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Show WORK BY THE GOVERNMENT j ' l Much of a General Nature, Such as 1 Uniform Extension of Accurate Geodetic Control Points. "Irrigation in Texas implies more than the watering of arid lands," said Governor Colquitt of that state, in an address before the National Irrigation congress, held at Salt Lake. "It implies im-plies the watering of wet lands," added the governor, "and the subsequent subse-quent 'unwatering' of both arid and wet lands by means of drainage. "This two-fold feature of irrigation." said the governor, "was demonstrated in the practice of rice irrigation in the coastal prairies, where the average rainfall ranges from 30 to 46 inches annually; and where, by means of irrigation, the state of Texas produces pro-duces more than one-third of the rice grown in the United States- "The legislature of Texas," said the governor, "is having a survey made of all the swamp and overflowed lands in the state, with the view of reclaiming them by this elaborate system sys-tem of drainage. "Undoubtedly the burden of doing the detailed and special part of the surveying will always fall upon the states," remarked the governor, "but much of a general nature at least, should be done by the federal government, gov-ernment, such, in part, for example, as the uniform extension of accurate geodetic control points, and precise level benchmarks, over areas where no basis measurements now exist, and where the regular preliminary topographic topo-graphic mapping by the federal bureaus may be definitely postponed; the measuring in second-feet of the flood volumes in streams and rivers, as well as the minmum flow, with more extensive and uniform record of the climate features governing them; and the more systematic collection of data, and continuous keering of records rec-ords of the underground water supply in areas where such information is vital." An interesting report of conditions In the state of Washington was made to the congress by Gov M. E. Hay. He stated that the irrigated area in his state embraced 400,000 acres but that as soon as projects now under construction are completed the irrigated irri-gated area will be 800,000 acres additional. ad-ditional. He estimated that the possible irrigable irrig-able area in the state was over 3,000,-000 3,000,-000 acres. This does not include the western portion of the state where heavy rainfalls obviate the necessity of artificial irrigation. Although lumber has been generally regarded as the main source of the wealth of Washington, the governor madej;he astonishing statement that, it would not be long before the products pro-ducts of the irrigated farms of the state would rival in wealth the combined com-bined returns of cereal farms and the lumber industry. The governor stated that the public pub-lic service commission in his state was keeping an eagle eye out for all fraudulent irrigation projects and land grabbing schemes in the determination determina-tion of preserving of the lands for the home builders. |