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Show iUte or Wealth. If the great volumeof watcrwhlch is rushing through thu or th wet could be stored In reservoirs and utilised for irrigation, every acre of arid laud in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon could bu made to blossom as a roe. Ken if a part or this water could be turned upon cultivated cultivat-ed ground we should scon be able to record an appreciable inereaSu in tlie precipitation of moisture. Instead In-stead of rustling mojly to tho sea it would bo alcorbed by the thirsty earth. Then the hi n woukl suck it up again, and in the cool nights of this region it would onco mora be precipitated in thu form of light showers or heavy dens. Thus molstute, starting urou the liIBh plateaus of Idaho, might rle und fall a dozen times before it reached the great ocean. Tills theory has been generally accei ted by scientists scien-tists who roaku a study of meteorology. meteor-ology. It exjbins the Increased rainfall of that arid stretch once known as thu 'Great American Difcrt," and the partial natural reclamation re-clamation of lands once valucles for agriculture. Xo rroblcm of greater Intercut or Importance la now before thu American people. Wo know that the rainfall of thu region lying vve-t of the Missies! pi Hirer is sufficient to make arable every acre of deiert land. Thu question fur determination Is how eau this waste of water best bo overcome over-come and turned to advantage? Since the wealth that would bu aided to the nation by the reclamation reclama-tion of tills vast area is so great Hut it la-ees beyond comj utatiou, any system that proposes a temporary expedient would tie fallacious. This !sacaewheru tlie value of tlie im provement must bo measured by thu extent of the outlay. A system of artesian wells might 1 rove ad-vant ad-vant geous in some localities', but these stctlcus aru koluted and net of geLeral extent, aud there Is asen-ous asen-ous i reliability that tho How of thiMiwells might be lowered by n general report to irrigation. At ail events the attempt would be in tlie nature of an experiment. Thesor-agu Thesor-agu system, on the other liami, lavs stood thu tot of centuries of applies tion. Aneieutrulus throughout the deserts of Asia httel the knowledge in tiiis direction of nations longsincu vauUhed from the face of the earth. History tells us that many arid stretches long since abandoned by niaukiud were once seats of rich and poiUlou9 empires. Defeat in war and tho destruction of reservoirs reser-voirs nud canals were followed by desolation. In thU direction the United States has nothing to fear. The arid regions to e reclaimed aru not hemmed In by ho-tlle nations, as was thu case with Assyria and other empires ion,; Since the prey of dowi fall nu.l desolation. U Ithln a feu decade, at furthest, the arable part of the West will present i o longer a field nf Industrial conquest. Attention will then be turned to tlie arid regions'. Then laudsthat to-day aru without a dollar of value will bo In demand, Jut as nrvlle lands that were worthless a generation ago liaveliowatquirud value by the settlement sett-lement of the West and the Increase In demand. Spolanc FtiUt JCenete. |