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Show VJate? a Feasfc f Faeiaainie lira TSie AffSdl Labels off the Wesft Do Reclamation Projects Pay Their Way? Water is such a common commodity com-modity that most of us don't think about it. It's like the air we breathe, always there when we need it. But in the arid reaches of the western part of the United States, water is neither so common, nor is it always available. When it rains in many places in the United States, the downpour down-pour is a mere inconvenience. But in desert country, rain is never an inconvenience; when it comes, it is one of God's greatest blessings. bless-ings. Sometimes rain goes beyond a blessing; sometimes it comes all in a rush and then the rivulets swell into bank-high streams, and dry rivers turn into raging torrents. Once-dry rivers thran-form thran-form themselves into frightening angry masses of relentless water, and many miles of fertile countryside are flooded sometimes some-times with much loss of life and always with the destruction of valuable property. In the arid West, water is always al-ways a problem. It is a problem by its absence, and too often when it comes, water is a problem prob-lem because it comes too quickly and with too much destructive force. Help Needed So, many years ago the people who live in the West called on the national government to help them with the problem of water. And reclamation projects were begun. Some of them were dreams for many years before they became realities; many others oth-ers still are in the dream stage. But little by little, the water sources of the West have begun to be tamed. The story of reclamation is not a story of Republican or Democratic Demo-cratic administrations; both political po-litical parties have let their support sup-port to the solving of the problems prob-lems of the West. That support il r !,'",., , . .- ! , , .., ;. t- ;. .? ' J .. , - f f r - j,-. . I 1 r - ' Si- A 1 ar rf ' ., 1 : ? 'Tit ' ., v. v.. ; ' '' ' I : . ,,.. j "....:' .. ' - Y i . ' ..VI. ' 14. .. '- . . WATER ON THE RAMPAGE Unchecked, rainfall in the arid West turns what could be fertile farm land into ugly ravines. Properly controlled, much unproductive land can be turned into valuable irrigated farms. has been non-partisan and non-political. non-political. The reasons for this support are easily understood; there, is not enough money in any of the Western states to provide the tremendous sums required to control con-trol the rampaging rivers, to build the huge dams which are necessary. Heavy Expense California, Nevada and Arizona could not have supplied the money mon-ey to build Hoover Dam, for instance, in-stance, which was one of the early successful efforts to tame the mighty Colorado. And California, alone, could not have supplied the money for Shasta Dam, which controls the Sacramento 'River, nor for the vast Friant Kem project which regulates the flow of rivers of the fertile Central Valley. And Oregon and Washington could not have supplied the moiled moil-ed to build Bonneville and Grand Coulee, which are a step towards to-wards the control of the Columbia Colum-bia River. The people in these areas persuaded per-suaded the federal government to ilend the mony for the construction construc-tion of the dams, the irrigation projects and the power projects which accompanied them. That money now is being paid back, with interest. The far-seeing people who proposed pro-posed these vast projects to control con-trol the rivers of the West said that the development of these large dams would pay for the costs of construction, eventually. Many opponents were positive that the dams were a waste of money. Cost Repaid But in the case of almost every reclamation project completed In the West, the claims of the most visionary advocates of the project pro-ject have been exceeded in actuality. ac-tuality. The expansion of the West has been speeded immeasurably by reclamation. Thousands of acres of land only partly usable as grazing land, have been turned into fertile agricultural land, raising valuable cash crops. Crazing land today is worth from $5 to $10 an acre, but that same land, turned into agricultural agricul-tural acreage, is worth from $500 to $1,500 per acre. 1 The government is repaid in Increased In-creased income taxes, in interest payments made by the power portion of the projects; in direct payments by the irrigation districts dis-tricts concerned. And millions of dollars of valuable val-uable property have been placet! on the tax rolls of the states, counties and cities concerned in the West. |
