| Show IRRIGATIONOGRE3S Increased Attendance From Wyom lug Montana and Kansas SENATOR WARREN TALKEI NECESSARY TO SECURE LThEE AL APPROPRIATIONS Paper On the Obstacles to Settlement and the Best Means to Overcome Them Enlisted Debate In Which iVantland of Utah Participated Next Meeting Place Cheyenne Sept 2The National Irriga lion congress opened promptly at 10 oclock this morning with an increased attendance a number of additional dde gates from Colorado Wyoming Montana and Kansas having arrived Before pre1 ceeding with the regular programme call of states before adjournment was dared to name members of national earn mittee and the matter of selecting a pImeo for the next annual meeting was made a special order for 4 oclock today the report of Colonel H B Maxsnn member of the committee appointed by the Lincoln congress to go to Washington Washing-ton was tho first regular order Colonel Maxsons report was Important in that the committee had succeeded in framing a bill wlmich secured the united support of the house committee on arid lands This bill lirovides that states taking advantage ad-vantage of the Iarey law shall have text years from the date of linal segregation to reclaim The state may file through a local land 0111cc for temporary segregation for a period of four months aFiiure to 1110 maps and plans within this period works of rofeiture of the effort Upon final segregation the desert character of the land will be held to be finally set tIed Both Congressmen Sbafroth and Jenkins waived the right to push their in dividualibiils in support of the committee bill but since the war with Spain the whoio matter has lain in abeyance The report was applauded and the committee received the thanks of the congress Tho report caused some discussion which was not completed but will be taken up later INTERESTING PAPER F S Nettleton of Colorado read a very interesting statistical paper upon the subject sub-ject The Successes and Failures itt Canal Building and tho Causes Thereof President Carey introdeced Mr Nettle ton by saying he was the most highly esteemed es-teemed among the pioneers of irrigation because of the great work he had done during many years Colonel 2ettieton divided irrIgation enterprises into three heads Corporation Cooperation arid Colony and exhaustively described th methods and motives of each In support of his statement that irrigation works were not failures ho told of actual conditions con-ditions in Colorado Large enterprises undertaken during the past 25 years hart returned no r venue to the investors but benelicient results were nevertheless evl dent In iSIS Colorado had 150000 acrebl irrigated of a value of 4eO0i The valU4 of the land of Colorado before her irZp tion enterprises were begun was estimated esti-mated at the double minimum rate 17 10100 theIr present value under irrigation is S7000 O an increase of 512 per cent The net increase of wealth to the state was 2IOIXI000 SENATOR WARREN TALKS The afternoon session of the congress was opened by Senator F 1 Warren uport what the congress is doing in aId of urn gatlon Senator Warren confessed at the start that the discussion of what the congress had mot done in aid of irrigation offered a much wider field than that confined con-fined to what had been done The desert land law was the iirst cvi dence of congressional interest in recia matioa of arid lands by IrrIgation This act was followed by repressive legislation but during the past five years a marked change had occurred The Carey act was an evidence of this conditiomm but this act had been altered by subsequent legisla Lion However there was a hopeful sido shown by the spirit apd temper of the last congress The upper house had given much time to debate in favor of national construction of reservoirs and the larger canals Senator Warren said the time for investigation was past The field was now ready for actual work anti liberal appropriations to perfect this work must be secured The progress made in preserving the forests was a step ahead and the department of agriculture with a western man at the head had rnruie a good beginning Senator Warren believed the government should water the iands Hon E F Best of the interior depart mont then read a paper upon the Nation at Forest Reservea and the Relationship of Forestry and Irrigation Judge Best said the whole heart of the secretary of the interior was in this problem of preserving pre-serving the forests lie said the preserve tion of the water supply was the tnost Important factor in the problem Thi was in many instances the sole modv sor th establishment of reservation Judge Best spoke of the intimate relations rela-tions between the forest anti the liowing stream the latter always being at the maximum when the former was undisturbed undis-turbed A very earnest debate followed during which President Carey spoke in high terms of Secretary Bliss as the head of the interior denartmeat OBSTACLES TO SET1LEMENT State Engineer Mend of Wyoming in an able address spoke on The Obstacles to Settlement In the Arid RegIon and the blest Means of Overcoming Them antI Judge Emery of Kansas lea th imscusslin on the topic rime Storage of Water Obstacles to Settlement in the Arid Re glens was ably handled by J A John I SON superintendent of waterdivision No I iii yommng In the debate upon this topic Mr Mend graphically portrayed the obstacles to settlement as experience had shown them Capital was needed to make set tleznent by the poor man possible and ho believed that an easy way to get it was to cede the grazing lands to the states and let hem lease them thus securing 51010000 to promote irrigation AIr Want land of Utah also spoke on this topic remarking re-marking that the congress was lasng sight of the purpose for which it was organized or-ganized viz the disposition of the arid lands At 5 oclock the congress selected Men tans as the state in which to h id the next annuat meeting The city will be selected by the executive committee later Adjournment was then had until 10 oclock tomorrow imme fommowung were made members of the executive committee of he congress for the ensuing year H I Kellogg Colorado S M Knox Illinois J H Churchill Kansas it W Silvester Maryland Thomas Knight Knight Mtssopni J D ODonnell Mon lana M 31 Cutcheon Michigan T C Frost Minnesota 11 Dougherty Na braska H B Maxson Nevada S N Smith South Dakota H McCllntock Arizona Judge Shurtliff Utah |
