45/.5 59c WASHINGTON May, 1909 S Yol. XX, No. 5 V Q- yl THE CALL OF THE WEST * Homes are being made for Millions of People in the Arid West By C. J. Blanchard Statistician, U. S. Reclamation Service T HE Call of the West comes to us today insistent and inviting. Formerly it was a Call of the Wild, a voice from out a vast wilderness of mountains, deserts, and plains. The iron horse has conquered distance and the barriers long interposed by vast spaces of waterless desert have been thrown down. Irrigation canals long enough to girdle the globe with triple bands have spread wide oases of green in the arid places. Cheerful, prosperous communities dot a landscape once vacant and voiceless. The Great Plains invite the scientific farmer to overcome the lack of rain by intelligent methods of cultivation and wisdom in seed selection. The unsurveyed and unexplored moun¬ tains await the prospector to disclose mineral riches untold. Countless streams rushing downward from snowy summits, unchecked and uncontrolled, lure the en¬ gineer to harness and utilize for the needs of commerce the power now wasted. The desert — mysterious, silent, expectant, quivering under cloudless skies-—holds a promise of freedom and independence to the careworn and discouraged. It offers the uplift of unmeasured distances and the individual home with that broader freedom of action which comes with life in the open. May not the influence of its far-flung horizons and its true perspective be po¬ tential in character moulding and build¬ ing? The cradle of our civilization was rocked in the desert. Plato and Socrates dreamed their dreams, imbibed their splendid imagery and stately rhetoric in a rainless land. May not our own desert develop new systems of ethics and morals to lead us back from the material to the spiritual, into ways of gentleness and sim¬ ple living. Untouched by plow, unleached by rain, the desert holds fast the accumulated fertility of ages. It awaits the quicken¬ ing kiss of canal-borne water to yield abundant harvests and to provide homes for millions of our people. No national work is of more impor¬ tance today than that of reclaiming for home-builders an empire which in its * An address to the National Geographic Society, April 2, 1909. 404 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE present state is uninhabited and worth¬ less. To those who dwell on the Atlantic slope it seems a far cry to the Great American Desert in which this work is going forward. Our country is of such vast extent, and the desert is so little known, that the average Easterner gives but slight heed to this particular phase of our industrial development, dismissing the subject as of no personal moment. A more careful consideration of all the fac¬ tors involved in national reclamation makes it apparent that in many essential particulars the creation of a new com¬ monwealth in the arid West possesses features of interest to every manufactur¬ ing city in the East. The completion of each engineering work initiates agricul¬ tural development. Compact farming communities are quickly established in the zones of irrigation; villages, towns, and cities follow. Railroads extend their branches to the remotest limits of the new country, bringing the commerce of the world to new markets. In a financial way every large manufacturer in the East is interested in the development which is thus promoted. For many years to come the hundreds of thousands of settlers must look to the East for what they wear, for machinery of all kinds, for many of the necessaries and most of the luxuries they require. HOMES FOR ONE MILLION FAMILIES Viewed from other than the commer¬ cial aspect, the work of reclamation is of national interest, because it will tend in some measure to relieve the overcrowd¬ ing and congestion of older settled por¬ tions of the country. A conservative estimate is that 30,000,000 acres of land will be reclaimed in the arid West. On this basis there will be homes on the land for more than a million families. Each family on the farm will support another family in the urban communities which will rise in these new agricultural districts. Looking forward to 1950, when our population is likely to be 150,000,000, who can measure the importance of a work which will guarantee homes and employment for ten millions of people, and which will bring into cultivation such a vast food-producing area. National reclamation gave a wonder¬ ful impetus to private enterprise, and as¬ tonishing success in the settlement of large areas has followed the efforts of a number of corporations working in con¬ junction with state governments. There is more activity on the part of individ¬ uals in irrigation work today than in any previous time in our history. The de¬ velopment and growth of our arid states and territories during the past five years have been amazing. Land values have steadily risen and the much-desired sub¬ division of large holdings is increasing with the rise in values. I believe the time will come, and at no distant day, when the big land-owner will be regarded as an undesirable citizen, and laws will be enacted or taxes so assessed as to make it unprofitable to maintain vast estates of which only small portions are pro¬ ductive, and which furnish no employ¬ ment for the people. To my mind one of the most cheering features of the present growth of the West is this breaking up of the great estates, many of which were taken from the public domain by methods more or less questionable. Here and there are vast tracts of land held in single ownership, or by corporations, which interpose a barrier to the land- hungry and offer obstacles to the proper development of the country. In the main, however, the tendency strongly is to subdivide. The great cat¬ tle ranches are being cut up in quarter- section farms, and four homes or more to the square mile dot a landscape which a short time ago held perhaps only a lone ranch house within the radius of vision. Ten years ago I drove for two days across a part of Montana and never saw a spot where the virgin sod had been turned. You cannot drive a mile in any direction in that section today without seeing cultivated land. THE VERSATILITY OF THE WEST Versatility is not confined to any one locality in the West. In the majesty and THE CALL OF THE WEST 405 BUILDING A HOMESTEAD oE CONCRETE BLOCKS ON THE TRUCKEE-CARSON IRRIGATION PROJECT, NEVADA (SEE PAGE 427) TYPE OF THE CENTRALIZED GRADED SCHOOLS ON THE HUNTLEY PROJECT, MONTANA Two years ago there was not an inhabitant within miles of this school-house (see page 408) 40 G THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE A TWO-YEAR-OLD HOMESTEAD ON THE TRUCKEE-CARSON PROJECT, NEVADA 200 COLONIES OE BEES ON THE SAME PROJECT (SEE PAGE 427) THE CALL OF THE WEST 407 grandeur of its mountains, lifting their heads into regions of perpetual snow; in forests whose age antedates the birth of the Savior; in canyons whose pic¬ turesque carving consumed centuries upon centuries of time; in landscapes and scenery of such beauty and color as were never shown on canvas; in deserts where life is still elemental and primitive, and where amid the crumbling ruins of de¬ parted races strange people dwell in an atmosphere of dreams and enchantment, and with mythology and legends as in¬ teresting as those of ancient Greece; in all that Nature has ever done to enthrall the senses, to inspire the tongue or pen, the West suffers not by comparison with any part of the Old World. We show but faint regard for all the wonders Na¬ ture has lavished on our country when so few of us ever seek to enjoy them. A few of the millions spent annually by Americans in foreign lands, if expended at home, would make easy of access and enjoyment for thousands of our people many of the splendid attractions of our own country. The man from the West sojourning for a time in the East, if he gives free expression to the pride he rightly feels in his native heath, is likely to be re¬ garded as an apostle of discontent by those who listen. Lucky for him if he does not achieve the reputation for verac¬ ity given to an old fellow in the middle West. The oldest inhabitant and the man who remembered the weather for fifty years back were seated about the stove in the corner grocery one winter’s night discussing the veracity of old Si Perkins. Uncle Bill Simpkins strolled in and took his place near the box of soda-crackers. “Say, Uncle Bill,” they asked him, “would you call Si Perkins a liar?” “Wall,” said Uncle Bill, thoughtfully, as he spat in the stove, “I don’t know as I’d go so fur as to call him a liar exactly, leastways not just plain every-day liar, hut I do know this much: when feedin’ time comes, in order to git any response from his hawgs, he has to git somebody else to call ’em fer him.” It is with no wish to encourage unrest and dissatisfaction with your present in- vironment that I am here tonight. I come rather as a messenger from a far- off and little-known part of our country, bringing a story of progress and achieve¬ ment. It is a story in part of kinfolks of ours whose hearts are fired with the same courage, patriotism, and fortitude which enabled our ancestors to wrest a commonwealth from the New England wilderness. They are imbued with high ideals and noble purposes, and by their achievements are establishing us more firmly in our place among the greatest nations of the earth. the; miracle oe irrigation The miracle of irrigation, which is per¬ formed each year in the arid West, is a most impressive and wonderful mani¬ festation of Nature’s beneficence to man. Throughout the winter season the clouds of heaven are swept hither and thither about the uplifted mountains, whose heads tower a mile above the plain. On their frowning fronts and lofty summits the snows fall heavily, covering deeply every peak and promon¬ tory and filling every chasm; then the warm rays of spring and summer sun fall softly upon the white snow-banks and tiny streams, and roaring cataracts burst forth and journey downward to fill to overflowing numerous lakes, each a sapphire gem in the heart of the moun¬ tains. The heavy clouds and towering peaks, the falling snow and gentle sunshine, the rush and whirl of descending waters, these are recurring evidences of nature’s maternal contributions t& the dweller in the desert. It remains but for man’s industry and intelligence to utilize these generous do¬ nations. The engineer finds no field more attractive than this for his energies. He curbs the stream with masonry dams and lifts the water into huge canals. Water and land long divorced are wedded, and wavering fields of grain and orchards prolific beyond comparison replace the wastes of sand and sage-brush. 408 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE On three previous occasions I have had the privilege of taking the members of this Society, with the aid of the stere- opticon, to view some of the wonders of our Far West, and have shown them some of the work of the government’s engi¬ neers.* We have looked upon the tower¬ ing structures of granite and concrete, slowly rising to block abysmal canyons; we have in fancy traveled over highways carved from beetling cliffs and traversing waterless deserts; we have seen the sur¬ face of the valleys gashed deeply by broad canals carrying whole rivers to fructify a thirsty land. Tonight, while I shall show you more of these creations of daring engineers, it is also my chief aim to make you more fully acquainted with the real purpose of these great works—the making of homes. One of the best examples of the wisdom of the national irrigation law is afforded by the Huntley project, in Montana. THK HUNTUY PROJECT, MONTANA On July 17, 1907, about 30,000 acres of land were thrown open to settlement upon the completion of the irrigation works. This fine tract of land in the valley of the Yellowstone was absolutely virgin; a plow had never scratched its surface. It lay there as nature made ic, storing for ages the elements required for plant life. Lacking in rainfall, it produced nothing but sage-brush and bunch grass. To make up for the over¬ sight of nature, a million dollars were ex¬ pended on irrigation structures and ca¬ nals. Three hundred families, from all parts of the United States, established themselves upon the 40-acre farms and began at once to erect their simple homes, to clear away the sage-brush, and pre¬ pare the lands for crops. To most of them irrigation was an unknown science, to many farming was a new experience. With the cheerful optimism and abid¬ ing faith which somehow seem to char¬ acterize the dweller in the desert, they set themselves to their several tasks. It * See “Winning the West,” February, 1906; “Millions for Moisture,” April, 1907; “Home¬ making by the Government,” April, 1908, Nat. Ceog. Mag. was a backward season, a cold, late spring, yet nevertheless every man who sowed reaped some measure of harvest, and in many instances the rewards were beyond reasonable expectation. It is re¬ markable, but true, that notwithstanding lack of knowledge, unpreparedness of the land, and unfavorable season, not one total failure is recorded; nor has a single individual uttered complaint to the Rec¬ lamation Service. Especially interesting to me are the experiences of those who came to this new country without any previous knowl¬ edge of farming. Their successes may well lead us to believe that new avenues of hope are opening to the careworn and discouraged who are living miserably in our crowded cities. THE MAKING OE PROSPEROUS HOMES A few years ago a young man, raised on a Pennsylvania farm, came to Wash¬ ington, D. C., and was enrolled as a stenographer in the Post Office Depart¬ ment. About three years ago he took stock, as it were, and decided that a clerical profession did not suit him. He concluded to improve his annual leave by taking a western trip, and stopped off at Billings, Montana. He was attracted strongly by this progressive young city, and decided to remain. When the Hunt- ley lands were opened, and he took a chance, fortune favored him and he drew a farm of 47 acres, all irrigable. A part of the $1,500, which represented his sav¬ ings as a government clerk, he paid out at once for the erection of a neat cot¬ tage; the sum of $176 was paid for his first installment of water right. A year ago last month the home was ready, and after resigning his job he sent for his family and moved in. He cleared 35 acres of sage-brush, plowed and leveled it, and sowed 24 acres to oats and 4 acres to wheat. He set out 250 apple trees, and between the rows planted 4,000 strawberry plants, potatoes, currants, grapes, strawberries, and blackberries. About the house he set out quick-grow¬ ing cottonwoods and many junipers. The housewife, meanwhile, did not forget a small flower garden, nor neglect a lot of THK CATJ v OE THE WEST 409 GATES IN the: MAIN CANAL OE' THE) TRUCICEE-CARSON PROJECT, NEVADA (see page 427) A PORTION OE THE CONCRETE-LINED MAIN CANAL OE THE KLAMATH PROJECT, OREGON (SEE PAGE 417) 410 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE BUILDING THE HIGHEST MASONRY DAM IN THE WORLD: SHOSHONE DAM, WYOMING The dam will be of concrete gravity type, 328.4 feet from bed-rock to top of parapet walls; 85 feet long on the bottom; 200 feet long on the top; 108 feet thick on the bottom. It will create a reservoir covering 6,600 acres, with a capacity of 456,000 acre-feet. Water will be used to irrigate about 150,000 acres of land lying 75 miles east of the Yellowstone National Park (see page 411). THE CALL OF THE WEST 411 fancy chickens. On the first of Novem¬ ber he took an inventory for me and re¬ ported oats yielding 62 bushels and wheat 30 bushels per acre. Potatoes and other vegetables proved a good crop and fur¬ nished enough to carry him through the winter. The apple trees are flourishing, and the outlook for small fruit is most encouraging for 1909. This spring he will plant 30 acres in sugar beets, and he says he can net from $50 to $80 per acre. Growing tired of the dangerous pro¬ fession of locomotive engineer, Elmer Eiker resigned and took up a farm at Huntley, where he moved his family, consisting of a wife and three daughters. His capital was about $1,000. He only cleared and cultivated 20 acres, planting an assortment of wheat, oats, sweet corn, potatoes, onions, squash, sugar beets, watermelons, cantaloupes, and other veg¬ etables. It was such a variety that I ac¬ cused him of making a raid on some Con¬ gressman’s seed appropriation. Rather remarkable to relate, he was successful with nearly everything he put in the ground. His oats threshed over 45 bushels; wheat, late planted, 18 bushels; potatoes, 150 bushels; onions, 300 bush¬ els per acre; from one-eighth of an acre in cucumbers he sold more than $50 worth. Everything was grown on new land never before touched by a plow. Mr Eiker says any man with three horses, a cow, a few chickens, and $500 in cash, combined with industry and com¬ mon sense, can make good on one of these 40-acre farms. Several hundred farmers, his neighbors, are doing it. The Hunt- ley project now contains 300 new homes. Its towns are growing. There are eight graded or centralized country schools, four church organizations, and a bank with $50,000 in deposits. Two years ago this country was a sage-brush desert and uninhabited. Last year the first crop was irrigated by water from the new canal system. THE SHOSHONE) PROJECT, WYOMING Under the protecting shadows of a lofty mountain range in northern Wyo¬ ming there is a broad and fertile valley through which flows a strange and won¬ derful river. In prehistoric days im¬ mense geysers along the stream sent their boiling waters high into the air. In the river bed and on the banks great hot springs burst forth, the waters possessing qualities of healing and odors far-reach¬ ing. The Indians, who oft renewed their youth in them, called the stream Sho¬ shone, or “stinking water”—an unfair cognomen—for, save at the spring, the river is as clear as a mountain brook and its waters are good to drink. Unnumbered ages ago there was a beautiful lake, a few miles above the val¬ ley, fed by countless streams flowing down from snowy peaks. Between it and the valley a range of lofty moun¬ tains intervened. When the lake topped its banks the overflow, passing through some cleft or crevice in the mountain range, during centuries of time gradually chiseled out a canyon eight miles long and hundreds of feet in depth. When the bottom of the canyon was cut below that of the lake, its waters poured out and passed through the gorge and the lake bed was exposed. The entrance of that gorge is only 60 feet wide on the bottom; 300 feet above it is only 200 feet wide. No irrigation engineer could view it with¬ out wishing to lock it with a dam. It has been waiting all these years for some one daring enough and with capital enough to block it up and restore once more the beautiful lake that disappeared so long ago. A BLOCK OB CONCRETE) SEVERAL HUNDRED FEE)T HIGH In 1910 the lake will reappear, and on its shores countless wild fowl will build their nests. From the depths of the shadowy canyon the world’s highest masonry dam is slowly rising, a solid block of concrete, locking securely the perpendicular cliffs of granite and thrust¬ ing back the angry floods of the turbulent and torrential river. The work is im¬ pressive; it is also attended by many dangers and calls for courage and daring on the part of the men engaged upon it. The scenery is magnificent, the canyon justly ranking with other famous gorges 412 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE of the West. The drive over the high¬ way constructed by the Service is one never to be forgotten. As the future route to a new entrance to Yellowstone Park, it will doubtless attract thousands of tourists. The great dam is for storage and for power development. It will hold Lack flood waters heretofore wasted until needed for irrigation in the summer. Down the river another dam, a low structure of concrete, diverts the stream into a tunnel 3 1 /\. miles long. This tun¬ nel, passing through the bluffs on the river’s edge, emerges at the head of the valley and the waters are carried into a broad canal and thence to the farm lands. Last spring an opening occurred here and 17,000 acres were offered to settlers. Practically all of the farms are taken and many of the newcomers have har¬ vested a crop already. In all my ex¬ perience in the West I do not recall a more rapid transformation from brown desert to green fields than I saw here last summer. The swiftness with which things grew on this desert soil was posi¬ tively startling. More than 100 families are now established here and, as on the Huntley, there are no complaints. A sec¬ ond unit of this project, consisting of 13,000 acres, will be made ready for set¬ tlers in time for spring planting. At the same time a portion of the lots in the gov¬ ernment townsite of Powell will be sold at auction, affording many opportunities for merchants, mechanics, and men of other professions. “The best country I ever lived in” is a common expression on this project. SUN RIVER PROJECT, MONTANA To the man who is accustomed to the climate of New England or our Northern States, the attractions and advantages of the Sun River country, near Great Falls, Montana, should appeal strongly. Es¬ pecially is this true if he be inclined to engage in general farming and raising live stock. The farms on this project art 80 acres of irrigable land, for which the settler must pay for water at the rate of $30 per acre, payable in annual install¬ ments, not to exceed ten, without inter¬ est. He is also allowed to file on 80 acres of non-irrigable land, for which he pays only the usual filing fee—about $16. The unirrigated land can be utilized for pas¬ ture, corrals, and buildings. Back of the irrigated lands is a vast area of free range covered with nutritious grass in the summer and furnishing forage for vast flocks and herds which in the winter consume the crops grown by irrigation. Owing to the fact that the project is at present some miles from a railroad, set¬ tlement has been slower here than else¬ where. The time is not far distant when a new railroad will be extended into the valley, and it is expected that settlement will then be more rapid. POWER YEEEOWSTONE PROJECT, MONTANA- NORTH DAKOTA A short time ago the Lower Yellow¬ stone project, embracing 66,000 acres in Montana-North Dakota, was formally opened. A large part of the land is al¬ ready filed upon. Owing to the very favorable season, many settlers raised good crops of grain last year without irrigation. As a rule they have all pros¬ pered, and the outlook for this section of the Yellowstone Valley may be re¬ garded as propitious. Among the first settlers on the govern¬ ment land on this project was a tall, raw- boned young man, a wood-polisher from Buffalo, New York, who filed on 160 acres near Sidney. He landed with exactly $50 in his pocket. Securing em¬ ployment as a teamster, he saved his salary until he bought a team and wagon of his own, and then secured a contract for hauling supplies. He has now nine good horses and two wagons. On his farm he has erected a good house, has fenced his land, and will henceforth de¬ vote his time to harvesting bountiful crops. He has done all this within three years. OTHER MONTANA PROJECTS Montana, owing to its very large areas of public domain and its splendid water supply, is a most inviting field for the engineer. The early opening of three THE CALL OF THE WEST 413 RELICS OF OLD ARIZONA: THE APACHE AND THE CACTUS (SEE PAGE 426) ___i_____ 414 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE LOWER PORTAL CORBETT TUNNEL: SHOSHONE PROJECT, WYOMING This tunnel is 3 % miles in length, has a cross-section of 10 x 10, and a capacity of 450,000 gallons per minute THE CALL OF THE WEST 415 Indian reservations will make available for development a hundred thousand acres of choice land in the future. On the Milk River project, in this state, the government is at work on a large dam at Dodson, while the farmers themselves have undertaken and are suc¬ cessfully building the largest irrigation canal in the United States. On the Saint Marys project, the water supply of which has been made the subject of a treaty not yet ratified, the work of canal building is being done largely by Indian labor. The Indians will be employed to build their own ditches on the Flathead and Fort Peck reservations as soon as plans are decided upon. Preliminary surveys have been made on this project and an irrigation system designed to supply 130,000 acres of land on the Flathead Indian reservation, in Flathead, Sanders, and Missoula coun¬ ties. Work will be carried on during the season of 1909 on four units—the Jocko unit covering 6,000 acres; the Mis¬ sion, 4,500 acres; the Poison, 3,000, and the Mud Creek, 6,000 acres. The In¬ dian allotments amount to 80 acres of irrigable land for each individual. The lands remaining after all the allotments are made will be opened to the public after due notice has been given by the Secretary of the Interior through the public press. The lands lie about 2,800 feet above sea level, and the temperature ranges from 20 0 below to ioo° above zero. The soil is clay, forest loam, and gravelly loam, and the products are alfalfa, grain, vegetables, apples, and small fruits. The project is located between the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific rail¬ roads. the; national irrigation projects op WASHINGTON In the minds of most Easterners the northwest boundaries of our country are usually associated with blizzards and a temperature that puts the average ther¬ mometer out of business. There are places along the border where the winds blow and 50 degrees below zero is not uncommon. Again there are places where the seasons are so genial, the tem¬ perature so favorable, that delicate fruits like apricots and peaches are grown suc¬ cessfully. Close to the Canadian line, in Washington, is a remarkable valley, shut in by sheltering hills and mountains and favored with the kindly Chinook winds. It is known as the Okanogan Valley, sometimes called the California of the Northwest. It richly deserves the name, for it is the boast of its early settlers that no killing frost has ever destroyed the orchards in that valley. The reclamation project here is the most expensive per acre of any of those now in process of construction. So abundant are the yields and so profitable and varied are the crops that the land-owners very cheerfully en¬ tered into a contract with the government to pay a charge of $65 per acre for a water right. The assurance of a con¬ stant and sufficient supply of water for irrigation has increased land values tre¬ mendously. Prices here to the Easterner seem very high until the earning capacity of the lands is demonstrated. The Oka¬ nogan Valley sent an exhibit of fruits to the Industrial Fair at Spokane last fall. Out of 23 plate exhibits the county drew 19 prizes. Eight years ago James O’Herin, a shrewd Yankee from Portland, Maine, came to the valley seeking a home. He had $500, and filed upon a homestead which he commuted, and in 1905 sold it for $10,000. This sum he immediately invested in another ranch, which in three years’ time he has so improved as to be worth more than $20,000. From a tenant farmer in the East to a land-owner worth $20,000 in eight years may be taken to indicate the possibilities which await the industrious and intelligent home-seeker in the arid West. IN THE VALE 0E PLENTY Southward, and near the line dividing Oregon and Washington is the great Yakima Valley, beyond question the most widely advertised and best known agri¬ cultural region in the Northwest. It is 416 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE Washington’s vale of plenty. The fame of its prodigious crops, the excellence of its fruits, and the general prosperity of all of its people are subjects of fascinat¬ ing interest. The valley may be said to have been absorbed by the Service, which in the interest of economy has acquired the principal irrigation system and con¬ trols the entire flood flow of the stream. The plans provide for a gradual and com¬ prehensive development of several hun¬ dred thousand acres of land of unequaled richness. The work is now centered upon two units—the Tieton and Sunny- side—but in the near future the Wapato unit, embracing the Yakima Indian lands, will be opened to settlement. At the risk of losing my reputation for veracity I wish to mention a few of the numerous instances of success on the part of horticulturists in that valley. J. O. Shadbolt, for ten years a dry- goods merchant of Virginia, Minnesota, came to Wapato, Washington, in Febru¬ ary, 1906, and bought 41 acres, all in bearing orchard, including apples, peaches, pears, plums, apricots, and cher¬ ries. He paid $18,500 for the place, or a little over $450 per acre, a price which his friends declared was evidence that he was crazy. He added $2,500 for im- provement c , making an initial investment of $21,000. In 1908 Mr Shadbolt re¬ fused a definite offer of $50,000 for his ranch. Let us briefly analyze the crops produced in the three years he has owned the ranch. In 1906 his sales were as fol¬ lows : 6,933 boxes Bartlett pears. $6,612.00 2,652 boxes Crawford peaches. 1,326.00 8,743 boxes Elbuta peaches. 5,245.80 Over-ripe pears sold at home. 250.00 4,243 boxes plums, apples, apricots, and cherries . 3,023.72 Total .$16,457.52 Deducting operating expenses, about 25 per cent, left a net profit of $12,000. In 1907 the orchard yielded gross, $29,485.47, and net, $20,500. In 1908 the business depression af¬ fected the market and prices were lower; nevertheless the orchard netted $7,500. In the three years former shopkeeper Shadbolt, who never before had any knowledge of fruit-raising or irrigation, has netted $39,500 on an investment of $21,000, or an average of $13,166 an¬ nually. His net income each year has ex¬ ceeded 62 per cent on his investment. His annual net returns averaged over $321.13 per acre. Edgar Silvers, from an unfrrigated farm near Albion, Nebraska, came to Toppenish six years ago and bought a ten-acre farm under the government ca¬ nal. He has now 734 acres in bearing orchard and 2 ]/ 2 acres in young trees. From his matured trees last year and from the vegetables and clover grown between the rows he received $2,727.60 gross. He says this beats 160 acres in the corn belt in net yields, besides being a lot less worry and hard work. From 9 acres of apples, or 660 trees, A. Larson, of Zillah Post Office, a former citizen of Stockton, Wisconsin, sold $3,755 worth in 1908. L. I. Barbee, a former resident of Red Oak, Iowa, now living on a 20-acre ranch at Toppenish, sold $2,341.60 worth of apples, pears, plums, and prunes from 357 trees, or more than $6.50 per tree. These trees occupy 6 y 2 acres. J. C. Milton, also from Red Oak, Iowa, now owner of 6 1-3 acres in apples and peaches, harvested from 300 trees $2,578.55 worth of fruit in 1908, or nearly $8.60 per tree. His average gross return was $407.14 per acre. Robert McCormick, formerly a lum¬ ber-jack at Blue Earth, Minnesota, landed in Zillah ten years ago with just 75 cents in his pocket. For two years he worked as laborer and teamster, and then with his savings made the first payment on 25 acres under the government’s canal. It was raw land then, covered with sage¬ brush. Today it is all in cultivation, and his little farm is bringing him in each year $2,000 above all expenses. Last year he picked 780 boxes of apples from i l A acres. He has refused $1.25 per box, or $975 for his crops, which indi¬ cates a yield of $780 per acre. THE CALL OF THE WEST 417 COMMUNAL FARM LIFE IN OREGON Between the Umatilla River on the west and the Columbia River on the north, in northwestern Oregon, is a broad expanse of sage-brush desert which is now undergoing a remarkable transformation. The irrigation works of the government here consist of a di¬ version dam in the Umatilla River a few miles above the town of Echo and a stor¬ age feed canal, 20 miles in length, carry¬ ing the flood flow of the stream into a large reservoir, having a surface area of 1,700 acres and a depth of 70 feet. From the reservoir a series of canals have been extended to embrace about 20,000 acres of exceedingly fine land. The produc¬ tivity of this section has long been known through the profitable crops under small private ditches. Agricultural experts all agree that this valley has a most prom¬ ising future. At no distant day we may confidently look for one of the most com¬ pact agricultural districts in the state to be established here. The soil is of great depth, the summer comes early, and the growing season is longer than in most parts of the West. The truck and fruit grower can place his crops on the mar¬ kets in advance of his competitors, and be sure of top prices in the markets of Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland, all of which are tributary by rail or water transportation. An interesting phase of the develop¬ ment here is the combination of urban and rural life; farms are small; many five and ten-acre orchard tracts are be¬ ing laid out about the towns, and the owners of many of these have built their homes in the towns, so that their wives and children have the advantages of so¬ ciety, schools, and churches. THE KLAMATH PROJECT In the land of “Burnt Out Fires”— the region which will long be remem¬ bered as the last stronghold of the Mo¬ doc Indians—is a remarkable agricul¬ tural district known as the Klamath Basin, which lies partly in California and partly in Oregon, and embraces sev¬ eral hundred thousand acres. The first unit of this important national irriga¬ tion work is completed, and several thousand acres of fertile land are now receiving water from the government canals. Of all the Federal works, Kla¬ math project is, perhaps, the most unique, by reason of the fact that it in¬ volves irrigation and drainage in unusual combination. A considerable portion of the lands to be irrigated is today cov¬ ered with the waters of navigable lakes; these waters are to be drawn off and the exposed lake beds are then to be sub¬ divided into farms and irrigated by the government canals. A new railroad has been completed to the valley, and the indications are that this region is to enjoy rapid growth and development. Its advantages in soil, climate, and products, as well as in great undeveloped natural resources—in for¬ ests, water power, and free grazing— are certain to attract enterprising citizens from all parts of the country. Idaho's wonderful development The most important stream in the arid West is Snake River, in Idaho. From the foothills of the Tetons, which form the boundaries of Wyoming and Idaho, to the western boundary of the latter state, Snake River traverses a wide lava plain which constitutes the most inter¬ esting and important physiographic fea¬ ture of the southern part of the state. Snake River now irrigates a larger area than any other stream in the United States. Two reclamation projects of the government have been undertaken in this drainage basin, one supplied from the main stream and the other from two im¬ portant tributaries. The Minidoka project, in the southern part of the state, was partly completed in 1907, and made available for entry 1,050 farms, varying from 40 to 80 acres each. Before the water was ready every farm was filed upon, and 5,000 people established homes in the sage-brush. The most important feature of construc¬ tion is the rock-fill dam across the river, a structure 650 feet long on top and 50 418 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE THE PATHFINDER DAM OF THE NORTPI PEATTE PROJECT (SEE PAGE 427) This structure will be 215 feet high and will create an enormous reservoir, with a storage capacity of 1,025,000 acre-feet, or enough water to cover 1,025,000 acres a foot deep. It will be completed May 1, 1909, and will cost $975,000 THE CALL OF THE WEST 4L9 CLOSING COLORADO RIVER DURING CONSTRUCTION OE LAGUNA DAM, YUMA PROJECT, ARIZONA-CALIEORNIA Nearly 72,000 cubic yards of material were dumped into the stream before the closure was effected. The Taguna dam now com¬ pleted is 4,780 feet long, 19 feet high, and weighs 600,000 tons 420 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE STRETCH OE SAGE-BRUSH DESERT BEFORE IT WAS LAID OUT IN PIVE-ACRE TRACTS EOR CULTIVATION I UMATILLA PROJECT, OREGON (SEE PAGE 417) THE CALL OF THE WEST 421 BAILING HAY IN OREGON ON THE EORMER SAGE-BRUSH DESERT 422 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE feet high. On each side large canals take the water out upon 130,000 acres of desert land. This section of Idaho has been widely advertised, and contains several of the largest irrigation enter¬ prises ever built by private capital. What was astually an uninhabited sage-brush plain in 1902 now contains probably more than 20,000 people, and its develop¬ ment has only just begun. If the storage supply proves adequate, not less than a million acres of exceptionally fine land will be brought under cultivation, and this one section will then support a popu¬ lation equal to that of the entire state. Nearly 400,000 acres of fertile land in the valleys of the Payette and Boise rivers, in southwestern Idaho, are em¬ braced in a reclamation project. This is a most attractive region and prac¬ tically all of the public lands have been taken up. With its advantages of soil, climate, and crops, these valleys will support in comfort a large population. The progress made here in the last three years presages nearly ideal conditions of rural life. Trolley lines and telephones now connect many of the farms with the growing cities. It is possible even now to live in the country 25 miles from the city and enjoy many of the ad¬ vantages of the latter. On February 22 of this year the people of the valley formally celebrated the opening of the first important unit of this work. In the presence of several thousand people the gates of the big Boise dam were closed and the waters turned into a huge canal. The Boise dam is 400 feet long on top and 45 feet in height. An important fea¬ ture of this project is the Deerflat reser¬ voir, which was created by building two very large earthen dams inclosing a depression between the hills. One of these dams is 4,000 feet long and 70 feet high; the other 7,200 feet long and 40 feet high. The total quantity of earth and gravel in these dams is 1,088,800 cubic yards. The main canals in this project will have a total length of 400 miles. IN PROSPEROUS COLORADO In Colorado, one of the pioneer states in irrigation, the government has nearly completed one large project and is pre¬ paring to begin work upon another. The first of these is kown as the Uncompah- gre and is located in the western part of the state. In the valley of the Uncom- pahgre are many thousands of acres of fertile land, easy of access for irrigation canals, wanting only the application of water to produce abundant and valuable crops. Unfortunately this stream is deficient in flow and erratic in regimen. The canal systems in use were often short of water, and crops and valuable orchards frequently suffered from drouth. At a distance sufficiently near to be tantalizing flows the Gunnison with an unfailing supply, little of which can be used in its own valley. The two rivers flow in nearly parallel courses for many miles, sep¬ arated by ranges of rugged hills 2,000 feet high, forming some of the roughest country in the West. The problem of uniting the waters of these two rivers was often discussed by engineers, but practical plans were never formulated until a daring engineer of the Service, at the peril of his life, made the neces¬ sary preliminary surveys. For many miles in its course the Gun¬ nison rushes through a box canyon, with walls in places 3,000 feet high. A por¬ tion of this profound gorge had never been explored until the government en¬ gineer accomplished the feat. The pre¬ liminary survey, which was made dur¬ ing that wild trip down the river, showed that the elevation of the Gunnison was higher than that of the Uncompahgre, and proved the feasibility of transferring some of the waters of that stream by means of a tunnel passing under the mountain. It was a stupendous task, in¬ volving an enormous outlay of money and taxing engineering skill and in¬ genuity to the limit. The work of final survey and location was most perilouSj owing to the necessity of making a to¬ pographic map of the canyon and estab- THE CALL OF THE WEST 423 lishing precise levels at both ends of the tunnel. Before construction could be be¬ gun a road was built into the canyon so that heavy machinery could be brought in. A town sprang up at the bottom of the rock-walled chasm, a power plant was erected, and after many months of weary labor the drills began to eat into the granite. On the other side of the mountain another town was established and similar work commenced. The total length of the tunnel will be nearly six miles, of which five and a half miles are now completed. Throughout the entire period of construction the work has been attended with difficulty and danger; gas, cave-ins, and subter¬ ranean springs of hot and cold water have interposed obstacles, delaying the work and requiring the utmost care in its prosecution. The Uncompahgre Valley has been getting ready for the coming of this new water supply in 1910, which will make fruitful 150,000 acres of desert, and which will ultimately become one of the rich agricultural and horticultural dis¬ tricts of this continent. Colorado’s second reclamation project is located in the vicinity of Grand Junc¬ tion and embraces some 50,000 acres of the best land in the famous Grand Val¬ ley—one of the most favorably situated agricultural valleys in the world. This is a region where scientific fruit-growing is the rule and not the exception, and as a result of the enterprise and intelligence of its farmers fruit lands here have a higher value than anywhere else on the globe. The climate, soil, and elevation are alike adapted to the growing of a variety of products which in perfection, color, and flavor are unexcelled. It re¬ quires no particular gift of prophecy to foretell that when the works are com¬ pleted this valley will become one of the nation’s show places. The farms will be small in area, making the settlements compact; intensive agriculture will be extended, and large areas in high-priced fruits will be cultivated. With cheap water power right at hand, trolley lines will be extended to all parts of the val¬ ley, affording facilities for cheap and ready marketing of all products. There is no reason why farm life will not ulti¬ mately become more nearly suburban than rural in character. The opportunities which exist here for making a farmer’s life attractive will not be overlooked. We may confidently look for a citified country. Constant contact and association with his neighbors will bring about cooperation among the farm¬ ers both in producing and marketing the farm products. This is not a picture of fancy; it is not a dream of Utopia; rather is it the in¬ evitable result of intensive and scientific cultivation of small farms, each occupied by its owner and family. the; Colorado river and its problems The Colorado River, its watershed and its wonderful delta, have long been sub¬ jects of engrossing interest to the engi¬ neers of the West. The desert of this river is a distinctive feature in a region full of natural wonders. A large portion of it lies below sea level, and in recent geologic period was the bed of the ocean. From earliest time this great stream, rising in the mountain fastnesses of dis¬ tant Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, has been carving out a canyon through an elevated plateau more than a mile deep in places and unrivaled anywhere in the world in scenic grandeur. During count¬ less ages the Colorado has been grinding to powder incalculable quantities of rock and soil, building up a broad valley with sedimentary deposits, and elevating its bed above the level of the desert through which it flows. As a whole, the Colorado River probably offers the most interest¬ ing as well as the most stupendous en¬ gineering problem which exists in arid America today. Solve it successfully, and a million acres of desert in this coun¬ try and half a million acres in Mexico will furnish homes for more than a mil¬ lion people. No power save that of the Federal government can cope success¬ fully with this problem. Mexico will doubtless be willing to share her propor¬ tionate part in the expense of storage 424 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE A « IRRIGATED ORANGE) GROVES IN THE SALT RIVER VALLEY, NEAR PHOENIX, ARIZONA (SEE PAGE 425) THE CALL OF THE WEST 425 for water to be utilized on lands belong¬ ing to that Republic. The problem in¬ volves interstate as well as international features, and will require the expenditure of a sum of money great enough to makq the work comparable with the largest schemes for irrigation attempted by Eng¬ land in Egypt or India. From its head¬ waters in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona to the rainless delta, the river must be absolutely controlled. Enor¬ mous reservoirs must be created by build¬ ing dams in the mountain regions to store the floods, and hundreds of miles of ca¬ nals must be laid out to carry the water upon a sleeping empire. The Colorado desert is a region unique and wonderful. Potentially, it is greater than any area of its size in the world. The fertility of its soil, its climatic adapt¬ ability to unusual crops as well as many staples, make it one of absorbing interest to the agricultural scientists. The first important step has been taken by our government for the subjugation of the Colorado. A few weeks ago the engi¬ neers of the Service, after two years of difficult labor, succeeded in placing a dam across this intractable river. As if re¬ sentful of any attempt to check it in its mad course to the Gulf, the Colorado rose in flood to oppose the engineers. The final struggle was of many hours’ duration and full of excitement and danger to an army of men who fought bravely for hours against the rising wall of angry waters. The coffer-dams held fast and the Colorado was safely turned at last into the enormous sluiceways on either side. Today a solid wall of stone and concrete 4,780 feet long and 250 feet wide, tied to enduring hills of rock on either end, rests in the channel. Man has again conquered the forces of nature, and a mighty river, never before con¬ trolled, is now a servant to his hand. During the present summer 17,000 acres will be opened to settlers on this project, the lands lying in California. in America’s egypt Arizona is America’s Egypt, but, un¬ like the land of the Pharoahs, whose secrets are revealed to us in hieroglyph¬ ics which our wise men have learned to read, the history of the ruined cities of our Southwest and the race that built them is yet unfathomed. This is our land of mystery and en¬ chantment, where nature has painted the landscapes with the rainbow’s hues. It is the land of the painted desert, with its inspiring scenery and colors; it is the land of the Grand Canyon, Nature’s architectural masterpiece, the Titan of chasms; the land of the meteoric moun¬ tain and the petrified forests. With re¬ sources of soil, minerals, and forests as varied as the wonderful colors of the landscape; with every gradation of cli¬ mate from north temperate to semi¬ tropic; with an area double that of New England and a population less than that of the city of Washington, Arizona is yet practically undeveloped and almost unexplored. Over its vast expanses of divinely tinted desert wander the Bedouins of the United States. Here and there on the higher mesas, or beside the deeply eroded waterways, dwell the strangest people on our continent. This land of mystic dreams, of lost races and crumbling ruins, is awakening to the touch of modern civilization. The streams that once swept on unchecked through gorge and canyon are now being spread upon a thirsty land, and emerald- tinted oases are dotting landscapes which for ages were barren and desolate. After the long and dusty ride across Arizona the traveler who awakes in Phoenix in the early morning feels trans¬ ported into a new world. He is in a land where vegetation is almost tropic in its splendor and luxuriance. Here are ave¬ nues of palms whose spreading branches bend in graceful curves. Here the or¬ ange, the lemon, the olive, and the pomelo attain perfection in color and flavor. The date palm, laden with luscious fruit, the bread of the desert; the delicious fig, the almond, and countless other donations of generous nature are seen on every hand. Broad fields of alfalfa, yielding eight tons to the acre; bumper yields of grain, veg- 426 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE etables, and small fruit reward the man with the hoe in this land of sunshine and plenty. The soil’s response to tillage and moisture is immediate—yea, almost miraculous. But earth grants no harvest here with¬ out labor and expense. The desert, vast and forbidding, is near and threatening. Its threat of desolation is vitalizing; it energizes the man who engages in the combat. It thrusts its boundaries to the very edge of the irrigation canal which embraces the oasis. More than once in early days, when the river failed, the desert swept across the ditch and engulfed the fields and orchards. Such disasters emphasized the need for an assured water supply and led to the initiation of one of. the most stupendous irrigation projects of our time in Salt River Valley. the; most difficult of all projects In the variety of the engineering prob¬ lems, in the magnitude of the works, and in the extraordinary character and num¬ ber of difficulties surmounted in prose¬ cuting the work, the Salt River project ranks first among the works of the Rec¬ lamation Service. A few of these difficulties are made manifest by an inspection of the country in which the work is going on. The Salt River for a number of years furnished an inadequate supply of water for the needs of the farmers. At times great floods destroyed important headworks and caused heavy losses until the neces¬ sary repairs could not be made for lack of money. Near the headwaters, in an almost inaccessible mountain region, was one of the best natural reservoir sites in the West. To develop it involved an expenditure so vast that it was beyond the means of the community to attempt it. Congress enacted the Reclamation Law and the Reclamation Service took up the great work. For 20 miles across a desert of cacti and mesquite, an absolutely waterless plain, a broad highway was laid out to the foot of the mountains. For 40 miles further into the most rugged mountain country in the West the road was blasted from the rocks. In scenic beauty and in artistic and changeful coloring no highway in the West compares with it. The mountains are inspiring and the rocks are clothed in richest colors. No language can describe the glories of the sunrise or sunset pic¬ tures on those crags and cliffs, or the witching beauty of the deep canyons veiled in purple shadows. It is a drive, once taken, never to be forgotten. The entrance to the canyon which Salt River has cut through the moun¬ tains was selected as the site of a dam. This structure in many respects will be one of the great engineering works of the age. At its base it covers an acre of ground. It will rise 284 feet from foundation to parapet and on top it will be 1,080 feet in length. To erect such a structure in a region so remote from transportation involved many difficulties. It was necessary for the engineers to qualify in many capacities. The govern¬ ment developed its own power by con¬ structing a power dam 19 miles up the river and turning the water into a canal which was lined for miles with cement. A drop of 220 feet above the big dam furnished 4,000 horse-power, which was utilized for many purposes. The engineers operated a cement mill which has turned out to date more than 100,000 barrels of first-class cement. Saw-mills were set up in the national forest, 30 miles away, and several mih lion feet of lumber were cut and hauled to the works. Two farms were culti¬ vated to supply forage and provisions, hogs and beef. Water works and electric light plants were established. A city of 2,000 people sprang up in the valley—a town of transient renown, for it has al¬ ready nearly disappeared. For laborers the government turned to the Indians living in the mountains. Though many of them were Apaches, they proved tractable and industrious, and it was largely by their labor that the remarkable highway was constructed. From the big dam and from drops in the canal 26,000 horse-power will be developed. A part of it will be transmitted to the Sacaton Indian reser¬ vation to pump water from wells upon 8,000 acres belonging to the Pima In- THE CALL OF THE WEST 427 dians—an act of justice long postponed, for the tribe was beggared by the rob¬ bery of their water supply by white men. ORLAND PROJECT, CALIFORNIA This project involves the reclamation of 12,000 acres of land lying about 90 miles north of Sacramento, in Glenn and Tehama counties. The only town within the territory to be irrigated is Orland, on the Southern Pacific Raiiroad. The lands are exceedingly fertile, and for many years have been cultivated and utilized for wheat growing. With irri¬ gation and the prevailing climatic con¬ ditions, however, it has been demon¬ strated that the land is unequaled for the production of alfalfa, nuts, and both citrus and deciduous fruits. Preliminary work on this project is practically com¬ pleted, and advertisement for bids for building the East Park dam and spill¬ way will be made in the near future. Many of the farmers are pledged to dis¬ pose of their holdings in excess of 160 acres to those who wish to take them under the reclamation project. GARDEN CITY PROJECT, KANSAS This project consists of a pumping system for the recovery of underground waters, which are delivered into a con¬ duit leading to an old distributing canal, known as the Farmers’ Ditch. The plant consists of twenty-three pumping stations, each driven electrically from a central power station. There are 10,656 acres of irrigable land in the project, lying in the vicinity of Garden City, on the north side of Arkansas River, town¬ ships 22 to 24 south, ranges 32 to 35 west, sixth principal meridian, Finney County. The lands are all in private ownership, but there are some excess holdings for sale. The soil is a rich prairie loam, capable of the highest cultivation, and* well adapted to the raising of grain, sugar beets, cantaloupes, alfalfa, and other crops of the plains region. The average elevation of the area under this project is 2,925 feet above sea level, and the temperature ranges from 20° below to 105° above zero. The Atchison, To¬ peka, and Santa Fe Railway furnishes transportation for the products to the local markets and to Chicago and Kan¬ sas City. The water-right charge is $35 per acre of irrigable land, and the farm¬ ers are also required to pay an annual maintenance and operation fee, which at present amounts to $2.75 per acre. NORTH PLATTE PROJECT, NEBRASKA- WYOMING This project is located about 100 miles north of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and ex¬ tends along the North Platte River. About 60,000 acres of land, practically all of which has been filed upon, will be supplied with water in 1909. The land is tributary to the Chicago and North¬ western, Burlington and Missouri River, and Union Pacific railroads. The aver¬ age elevation is 4,100 feet above sea-* level, and the temperature ranges from 25 0 below to ioo° above zero. The average annual rainfall on the irrigable area is about 15 inches. The soil is a fertile, sandy loam, quite free from alkali, and requiring 23/2 acre- feet of water per acre per annum. Al¬ falfa is the principal crop, but cereals, sugar beets, and potatoes are success¬ fully grown. Excellent range country borders the irrigable lands in Wyoming. The farm unit has been fixed at 80 acres, and the building charge is $45 per acre. There is also an annual charge for operation and maintenance, which is 40 cents per acre at present. The water¬ shed area is 12,000 square miles, and the estimated annual run-off of water¬ shed at Pathfinder dam is 1,500,000 acre-feet. TRUCKEE-CARSON PROJECT, NEVADA This project is located in western Ne¬ vada, in Churchill, Lyon, and Storey counties, townships 16 to 24 north, ranges 21 to 31 east, Mount Diablo meridian. The first unit of the project was opened in 1907, and lands are now subject to homestead entry. In addition to the land-office filing fee, erch settler is re¬ quired to pay $3 per acre annually for 428 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE PUMPKINS IN AN ORCHARD: YAKIMA PROJECT, WASHINGTON (SEE PAGE 416) THE CALL OF THE WEST 429 SCENC ON A TURKEY EARM ON THE GARDEN CITY PROJECT, KANSAS (SEE PAGE 427) 430 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE A MIGEET FlEGD ON THE TRUCKFF-CARSON PROJECT, IN NEVADA (SEE PAGE 431) THE CALL OF THE WEST 431 ♦ * ten years, without interest on deferred payments. An annual maintenance fee is charged in addition. The first pay¬ ment of $3.60 per acre must be paid at the time of filing on the land; the farm unit is 80 acres. The climate in this valley is healthful and mild, the elevation above sealevel is about 4,000 feet, and the temperature ranges from 12° below to 112 0 above zero. It is so dry, however, that the ex¬ tremes, which seldom occur, are not severe. The average rainfall on the ir¬ rigable area is 4 inches per annum. The soil is sandy loam, clay loam, and vol¬ canic ash, requiring 3 acre-feet of water per annum for each acre. The valley will produce every variety of crop grown in the north temperate zone; alfalfa, wheat, barley, and oats grow luxuriantly, and corn is also a profitable crop. Ap¬ ples, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, potatoes, and garden vegetables do well and find a ready market in the near-by mining towns. The Southern Pacific and Nevada and California railroads traverse the tract and furnish transportation to the markets of the country. RIO GRANDE PROJECT, NEW MEXICO-TEXAS This project contemplates the reclama¬ tion of 180,000 acres of land, 110,000 of which are in New Mexico, 45,000 in Texas, and 25,000 in Mexico. The Leasburg dam, for the first unit of the Rio Grande project, is completed, diverting water for 20,000 acres in Me- silla Valley. It is of concrete, 600-feet long, with sluice and head gates. From the diversion dam 6 miles of canal were constructed to connect with the old Las Cruces Canal. The Engle dam, which is planned to be constructed across the Rio Grande op¬ posite Engle, will be of rubble concrete, gravity type, 255 feet high, 1,150 feet long on top, and will create a reservoir 200 feet deep at its lower end and 45 miles long, with a storage capacity of 2,000,000 acre-feet. Work has com¬ menced at the dam site and will be prose¬ cuted as rapidly as the state of the rec¬ lamation fund will permit. The valley has good railroad facilities, and con¬ tains many thriving towns, of which El Paso, Texas, is the metropolis. The general elevation is 3,85° feet above sea level, and the temperature ranges from zero to no° above. The average annual rainfall on the irrigable area is 9.5 inches. The soil is a fertile alluvium, requiring 2 .y 2 acre-feet of water per acre per annum. It produces abundant crops when sufficient water is applied, the principal products being al¬ falfa, corn, fruit, vegetables, and melons. CARESBAD PROJECT, NEW MEXICO The principal works under the Carls¬ bad project include the reconstruction of canals and storage reservoirs on Pecos River, in Eddy County, which were built to irrigate about 20,000 acres of land. These lands are all in private ownership, but several thousand acres are included in excess holdings and may be pur¬ chased. The price of these lands varies from $20 to $60 per acre. The cost of water right is $31 per acre, payable in ten annual installments, and the annual maintenance and operation fee is 75 cents per acre. The general elevation is 3,100 feet above sea level, and the temperature ranges from zero to no° above. The soil is a light, sandy alluvium and very fertile. The principal crops in the val¬ ley are peaches, pears, apples, cherries, small fruits, alfalfa, cotton, sweet po¬ tatoes, celery, and garden truck. Fod¬ der, corn, cane, and milo maize produce good crops. Stock-raising is very profit¬ able, owing to the extensive range lands on the east and west. The Santa Fe Railway furnishes transportation facili¬ ties to near-by markets and to Denver and Chicago. The watershed area is 22,000 square miles, the average annual rainfall on watershed area is 15 inches, and the esti¬ mated annual run-off, 150,000 acre-feet. The average annual rainfall on the ir¬ rigable area is 14 inches. The system is practically completed. 432 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE SHEEP ON THE TRUCKEE-CARSON PROJECT OF NEVADA, WHERE WAS DESERT COUNTRY BEFORE THE GOVERNMENT ENGINEERS CAME (see page 427) THE CALL OF THE WEST 433 HONDO PROJECT, NEW MEXICO The Hondo project provides for the diversion and storage of the flood waters from Hondo River, a tributary of the Pecos, to irrigate 10,000 acres of land in Chaves County, near Roswell. The lands are all in private ownership, but excess holdings may be purchased at reasonable prices. The general elevation is 3,900 feet above sea level, and the tem¬ perature ranges from io° below to ioo° above zero. The soil is a fertile alluvium and requires 2j4 acre-feet of water per acre per annum. Alfalfa, corn, fruits, and vegetables produce abundantly when properly watered. The Santa Fe Rail¬ way furnishes transportation facilities. The building charge is $28 per acre. The watershed area is 1,037 square miles, the average annual rainfall on watershed is 15 inches, and the estimated annual run-off is 40,000 acre-feet. PUMPING PROJECTS, NORTH DAKOTA The government has several pumping projects in western North Dakota for the purpose of raising water from the Missouri River to irrigate bench lands which cannot be reached by feasible gravity systems. Steam and electric power are used for pumping, the power being developed from lignite coal, which is found in ample quantities adjacent to the projects. Two of these systems are already in operation, the Williston and the Buford-Trenton. Williston Project .—The initial unit of this project includes about 8,000 acres of bench and valley lands surrounding Williston, but the system will be en¬ larged to cover 12,000 acres. The gen¬ eral elevation is 1,900 feet above sea- level ; the temperature ranges from 59 0 below to 107° above zero. The soil of the bottom lands is a heavy clay, with a con¬ siderable quantity of alkali. The bench lands, however, are a rich, sandy loam, requiring 2 acre-feet of water per acre per annum. The principal crops grown are wheat, flax, and oats. The supply of oats is always far short of the de¬ mand. Alfalfa is profitably grown for winter feed, and sugar beets are likely to become an important crop. Small fruits do well if protected from the winds, and dairy farms and market gardens are needed. The state experi¬ ment farm near Williston is of great as¬ sistance in demonstrating the value and methods of irrigation to the farmers. The main line of the Great Northern Railroad passes through Williston, which is the distributing point for this section of the state. The Buford-Trenton project embraces the bench and bottom lands bordering the north bank of the Missouri River for about 20 miles east of the Montana- North Dakota state line. Power for the pumps on this project is developed at the main power station at Williston, and is transmitted electrically over a transmis¬ sion line 28 miles long. The climate and crop conditions are practically the same as those at Williston,. and the building, operation, and main¬ tenance charges are the same as under that project. The project embraces about 12,500 acres of bench and bottom lands on the Great Northern Railroad. Practically all the land is in private own¬ ership, but farmers owning more than 160 acres are required to sell their ex¬ cess holdings, and farms can be bought at from $15 to $25 per acre. BEEEE EOURCHE PROJECT, SOUTH DAKOTA When completed this project will re¬ claim about 100,000 acres of land lying - north and northeast of the Black Hills* in Butte and Meade counties, South Da¬ kota. The greater part of this land has already been filed on. Water is now available for about 15,000 acres. There is a large amount of land in private ownership which, on account of the ruling limiting the individual water sup¬ ply to 160 acres, is offered for sale at from $10 to $20 per acre, depending upon improvements and location. The farm unit on public lands is 40 and 80 acres. Settlers are required to pay a building charge of $30 per acre, and an annual fee of 40 cents per acre for opera¬ tion and maintenance. 434 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE The average elevation is 2,800 feet above sea level. The climate is delight¬ ful, the temperature ranging from 25 0 "below to ioo° above zero. As in other parts of the arid region, the sensible temperature does not vary so much, ■owing to the dryness of the atmosphere. The soil is clay loam and sandy loam, ex¬ ceedingly fertile and free from alkali. Fruits, such as apples, cherries, plums, and small fruits, do well, especially on the higher portions of the project near the bluffs, and potatoes can be raised on the south side of the river, where the soil is more sandy. The main crop, however, is alfalfa and native hay, which is in great demand for winter feed, the great number of cattle and sheep sum¬ mer-pastured on the open range sur¬ rounding the project creating a constant demand for alfalfa. All the fruits and vegetables that can be raised on the project can be sold at the mining camps in the Black Hills. The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad passes through the town of Belle Fourche, which is one of the largest live-stock shipping points in the United States. The engineering work on this project involves the construction of one of the largest earth embankments in the coun¬ try, which is being built in a depression between two hills. It will be 115 feet high, 20 feet wide on top, and more than a mile long. The reservoir thus created will be filled with water by an inlet canal, which carries the entire flow of the Belle Fourche River. STRAWBERRY VALLEY PROJECT, UTAH This project provides for the irriga¬ tion of about 60,000 acres of land in Utah and Wasatch counties, on the eastern shore of Utah Lake. The water supply will be obtained from a storage reservpir that is being built in Strawberry Valley, about 30 miles east of the irrigable area. By means of a tunnel four miles long the stored waters will be carried through the mountains and emptied into Spanish Fork, from which a canal 18 to 20 miles long will convey them to the irrigable area. Power created from the high-line canal is now transmitted electrically to the tunnel for drilling and later will be utilized to pump water to lands above the gravity system. The lands have an elevation of about 4,500 feet, and the temperature ranges from 18° below to 99 0 above zero. The soil is a sandy loam and gravel, with a deep black soil in the bottom lands, and is exceedingly fertile. Alfalfa, hay, ce¬ reals, sugar beets, fruits, and vegetables are grown. Settlers are getting ready to plant orchards as soon as water is avail¬ able. The lands are all in private owner¬ ship, and existing canals are being en¬ larged to form part of the government system. It is possible to purchase lands at reasonable prices from present owners. The watershed area is 200 square miles, the annual rainfall on watershed 18 inches, and the estimated annual run¬ off 65,600 acre-feet. This valley has one of the finest domestic water supplies in the west, artesian water being found at many points. THE DEMOCRACY 0E THE DESERT The democracy of the irrigated sec¬ tions always impresses the newcomer. It is due to the .small farm, the inde¬ pendence of the owners, and the social equality of the people. Conditions com¬ pel association and organization in har¬ vesting and marketing high-priced prod¬ ucts. The narrow provincialism which has marked life where farms are large is not found here. Rural delivery of mails, with daily papers, the county telephone, traveling libraries, centralized schools, and trolley lines to the towns are all serving to bring the desert farmer within the stimulating currents of the world’s thought. One of the most prominent farm editors in America recently said to me: “In the irrigated West there will be developed in time the most nearly ideal conditions of rural life and the best types of men and women the world has ever seen.” A summation of the work of the Rec¬ lamation Service up to January 1, 1909, shows that it has built more than 3,458 miles of canals and ditches, some of THE CALL OF THE WEST 435 K. VAN DER AARDE AND ONE OE HIS WINESAP APPLE TREES I YAKIMA PROJECT WASHINGTON (SEE PAGE 416) 436 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE SEEDLESS SULTANA GRAPES GROWN BY IRRIGATION NEAR CARLSBAD, NEW MEXICO (see page 431) THE CAEE OF THE WEST 437 OUTLINE MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OP THE GOVERNMENT RECLAMATION PROJECTS which carry whole rivers. Laid end to end, these canals would reach from New York to San Francisco. It has in opera¬ tion more than 983 miles of telephone lines. It has built 338 miles of roads, most of which are in a country heretofore inaccessible. The tunnels excavated have a total length of more than 16 miles. Nearly one million acres are now ready for irrigation, embracing 4,686 farms. The construction works completed include 793 bridges and 7,297 canal structures, such as dams, headgates, turnouts, drops, etc. The excavations of rock and earth moved amount to the enormous total of 54,889,977 cubic yards. It is estimated that as a result of the activities of this bureau more than 20,000 people are now established in homes in the arid West. 30112106068924