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Show ANCIENT ART OF IRRIGATION Projects In Intarmountaln Statea Not Discovery of Our Age. But Old aa Man Himself. We are talking it great deal shout I Irrigation these days, now that the rovernment baa taken bold of tbe Jod of storing th waters and using tbem for power, for transportation and for Irrigation. We are disposed to think that thlM Ih a new discovery of man, one of the bright and shining successes suc-cesses of the nlnetenth century. We are prone to forget that the Indian In the southwest practiced irrigation hundreds of years ago, abundant proof of which U found in the remains of Irrigating Ir-rigating ditches. We are prone to forget, even if we read our HibleM, that Irrigation wr.s practiced In Kgypt In the days of Moses. It may be a surprise to some to know that civilization civili-zation has always begun In rainless countries; I hut the ancient civilization of Media and Persia was sustained by irrigation. It may surprise otir readers read-ers when we say that this land Is desert now simply because the Inhabitants Inhab-itants have forgotten the art of Irrigation. Irri-gation. That country Is full or the remains of ancient Irrigation ditches; and It is likely to be one of the great food supplying countries coun-tries of the world. The water is stored In a way quite similar to that In which we are storing water In tbe Rockies, and applied to the land. It may be still more surprising to know that as a matter of fact the English engineers are grinding up the actual bricks In the old Tower of Habel. mentioned In tho eleventh chapter of Genesis, for the making of concrete dams, In order to store the flood waters of the mountains of that country. coun-try. So It will be seen that our Irrigation Irriga-tion projects In tho Intermoimtaln states nre not a discovery of our age. but that tho plan Is almoHt as old as mini himself. Solomon once Incidentally Incidental-ly remarked that there was "nothing new under the sun." and every year wo are finding verification of the wisdom of this remark. |