (see fig. 4) they have 
to be renewed or repaired after each flood. There is usually an 
ample supply of water, however, for the lands under cultivation, 
though' temporary shortage sometimes occurs in June, when the river 
is at its lowest stage. The soils are of alluvial origin and vary in 
texture from light sands to heavy clays. They are described and 
mapped in a bulletin 1 issued in 1903 by the Bureau of Soils of the 
United States Department of Agriculture. There is evidence that 
1 A Soil Survey of the Solomonville Area, Arizona. 
