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Show WATKI! TOIi A; I). Would .Wan Great Mining Jc vel'-pment--Ln -told .Mineral Wealth Dependent Upon Irrigation. Secy. National Irrigation Assn. J A great, share of the We.-', is todav al most as much an und iscovered 'Mii:m try as it was before the cry of gold was heard from California. Mountains of untold richness lie undeveloped and desolate, surrounded by burning plains and barren wastes. Not only gold but the baser metals Kre locked in countless tons in the rocky bosom of the western sierras. And why are they not mined' Why docs not capital flow in to make the boulder and the earth unburden their treasures for man's use? Why? Because of lack of water. Because of lack of transportation. Torrents of immense volume rush down the slopes during the period of melting snows and spread away in glistening streams through the brown valleys or over broader plains, but in a little while their volume wanes and anou they are but dry beds of sand, supporting support-ing no life nor growth. Yet were the vast bulk of this waste water stored in mountain reservoirs it would afford a perennial supply, capable of irrigating millions of acres of land whose great fertility has lain dry and doruient for thousands of years. Then would the mines be developed. In sections where irrigation has forced its way, there railroads have gladly followed, and with the soil yielding the necessaries of life to man and beast in abundance and with cheap transportation at hand, mines have been developed and added millions to the mineral output, Which otherwise would have lain dormant forever. |