| OCR Text |
Show UNCLE SAM'S PLANS FOR IRRIGATION Government Consulting Engineer From California Gives Some Pointers Point-ers on the Work in Hand. Wil. SANDERS of Los Angeles, one of the chief consulting en-f en-f gineers of the Government reclamation service, was In the city yesterday, having stopped off for a few hours on the way to Montrose, Colo., Where, he is to consult with other engineers on the Gunnison irrigation" project. He has juHt completed examinations exami-nations of the projects on Milk river, in Wyoming, at Shoshone. iVla., and Cody, Wyo. "It is the policy of the Government," said Mr. Sanders, who spent IiIb lime in the citj' at the local reclamation headquarter.1, "to push all of the pro-Jectn pro-Jectn it has undertaken with the greatest dispatch possible. Some of them are delayed by conflicts of water right or other causes over which the Government haa not direct control, but these matters are in mort cases being adjuated without serious difficulty. I understand that the Utah projects are ln good form and will be carried through JuHt as rapidly as the water users become preparc-tl for them. The department is ready, with ample forces at hand, io take ip any meritorious proposition that the people want and complete It in good time. "Tou certainly have a beautiful valley val-ley here, and evidently a most productive produc-tive one." continued Mr. Sanders, who Is a California pioneer and an enthusiast en-thusiast on the subject of agriculture. "It looks more like the Los Angeles country than any other place I have visited. There Is no, danger of overestimating over-estimating the value 'to your splendid city of the development of the agricultural agri-cultural resources of these valleys. The market for agricultural products is growing more rapidly than is the supply. While the mining industry la of course, an important one, it is the history of the country that no great cities have been built by mining interests inter-ests alone. Mines must be exhausted In time. but . agriculture, once developed, Is permanent. In California communities communi-ties once made prosperous by mining are now dead, while there appears to be no limit to the growth of agricultural communities'. Lands which a few years ago were worth ?15 and ?20 an acre are row worth foOO and 51000 an acre, the advance being due to the securing of water for Irrigation. Tour valleys, like those of California, have the soil, and need only water to transform them Into an earthly paradise. "One thing your farmers have yet to learn, I notice, is thc economical use of water, more water being wasted than Is actually utilized. In connection with the Government irrigation projects a campaign of education on this point will he inaugurated. Farmers will be permitted to take only the amount of water they ned. even though they might bo willing to pay for more. The Government will protect them against themselves." |
