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Show WATER SECURED FOR FERTILEJJTAH LAND Conservation of Supply in State Being Worked Out to Increase Crops. IRRIGATION EXTENDED Thousands of Acres Formerly For-merly Idle Will Now Be Cultivated. Kviiry fc.-illrn of wnt:r that can "ba con-fi-r v id of oh t 'lined this year will be turned upon the fertile lands of Utah for i lie purpose f iacr easing the production of cnpK In the highest possible point. Sonio week.H ;ik, W. VV. Armntron, I it) r'orxl iidrnliu.slrator, conceived the idea t hai. ii vuHt amount of water wan Iwirm' ust:l for punioses other than crop prodiK tiun. ih;u was needed upon the larulA of the mUi te, and he" forthwith evolved a pl;iri by which every available gallon nf water could be usud for the .Male's one tfrefit need Increase In crops. In aeron Ian co with hia idea, M r. Arrn-Mnm'-i named a commit tee on i rriu r ion, fjiiM.il In K of I r. .1 . A. Wid Lsoe, presi-d-nt of tin! Lniversil y of Utah, chairman; kirhaid K. J..vnian, ;ilso of the University of Utah, and ( . VV. Inr ucl.son, of the 1 I ifah Agricultural college, to lake the ' matter up, with a view to obtaining re-h'a.-icM of water, whero possible, and In oi !n r cases to etTeet trades that would he hei-t'lcial to the slate at la rye. Mr. A rniMl ron also eaJled J, Kdward Taylor to his assistance and avn Mr. Tavlor full authoriiy to act as tie deemed best In the matter of securing extra witter and water releases. Ilotli the committee and M r. Taylor have worked diligently, and the announcement Is made that they h;ive succeeded beyond their expectations. expecta-tions. Method Is Outlined. The met hod belm? pursued can best be U lost ruled by tho following concrete example: What is known aa tho mill race at I'rovu carries a larce body of water, which has been used for power purposes by the Kniyht Woolen mills and other manufacturing plants in the Garden City, t'nder an .nieuuriilM made by Mr. Taylor this water has boen released by the owners own-ers and will ho. used to irrigate a bis a iva of la mis in the northern part of I' la h county and the southern part of JSalt. l,akn county. II i,s said that IIJ.OOO acres will thus be in lotted that otherwise would be without Witter. Arrangements have been made to furnish electric power to the factories which formerly used the water power. The water will be distributed through the ditches of the Provo Heser-voir Heser-voir & Irrigation company. Tho Utah I'nwer & Light company, which formerly used a portion of this flow, has donated II lor the purpose stated. In other cases throughout the state Mi'rnuKements havo been made to trade water, where low lands have more than rhey need and high lands are suffering; and. in fact, every canal company and every private owner thus far seen has assured the food administration that every effort will be made to see that not a gallon of water that can be used for Increased crop production will be permitted per-mitted to go to waste. Extra Water Secured. In l-foxelder county tho Amalgamated Sutuir company, which owns tho bi Hammond Ham-mond canal, has assured the food administration admin-istration that extra water, arranged for iti that county, will be distributed by the company, and that In addition it will endeavor en-deavor to supply a portion of its own canal flow to farmers who are in need of extra water. The same willingness to help the food administration in every possible way is also shown by other irrigation companies and private owners throughout the state and the result will be that many thousand? thou-sand? of acres of land that otherwise would remain Idle will be cultivated to the fullest extent. Irrigation companies also have assured the food administration that they will conserve their own water in every possible pos-sible numner to the end that none shall be wasted and that every gallon will be made to count. The importance of conserving water is emphasized in letters recently sent out by Mr. Armstrong and Dr. Widtsoe. The letter of Mr. Armstrong follows: Letters Sent Out. With a world-wide shortage of food, a tremendously large responsibility responsi-bility is placed upon the farmers of tho irrigated section. "With the water at their disposal they must produce, w it bout failures, the largest possible quantity of foodstuffs. This may be done only by using water economically, economical-ly, and applying the surplus that may be saved on lands that do not now have enough water; by developing develop-ing a larger water supply from pumping pump-ing and other means, and by applying apply-ing to the lands of drainage systems the limited quantity of water that they need. Our country calls for aid; this is no time to stand on ceremony and precedents. The irrigation season is upon us: many people are using more water than their crops need, while large areas, usually higher-lying lands, are suffering for want of water. No hesitation should be felt in diverting the use of water from one parcel of land to another for fear of jeopardizing jeopar-dizing water rights, for in these days of great national concern, one consideration consid-eration only is before use we must win the war; and precedents for times of peace are not established by war pracr ices. The agricultural power of Utah is measured by the quantity and use of our water. It is a patriotic duty to increase that power as far as possible by the wise and proper use of water on lands. By an economical use of the water now available our c ro p production could well be increased one-third. The food administration Veeis under the necessity of placing this matter before the "farmers and all other citizens of the state, and urging that it be given immediate and serious attention. "We have no hesitation in making to the people of Utah this appeal for a more economical economi-cal use of w a t e r. for t h cy we re the first in the United States to convert, by irrigation, the desert into a commonwealth, com-monwealth, and they will not flinch before t he present duty of making the art they founded give double help m this day of our common need. |