HOME-MAKING BY THE GOVERNMENT
AN ACCOUNT OF THE ELEVEN IMMENSE IRRIGATING
PROJECTS TO BE OPENED IN 1908

BY

C J. BLANCHARD
STATISTICIAN U. S. RECLAMATION SERVICE

Reprinted from the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, April, 1908

WASHINGTON, D. C.
PRESS OE JUDD & DETWEILER, INC.
1908

HOME-MAKING

BY T H E

GOVERNMENT"

An Account of the Eleven Immense Irrigating
Projects to be Opened in 1908
BY C. J. BLANCHARD
STATISTICIAN,

W

U.

S.

E have come upon a time in our
national life when the question of providing homes for
our people bulks larger than ever before.
The time is not far distant when it will
become acute. The rapid narrowing of
the limits of our unoccupied public domain and the tremendous increase in land
values in all the settled sections of the
United States render it yearly more difficult for the man of small means to get a
foothold on the land. T h e r e is congestion
today in many of our cities, and the menace of a great population underfed and
poorly housed looms more darkly each
year. So great is the land hunger that
already a quarter of a million families,
comprising some of the best blood of the
nation, have expatriated themselves and
taken up new homes under a foreign flag.
W h a t is the use of preaching love of home
and country when we offer nothing but
crowded tenements to the toiler who
seeks to earn a roof over his family ?
O u r nation's greatness has its foundations in the home of the man whose feet
are firmly planted upon his own land.
There is no national stability in a citizenship born and reared in tenements. Patriotism, loyalty, and civic pride are not
bred and fostered in the crowded centers of population. T h e destiny of the
nation is foreshadowed in the provisions

RECLAMATION

SERVICE

made for the prosperity and contentment
of its citizens. A n assurance that the
great mass of our people shall reside in
homes of their own is an insurance that
our future will be one of stability and
progress.
The home-making instinct is a welldeveloped trait in American character.
O u r forefathers who landed on the bleak
and inhospitable shores of N e w England,
their descendants, the pioneers who conquered the middle West, and the A r g o nauts of this generation who crossed the
trackless plains were impelled by this instinct more than by the love of adventure
or the lure of gold to wander forth into
strange lands.
F r o m the very inception of our R e public our legislators have recognized
that it was a national duty to render the
acquirement of homes as easy as possible. This recognition was shown in
liberal grants to the defenders of the
country in Revolutionary times, and later
in the beneficent homestead law which
opened to settlement the Mississippi Valley. It has been recognized since by the
enactment of other statutes making easy
the acquirement of public domain. Areas
greater in extent than many of the
original states have been donated for the
purpose of making habitable the unutilized lands of the people. At one time the

* An address to the National Geographic Society, March 13, 1908.

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PUMPING BARGE OF THE U. S. RECLAMATION SERVICE : WILUSTON PROJECT, NORTH
DAKOTA (SEE PAGE 252)
property of the nation embraced 1,800,000,000 a c r e s ; today it has been reduced
to less than 500,000,000 acres. Much of
it was squandered by the government, it
is true, but out of that public domain
twenty vigorous commonwealths have
arisen, and an agricultural empire has
come into being that is today the marvel
of the world.
T h e remaining public lands occupy two
distinct agricultural regions, differing
materially in climate, soil, and crops.
West of the Missouri River lies a vast
region extending westward to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and from
the Panhandle of T e x a s northward into
Canada. It is known as the Great Plains.
F o r many years the vast region has been
utilized as a public common. Countless
cattle and sheep have had free access to
it and have overgrazed it. Its administration is still one of the most vexing
problems before Congress. T h e pioneer
of the Great Plains was the cattleman.

H e farmed but little, and from the nature
of his business and the methods of operation, as a rule, wanted no neighbors.
T h e real home-builder, who undertook
to subdue the plains to agriculture, encountered many difficulties. In many
sections there was no timber and he was
forced to build his house of sod or adobe.
H e found the streams were not dependable ; they were dry in summer, when
water was most needed. Nature, however, provided an inexhaustible supply of
underground water, which the farmer
pumped into small reservoirs and then
led to his garden and orchard and supplied his live stock. H e harnessed the
wind, which blows almost constantly on
the prairies, and made it a cheap and
useful servant for his work.
Within the past 15 years there has been
an awakening to the opportunity which
lies in the Plains area, and settlements
have moved westward with such remarkable rapidity that the day of the broad,

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free range, with the old, careless, and
often inhuman methods of stock-raising,
is about over. The day of smaller flocks
and herds, winter fed and fattened on
home-grown forage, is at hand.
PROJECTS IN NORTH DAKOTA

In the Great Plains area the Reclamation Service has in process of construction 11 projects involving an expenditure
of $18,740,000 and the reclamation of
500,000 acres. Several of these projects
are unique, and in their engineering features are deserving of extended description. All have reached a stage of construction where water will be available
this season, and the hundreds of new
homes which dot the prairies show that
the settlers are preparing to put it to use.
Three of these projects are located in
North Dakota, in the valley of the Missouri River, and in the vicinity of the
town of Williston. The Missouri River
at this point is a whimsical stream, habitually cutting its banks and changing its
channel, so that the engineers find it impracticable to locate any permanent structure for the diversion of water by gravity.
Fortunately great beds of lignite were
discovered in the vicinity on public land,
and the engineers proposed that the government should turn coal miner, mining
its own coal and developing power therefrom. A large power-house was erected
at the mine and power is now conveyed
electrically to the river. An exceedingly
unique plan was devised to overcome the
eccentricities of the Missouri. The
pumps are placed on floating barges,
which will accommodate themselves to
changes in the river channel and in the
water level. The water is delivered
through pipes with flexible joints into
reservoirs, and from these basins is
pumped into the canals. These reservoirs serve to settle the silt, large quantities of which are carried in solution by
the Missouri River. The central plant,
near Williston, supplies power to two of
these projects.
A heavy influx of settlers is anticipated
this spring to take up the lands to be irrigated. Diversified and intensive farm-

MAGAZINE

ing by irrigation will bring about a great
change in the agricultural methods now
in vogue in this section. The cultivation
of alfalfa, sugar-beets, vegetables, and
such fruits as apples, cherries, grapes,
melons, and berries of all kinds, for which
this region is adapted, will doubtless create a prosperous community here in a few
years. This project is on the Great
Northern Railway.
LOWER YELLOWSTONE: PROJECT

Not far from here, in the Lower Yellowstone Valley, and embracing 66,000
acres of land in Montana and North
Dakota, is the Lower Yellowstone project. The settlement of this large area
has been progressing rapidly, and aside
from a few thousand acres of railroad
lands, which will be sold this spring,
about all the land is filed upon. The
works include a timber-covered, rockfilled dam 700 feet long, headworks of
concrete, and a huge canal 67 miles long
and several hundred miles of laterals and
small ditches.
HUNTLEY PROJECT, MONTANA

Up the Yellowstone about 200 miles is
the Huntley project, which was completed
last June. It is located 12 miles east of
Billings, Montana, and embraces 30,000
acres of land, having a general elevation
of 3,000 feet above sea level. The irrigable area has been divided into 589
farms of 40 acres each, and about half of
these have already been filed upon. The
project offers unusual advantages for the
practical farmer of small means to secure
a good home, whereon by his own industry he can secure a comfortable living.
The climate here is delightful and the soil
of exceptional fertility, producing bountiful crops when watered. Cereals and
alfalfa are the principal crops, although
apples, small fruits, and garden vegetables do well. On account of the fine
range country surrounding the project,
alfalfa will always be a staple product.
It produces about five tons to the acre at
present and is worth $5 a ton in the stack.
A sugar-beet factory is now in operation
at Billings and the farmers are increasing

H O M E - M A K I N G BY T H E G O V E R N M E N T

253

their acreage in this crop, as it is very
profitable. Unusual facilities for transporting crops to the large markets are
afforded by two lines of transcontinental
railroads, the Northern Pacific and the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, which
traverse this tract. No farm is more than
three miles from a shipping point. There
are eight new towns on this project at
intervals of about 5 miles along the two
lines of railroad, and town lots are now
offered for sale by the government at
reasonable prices.

and the engineers propose to store water
now flowing into Hudson Bay to augment the insufficient flow of Milk River,
a tributary of the Missouri. Nearly
250,000 acres are involved in this project.
The valley has a soil of sandy loam well
adapted to raising all the products of the
north temperate zone. The construction
of the necessary dams and canals will
require several years. Milk River Valley is tributary to the Great Northern
Railroad.

SUN RIV£R PROJECT, MONTANA

On the northern border of Wyoming,
in a region of exceedingly rough country,
the government is building the highest
masonry dam in the world. This structure, which will rise 310 feet above
its foundation, blocks a very narrow
gorge. It will be 108 feet thick on the
bottom and only 175 feet long on top.
We might get a better conception of the
enormous height of this dam if we compared it with the height of some familiar
building. Take, for instance, the Flatiron
building, in New York. Placed side by
side, the Shoshone dam would rise one
story higher.
The work here is difficult and dangerous. Workmen are lowered into the
canyon, the walls of which are hundreds of feet high, and, with ropes about
their bodies as they work, put in the drill
holes for blasting. Before work could
be begun on this structure it was necessary for the Reclamation Service to build
a road 8 miles in length to get into the
canyon. This road was cut for the most
of the distance from the solid walls of
rock. The dam will create behind it the
largest lake in the State of Wyoming,
with a superficial area of 10 square miles
and an average depth of 70 feet.
Twelve miles below the Shoshone dam
a diversion dam is being built in the river
which will turn the stream into a tunnel
3^4 miles in length, connected at the other
end by a large canal which carries the
water out upon 100,000 acres of choice
land. A portion of this area will be
watered next spring, and is opened to
settlement at this time to bona fide citi-

Not far from the thriving city of Great
Falls, Montana, the first unit of the Sun
River project will be opened to settlers on
May 7. This project, when completed,
will be one of the largest undertaken by
the government, irrigating nearly 256,000
acres, or considerably more than the cultivated acreage of Rhode Island. An interesting feature in connection with this
project is the proposition of the engineers
to augment the water supply by taking
water from the streams now flowing into
the Pacific Ocean through a gap in the
continental divide to a watershed which
drains into the Atlantic Ocean. The Sun
River Valley proper is about 70 miles
long and from 1 to 5 miles wide. The
unit to be opened in May is the abandoned
Fort Shaw Military Reservation, which
contains about 200 80-acre farms.
On this project the rural settlement
plan of the Reclamation Service will be
carried out, and there will be a village
about every six miles. The soil is a
warm, sandy loam covered with buffalo
grass, gramma, and wheat grass. All
the crops which can be grown in the
northern countries can be raised in this
section. The principal crops will be
largely alfalfa, sugar-beets, and potatoes.
MILK RIVKR PROJECT, MONTANA

In northern Montana the Milk River
project, by reason of the international
character of the streams to be diverted,
has attracted a great deal of attention.
The irrigable area in the valley of Milk
River is greater than the water supply,

SHOSHONE PROJECT, WYOMING

254

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IN GUNNISON CANYON : UNCOMPAHGRE PROJECT, COLORADO (SEE PAGE 2 6 3 )

HoME-MAKTNG

BY T H E G O V E R N M E N T

zens of the United States. The irrigable
lands are reached by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway.
NORTH PLATTB PROJECT

In southern Wyoming another large
work is well under way. The structure
known as the Pathfinder dam is being
erected in a narrow canyon of the North
Platte River at the identical point where
General John C. Fremont, the noted explorer, nearly lost his life while attempting to get through in a boat. 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. To better appreciate the quantity
of water in this reservoir it should be understood that it is sufficiently capacious
to hold back the greatest flood ever
known in this turbulent stream. In connection with this dam and reservoir the
government has built a large canal 95
miles in length to carry the waters onto
lands in Wyoming and Nebraska.
Owing to the rough country along the
canal route, several large concrete viaducts were constructed and for several
miles the canal is lined with cement. The
irrigable lands are tributary to the Chicago and Northwestern, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and the Union Pacific Railway systems.
BKLLE FOURCHD PROJECT, SOUTH DAKOTA

Northeast of the Black Hills, in South
Dakota, lies the beautiful valley of the
Belle Fourche, embracing several hundred thousand acres of exceedingly
fertile land. In this valley the Reclamation Service has nearly completed a great
work for the irrigation of 100,000 acres.
By means of a concrete diversion dam
the entire flow of the Belle Fourche River
will be diverted into an inlet canal 6y2
miles in length and large enough to carry
the minimum flow of the Potomac River
at Point of Rocks. This canal turns the
water into a natural depression between
two hills. This depression is blocked by
one of the largest earthen embankments
in the world, a structure more than a

257

mile in length and 115 feet in maximum
height. The reservoir thus formed has a
storage capacity of 203,770 acre-feet, and
forms the largest lake in the State of
South Dakota.
Home-seekers have been pouring into
this valley for the last two years, and
nearly all of the public land is now occupied by settlers who are awaiting the
completion of the works. The towns in
the valleys have more than doubled in
population since the work began. There
are opportunities for home-seekers to secure land from private owners whose
holdings are in excess of the requirements
of the Reclamation Act. The principal
markets for the products of this valley
are the mining towns in the Black Hills,
the Twin Cities, also Omaha and Chicago,
which are reached by the Chicago and
Northwestern and Chicago, Burlington
and Quincy railways. Back of the irrigated country is a vast area of public
lands which is available for ranging
cattle and sheep. The principal products
will be alfalfa, cereals, vegetables, and the
hardy fruits.
GARDEN CITY PROJECT, KANSAS

In southwestern Kansas the Garden
City Project, although embracing only
8,000 acres, is relatively one of the important government works in the Plains
region. Owing to the numerous novel
features involved in its construction, the
project has attracted much attention. It
is believed that the successful initiation of
this system will encourage private capital
to take up work in other parts of the
Arkansas Valley and elsewhere on the
Great Plains.
As the Arkansas River could not be depended upon to supply water to gravity
canals, the engineers devised a scheme to
utilize the underflow. About 300 wells
were sunk, the combined length of which
exceeds 4 miles. These wells are in
groups of 12 each and vary from 12 to
15 inches in diameter. Each group will
be operated by its own pumping plant,
and all pumps will be operated by electricity generated in a central power
station. The water from the wells will be

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lifted into a concrete-lined conduit, which
discharges into the main canal. During
the irrigation season this leviathan pumping plant will lift 30,000 acre-feet, or
about 11,000,000,000 gallons.
The value of land in this part of
Kansas, in its natural condition, varies
from $5 to $15 per acre. When reclaimed by irrigation it is easily worth
from $100 to $150 per acre. The principal crops are sugar-beets and alfalfa,
considerable quantities of which are already under cultivation. Apples and
melons are especially profitable crops
when irrigated. This section is tributary
to the Santa Fe system.
NEW MEXICO PROJECTS

There are three national projects in the
Territory of New Mexico, two of which,
the Carlsbad and Hondo, are practically
completed and will water 30,000 acres
this season.
The Hondo Project provides for diversion and storage of the flood waters from
Hondo River, a tributary of the Pecos,
and will reclaim 10,000 acres of land in
the vicinity of Roswell. No public land
is watered by this project, but lands in
private ownership are for sale at reasonable prices.
The Carlsbad Project is located on the
Pecos River, in southeastern 'New Mexico, on the Santa Fe system. The entire
acreage is in private ownership, but several thousand acres are included in excess holdings and must be disposed of to
farmers who will purchase water-rights
under the government system. The price
of land varies from $20 to $60 per acre.
The climate is mild. In winter the
temperature during the day is seldom below freezing. The summer temperature
seldom goes above 100 degrees and the
nights are always pleasant.
The soil is a light, sandy alluvium and
very fertile. The chief crops in the valley are peaches, pears, apples, cherries,
small fruits, alfalfa, cotton, sweet potatoes, celery, and garden truck. Five
crops of alfalfa are grown each year,
yielding a total of 5 to 8 tons per acre.
Fruits, cotton, and alfalfa are the most

profitable crops, and fodder-corn, cane,
and milo-maize yield good forage crops.
Stock-raising is profitable, owing to extensive range lands to the east and west.
There is a good market for horses and
mules at Carlsbad, and hay is always in
demand here and at other points in the
valley. Cotton, after being ginned, is
shipped to Houston or Galveston.
Kansas City, Wichita, El Paso, Fort
Worth, etc., afford markets for all other
excess supplies. The Pecos Valley is a
good winter feeding center for range
stock.
Cotton gins, cotton-seed oil and oilcake factories, and canneries with adjunct machinery for the manufacure of
denatured alcohol are needed in the valley. There are at present water-power
plants at Carlsbad and at a point five
miles below, and there is room for additional plants further down stream.
The Rio Grande Project involves the
construction of a storage dam 255 feet
high, opposite Eagle, New Mexico, across
the Rio Grande, which will form a reservoir 175 feet deep at its lower end and
40 miles long, with a storage capacity of
2,000,000 acre-feet, for the irrigation of
180,000 acres of land in New Mexico,
Texas, and Mexico.
The Leasburg Diversion, which is a
part of the Rio Grande project, consists
of a low, 600-foot concrete diversion dam.
with pier, embankment, and sluice-gates,
head-wier and head-gates. In connection
with the diversion dam 6 miles of fullsized canal were constructed to connect
with the old Las Cruces Canal. Construction was begun November 27, 1906,
and water will be supplied to 10,000 acres
this summer. The valley has splendid
railroad facilities and contains many
thriving cities and towns, of which El
Paso, Texas, is the metropolis.
OUR INLAND EMPIRE

Beyond the Rocky Mountains lies the
true desert, a land of mysterious silence;
a land of potential greatness, awaiting
the magic kiss of canal-borne water to
wake to teeming fecundity. It is often
called the inland empire.

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RAISING HOGS IN THF, KLAMATH VALLEY: KLAMATH PROJECT, OREGON (SEE

PAGE 267)
In many parts of it Nature has placed
in juxtaposition all the natural elements
except rainfall required for a fruitful,
prosperous country. Its climate is healthful and salubrious; its valleys and plains
possess a soil of inexhaustible fertility,
and from the forest-clad mountains, with
summits in regions of perpetual snow,
countless streams rush downward to both
oceans or flow into desert sinks and there
evaporate. How to overcome the absence
of moisture from the clouds and thus
bring the region to its proper state of development is today a problem of paramount importance. Its successful solution will provide a safety valve against
the impending dangers of congestion in
the cities of the East.
The future of our desert empire is, in
a measure, predicated by the marvelous
achievements of the pioneers. With a
courage born of conviction and fostered
by the hope which dwells perennial in
the breast of the Argonaut of the sagebrush country, they have, within the past
few years, wrested from a region long

regarded as absolutely worthless a cropproducing, home-supporting area of inexhaustible fertility, greater in extent
than the cultivated lands in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and
Vermont, and capable of supporting a
larger rural population. More than
$120,000,000 have been expended in irrigation works in the West, and 70,000
miles of canals now carry the life-giving
waters to 10,000,000 acres, which each
year produce crops valued at more than
$250,000,000.

As good American citizens, we owe it
to ourselves to extend our knowledge of
this splendid country. There is an inspiration in the breadth and vastness
of this sleeping empire in the West, and
a sublimity in the lofty mountains whose
summits are clothed in perpetual snow.
One breathes optimism and grows in
mental breadth and strength in contemplating scenery which has no counterpart
in the world.
The economic value of national irri-

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YAKIMA MAIDEN PICKING HOPS: YAKIMA PROJECT, WASHINGTON

H O M E - M A K I N G BY T H E G O V E R N M E N T
gation cannot be measured in dollars
and cents. The desert made habitable
offers the boon of health to him who
erects his dwelling upon it. You cannot
fix the possibilities of this land of silence
and sunshine. W e know that the influence of its far-flung horizons and its true
perspective are potential in charactermolding and building. Instead of the
dead level of mediocrity, which prevails
in modern city life, the desert offers the
uplift of unmeasured distances, the perpetual sunshine, and the individual home,
with the broader freedom of action which
comes with life in the open. There is a
constant inspiration to industry, a stimulation to endeavor, in the superabundant
life which springs from the bosom of the
desert when water is applied. The transformation which follows irrigation is so
remarkable that we are prone to believe
Aladdin and his lamp have really appeared.
M I N I D O K A P R O J E C T , IDAHO

Three years ago last July I camped for
the night on the banks of the Snake
River, in southern Idaho. Save for our
campfire there was no sign of human
habitation within 30 miles, only a vast
sage-brush plain, rimmed on every side
by the horizon. It was a night to remember. Over us spread a star-gemmed cano p y ; around us the embers of a sagebrush fire shed their glow. In the near
distance the doleful wailing of the skulking coyote sent a chilly feeling up and
down the spine.
A weather-tanned engineer in faded
khaki sitting beside me drew rough plans
in the sand, and I listened, interested, but
doubting, while he pictured the future of
this dusty plain. T h a t engineer's plans
found favor in Washington, and in two
months actual work of construction began. An army of men came upon the
field and straightway took that river and
blocked it with a wonderful d a m ; then
they led it into 130 miles of great canals
.and 190 miles of ditches, and spread it
over 85,000 acres of land.
Attracted by the signs of industry, settlers poured in and every 40 or 80 acres

263

of that vast area was taken up. Houses
began to dot the plain and a railroad i o o
miles long, a branch of the Oregon Short
Line, was built through the center
of the tract. Three new towns sprang
up as if by magic. O n the site of our
camp a school-house stands which opened
last year with 74 pupils. Today 1,400
families are living on farms and a thousand people are living in towns where a
trifle over three years ago the eye met
nothing but dust and desolation.
T h e Minidoka Project furnishes indubitable evidence that a better investment was never made by a government
since the world began than national irrigation. President Roosevelt said, " N o
part of this nation can be benefited without a reflex benefit to the other part." In
this one project we find the proof of this
statement, for the 1,400 families who are
at work in that desert valley in Idaho
today are furnishing a market for endless quantities of manufactured articles,
the bulk of which are Eastern made.
PAYETTE-BOISE PROJECT,

IDAHO

The Payette-Boise Project will reclaim
372,000 acres of land in the fertile valleys of the Payette, Boise, and Snake
rivers, in southwestern Idaho, which are
tributary to the Oregon Short Line, the
Boise, N a m p a and Owyhee, and the
Idaho Northern railroads. The lands are
in Ada, Canyon, and Owyhee counties,
and are generally smooth, with gentle
slopes. Construction work is well under
way and many settlers have already taken
up their homesteads.
T h e valleys are the best populated in
the state. T h e citizens came largely from
the middle W e s t and are prosperous and
progressive. W i t h superior market and
transportation facilities, with soil and
climate adapted to diversified and intensive farming, this section is destined to
become one of the most densely populated
agricultural regions in the Northwest.
U N C O M P A H G R E PROJECT, COLORADO

In southwestern Colorado the most
spectacular project of the government is
nearing completion. In this region two

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streams, the Uncompahgre and the Gunnison, flow in nearly parallel courses
about 10 miles apart and separated by a
mountain range 2,000 feet high.
The
Uncompahgre flows through a broad valley containing several hundred thousand
acres of fertile land. Its volume is sufficient for the irrigation of only a small
part of the irrigable area. On the other
hand, the Gunnison River, a stream of
much larger discharge, flows in a profound canyon and in its valley there is no
considerable area of land to be watered.
T o augment the insufficient flow of the
first stream the greatest underground
waterway in the world is being constructed—a tunnel 6 miles long, with a
cross-section 1 0 ^ by 12 feet, under a
mountain 2,000 feet. It will bring into
the valley a part of the waters of the
Gunnison River.
The history of this
project is replete with danger, daring,
and heroism, and the men who initiated
this work and those who have carried it
forward furnish proof enough that all
of Uncle Sam's heroes do not wear uniforms.
T h e topographers who followed to
complete the original survey encountered
almost unheard of trials. Many times it
was necessary to lower them by ropes
hundreds of feet into the canyon. T h e
location for the tunnel was determined at
a point where the canyon was more than
a half mile deep. It was necessarv then
to construct a road into this frightful
gorge, a remarkable road, 16 miles long,
with grades out of the canyon 23 per
cent in places. Heavy machinery was
brought in and a power plant installed.
T h e difficulties encountered have tried
the heart of those engaged upon the
work. Gas, cave-ins, and subterranean
springs have all interposed obstacles requiring the utmost care in the prosecution of the work. At frequent intervals
heavv flows of water have been encountered. This has required the installation
of complete pumping facilities. At the
present time pumps are discharging
about 250,000 gallons per 24-hour dav,
and the quantity pumoed has been as high
as 750,000 gallons during the same pe-

riod. More than four miles of the tunnel
have been excavated to date. While the
tunnel work was going on many miles
of canals were dug, some of which were
in exceedingly unfavorable country and
necessitated cement lining.
Irrigation from this project will begin
in 1909, and 140,000 acres of land, much
of which is adapted to the growing of
deciduous fruits, will be ready for settlement. T h e Denver and Rio Grande
Railway traverses this section.
STRAWBERRY VALLEY P R O J E C T , U T A H

This project provides for the irrigation
of about 60,000 acres of land in central
Utah, situated from 5 to 15 miles south
of Provo, and on the eastern shore of
Utah Lake. W a t e r supply will be received from a storage reservoir to be built
on Strawberry River, about 30 miles east
of the irrigable area. By means of a tunnel 33/2 miles long stored waters will be
carried under the divide and emptied into
Spanish Fork, from which a canal from
18 to 20 miles long will convey them to
the irritable area. T h e lands have a
mean elevation of 4,500 feet.
Y A K I M A VALLEY P R O J E C T S ,

WASHINGTON

On the eastern side of the Cascades, in
Washington, are a succession of valleys
in the drainage of the Yakima River.
Comprehensive plans have been worked
out by the Reclamation Service and construction is wTell under way for the reclamation of the largest project yet undertaken. The irrigable area is nearly
a half million acres and the cost will probably exceed $15,000,000. T h e work is
being taken up in divisions, each involving the irrigation of specified areas.
Storage is provided by erecting dams
at the outlets of several mountain lakes,
the capacity of which will total 804,000
acre-feet. O n the Sunnyside Unit the
government purchased a large canal, enlarged it and rebuilt the diversion dam in
the Yakima. Last year this system supplied 40,000 acres, and a crop census
showed that the yields amounted to
$2,000,000 or $50 per acre.
N o section of the United States gives

H O M E - M A K I N G BY T H E G O V E R N M E N T
more generous returns for the labor employed than the Yakima Valley. I have
never dared to tell Easterners what I
really know to be true about the crop
yields. Some of the views will give you
an idea of the intensive farming practiced there.
A m o n g the wealth producers the apple
orchards take a high rank. Full-bearing
orchards produce frequently from $300
to $1,200 per acre annually. It can be
stated that $300 is less than the average
for all well-kept orchards. The fruit
grown here is attractive, sound, and ships
well. Its market is New York and
Europe, and the commission men are so
eager for the crop that it is often contracted for in advance. Orchard lands
sell for from $300 to $2,000 per acre, depending on location and condition of
trees. The pear crop is very profitable,
and peaches and grapes do well. A large
area is in hops, and the yields here are so
generous that I am told Yakima is driving
New York out of the hop-growing
business.
T h e Yakima Indians find employment
in the hop fields during the picking season, and usually camp just outside the
fields. Alfalfa is another money-maker,
producing from 6 to 8 tons per acre,
worth on an average of $5 per ton in the
stack.
In 1907 the Yakima Valley
shipped fruit to the value of $1,125,000.
Its hay crop was worth $2,000,000; potatoes, $250,000; onions, $50,000, and
hops, $200,000, a total of farm products
of $3,625,000. Sixty-five thousand cattle
and 20,000 sheep were ranged and fed
in this valley in 1907, valued at about
$2,000,000.

Ten and 20 acre farms are common in
this valley, and this has brought about
compact rural settlements along the irrigation canals. In turn there has followed a
gradual improvement in social conditions,
with the elimination of the isolation of
farm life, which has in itself proven such
an important factor in swinging the pendulum of population from the farm to the
town. The luxuries of town life are enjoyed in a measure by the farmer, who at
the same time lives a life of freedom in
the open.

265

W h e n the works on this section are
completed the Yakima Valley will become one of the show places of the country. Over a greater portion of the irrigable area the farms will not exceed 20
acres in area, and we may look for a population of 250,000 in this favored region
in the not distant future. Fully developed, the taxable property should have a
value of not less than $70,000,000, making it one of the richest agricultural districts in the world.
T h e area which can be reclaimed is
nearly double that which is now irrigated
in Southern California. A splendid part
of the life in the Yakima Valley is that
one can live out of doors so much of the
year. The same share of clear skies and
dry air that makes Southern California so
attractive is enjoyed in Washington. T h e
valley is on the main line of the Northern
Pacific and the new line of the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway now
building.
OKANOGAN P R O J E C T , W A S H I N G T O N

The Okanogan country lies about half
in British Columbia and half in the
United States. O w i n g to its remarkable
climate this valley has been called the
California of the Northwest. T h e Reclamation Service has nearly completed
an interesting engineering work here to
reclaim 8,000 acres. The land is very
fertile and, owing to the exceptionally
favorable climate, a wide variety of
products, many of which are high priced,
are produced. Frost has never injured
the fruit in the valley in which this work
is located, and there has never been a
failure with apples, peaches, plums,
prunes, apricots, pears, cherries, nectarines, grapes, and all the varieties of
small berries grown in the United States.
The nearest railway town is Wenatchee,
on the Great Northern, from which place
steamboats ply daily up the Columbia to
Brewster, and thence by stas"e 28 miles
to Okanogan, a town of 400 inhabitants.
U M A T I L L A PROJECT, OREGON

The Umatilla project, in northeastern
Oregon, when compared in area with
many others now under construction,

266

T H E NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

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might be regarded as one of the lesser
works, but when studied as to its possible
future development it easily takes a prominent place among the most favorable and
attractive agricultural regions in the
West.
No expert who has investigated this
wonderful land of sunshine has yet dared
to place a limit upon its agricultural possibilities. N a t u r e here gives the maxim u m return for the minimum of labor.
T h e irrigable lands lie in rolling
benches along the Columbia and between
it and the Umatilla. The diversity of
crops, many of which are high priced,
made possible by the exceptionally favorable conditions of soil and climate, predicate small farms intensively cultivated,
providing homes for an intelligent and
prosperous husbandry. The promise of a
compact community of scientific agriculturists in this valley is certain of fulfillment in the near future. F r o m the
n a t u r e of the crops and the character of
t h e people who will grow them it requires, no particular gift of prophecy to
predict the establishment in this valley of
a rural settlement which will be likened
•unto many of those nearly ideal communities which have grown up under methods of intensive irrigation in Southern
California.
T h e water supply is the flood flow of
t h e Umatilla, which is stored in a reservoir created by constructing an earthen
•embankment nearly ioo feet in height
and one-half mile long. Owing to the
exceedingly porous character of the soil,
many of the canals are lined with cement.
The line of the Oregon Railroad and
Navigation Company passes through the
irrigated area.
TRUCKS-CARSON

PROJECT,

NEVADA

On the western border of the Great
Interior Basin in the bed of ancient Lake
Lahontan, in Nevada, an important work
is now completed to irrigate 160,000
acres. This is the dryest part of the
United States except Death Valley, and
was called " F o r t y Mile Desert" by the
:gold hunters who crossed it en route to
California. T h e old overland trail can

267

still be traced across the desert, and we
come upon many melancholy evidences
of desert tragedies, enacted in the early
fifties.
In excavating canals our great
shovels have encountered the bones of
men and horses who perished of thirst.
W e know now that much of their suffering was unnecessary. T h e r e is plenty of
good water not far below the surface of
the sands. In fact, the grave-diggers, if
they had gone a few feet deeper, would
have been able to satisfy their own thirst.
The irrigation works in this valley in a
way have changed physical geography.
T h e Truckee River is lifted from its bed
by a huge dam 30 feet high, which turns
the waters into a broad and deep canal
31 miles long and lined with cement.
Truckee River is now flowing into Carson
River. Another dam in Carson River
diverts the combined flow of both streams
upon the desert, which has already begun
to blossom. Eight hundred farms are
now awaiting settlers here. The terms
are easy and the market for farm products is the best in the West. You reach
this valley on the Southern Pacific Railway.
KLAMATH

PROJECT,

OREGON-CALIFORNIA

T h e Klamath Project contemplates the
reclamation of about 190,000 acres of
land situated in Klamath county, Oregon,
and Modoc and Siskiyou counties, California. The plans involve, in addition to
the irrigation of the valley lands, the
reclamation by drainage and future irrigation of a portion of the Lower Klamath
and T u l e lakes, lands which are now
either swamp or lake bottoms.
Practically all the uplands, which include the
greater part of the project, are held in
private ownership, mostly in large holdings, which, under the terms of the Reclamation Act, must be subdivided into
tracts of not to exceed 160 acres. T h e
public lands under the project, which include nearly all of the lake and swamp
areas, are at present withdrawn from
entry. W h e n these lands are restored to
entry, homesteaders may file applications
for available public lands.
Construction work on the first 9 miles

268

T H E NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

of the main canal and the laterals thereunder was begun in March, 1906, and
completed in 1907. F r o m this canal
water will be delivered to from 12,000
to 15,000 acres during the irrigation
season of 1908. T h e lands under the
project are of good quality. T h e principal crops grown are alfalfa, wheat,
oats, barley, rye, vegetables, and some
deciduous fruits. A few experiments in
sugar-beet culture show that it is probable this crop can be successfully grown.
T h e principal town of the valley is Klamath Falls, located on Link River about
one mile below the lower end of Upper
Klamath Lake. Other towns in the valley
are Merrill, situated near Tule Lake, and
Bonanza, situated on Lost River, within
the so-called "upper project." The California and Northeastern Railway is now
under construction to Klamath Falls.
YUMA

PROJECT

President Roosevelt is responsible in a
measure for the present widespread interest in the delta of the Colorado River,
having made it the subject of a special
message to Congress last session. This
region has been likened unto the wonderful valley of the Nile, which it so greatly
resembles in soil, crops, and climate. T h e
world is familiar with the catastrophe
which threatened for a time to destroy a
very large area in the lower valley, but
few people appreciate the almost superhuman engineering feat by which this
powerful stream was forced back into its
old channel. This was accomplished by
the engineers of a great railroad company, which placed at their disposal vast
sums of money and almost the entire
equipment of the system. Since the river
was controlled the government work at
Y u m a and above has progressed rapidly.
The great weir at L a g u n a is now within
700 feet of closing the river, and during
low-water stage this year heroic efforts
will be made to complete this structure.
T h e L a g u n a dam is interesting, as it is
the first structure of this kind to be
erected in the United States. It is similar
to several weirs built bv the English engineers in Egypt and India.

The project contemplates the reclamation of about 100,000 acres in Arizona
and California. These lands are without
question the most valuable in the country
when watered. President Roosevelt, in
his message to Congress, said : " T h e most
conservative estimate after full development must place the gross production
from this land at not less than $100 per
acre per year, every 10 acres of which
will support a family when under intensive cultivation. Much of the land will
be worth from $500 to $1,500 per acre to*
individual holders." Yuma, the principal
city in this section, is on the Southern
Pacific Railw r ay.
A V A N I S H E D RACK

A peculiar interest attaches to our farSouthwest, for the reason principally that
long before the first word of our Nation's
history was inscribed a semi-civilized
people dwelt there and cultivated its fertile soil. Impenetrable mystery envelopes
the age in which they lived. W i t h four
centuries of our own records to scan, supplemented by seven centuries of Moki
traditions, the veil of the past thus parted
throws no ray of light upon this ancient
race. Their wonderful dwellings, perched
eyrie-like in the deep canyons, and the
long lines of their canals, choked with
the wind-swept drift of centuries, givemute and pathetic evidence of their architectural and engineering skill.
F r o w n i n g battlements overlooking the
desert, crumbling slowly into dust with
the weight of ages, breathe of war and
romance in an age forgotten. These
monster structures, containing millions of
pieces of stone, and the miles of canals
which embraced whole valleys, tell of a
thrifty home-loving husbandry. In these
voiceless and vacant ruins we may almost
read the story of Egypt of the scriptures,
of another people toiling under the desert's brazen skies, wearily and painfully
executing the commands of another
Pharaoh.
W h a t Fate overtook them we shall
never know. Yet among these castled
chAfs we know that men have lived and
died, and youths and maidens have r e -

HOME-MAKING

BY T H E

GOVERNMENT

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OF VEGETATION

H O M E - M A K I N G BY T H E

GOVERNMENT

271

BALED HAY STORAGE BUILDING AT THE CHANDLER RANCH, 6 MILES SOUTH OF MESA,
ARIZONA. WATER IS SUPPLIED FOR THE IRRIGATION OF THIS HAY BY PUMPING
PLANTS: SALT RIVER PROJECT, ARIZONA

peated, o'er and o'er, the old, sweet story.
We confess to a feeling of sadness as we
view these structures erected in an age
unknown—structures revealing order and
intelligence, craftsmanship and patience,
and rivalling in some degree the work of
modern engineers. The Cheltro Palace is
449 feet long, 250 feet wide, and 4 stories
high. Along three sides of it extends a
wall 950 feet long and 40 feet in height.
The masonry work in this building and
wall contained more than 30,000,000
pieces of stone. All had to be quarried,
then carried up steep ladders in baskets
on the backs of men before being placed
in position. Considering the primitive
stone implements used and the magnitude
of this structure, the time and labor required to construct this building make it
the most famous and stupendous work of
our country.
SALT RIVER PROJECT, ARIZONA

Let us in fancy visit this land of mystery, of lost races and hoarv ruins, a land

whose civilization was old perhaps when
Caesar sat upon his throne. Starting
from the charming city of Phoenix, in the
heart of Salt River Valley, let us take a
journey to the wonderful engineering
works of this project. Leaving Phcenix
by train, the Santa Fe or Southern
Pacific railways, it is only a short ride to
Tempe, where we may profitably pause
a moment or two to get a broad view of
the valley from the summit of the high
butte just at the edge of the town. We
note a peculiarity here as we gaze upon
the cultivated fields. There are no farmhouses on the farms. Here we find a
return to the communal system of farm
life, which was typical in the days of the
cliff-dwellers and later in those of the
Pueblo Indians. The farmer lives in
town and goes to and from his small
farm each day. Here at last the farmer's
wife has her innings. She has the society
of her neighbors, her children have
graded schools; the church and library
are at hand. There is no isolation, no

27 2

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THE TOP OF FISH CREEK HILL, ARIZONA, ON THE MESA AND ROOSEVELT STAGE ROAD,
WHICH WAS BUILT BY THE GOVERNMENT: SALT RIVER PROJECT,

H O M E - M A K I N G BY T H E G O V E R N M E N T
loneliness. W e find under these conditions also that there is no strong tendency
on the part of the young men and women
to drift to the crowded cities.
F r o m Tempe to Mesa is another short
ride by rail through a well-irrigated section. Leaving Mesa in the early morning, when the air is fresh and sweet with
the perfume of countless blossoms, we
journey for a distance of 8 miles through
a region where nature seems to be ever
at work producing varied and wonderful
forms of vegetation. Just beside our
window we note the magnificent date
palm, its broad leaves bending in graceful
curves and shading an abundance of luscious fruit. W e are, indeed, in Egypt,
for the date, you remember, was the
bread of the desert. If we doubt, a little
further along we come upon an olive
orchard, and just beyond the almond
trees are in bloom, lending fragrance to
an atmosphere already perfumed.
W e pause to observe a large flock of
ostriches wandering over an alfalfa
meadow and rub our eyes to be sure we
are really in our own country.
More
familiar to us appear the sleek, fat cattle
standing knee deep in the cool alfalfa.
This alfalfa is a wonderful crop down
here, a veritable farmer's bank account,
frequently yielding 12 tons to an acre per
vear, worth from five to ten dollars per
ton.
W e linger just a moment to gather a
few oranges from the grove beside the
road, and as we eat we wonder why such
fruit never comes to our tables.
There is such a riot of color about this
cottage that we want to stop long enough
to ask the housewife how she can get
roses to bloom in this wonderful way, but
we have a long journey and we only learn
that most farmers' wives in this valley,
having both time and inclination, delight
in beautifying their homes.
"THE: LAND T H A T GOD FORGOT"

All too quickly we have driven over
this flowery, fruitful vale. W i t h a suddenness that is startling we come upon a
scene of death and desolation, where
everything bears mute evidence of a ter-

277

rible struggle for life. It is the land some
one called " T h e Land that God F o r g o t . "
Everything that grows is covered with a
t h o r n ; everything that crawls is deadly.
It is a topsy-turvy wonderland. W e may
not drink of the waters of the desert
stream, for they are salty. In this strange
region they dig for wood and climb for
water, for the water is found in cupshaped pools in the hills and the wood is
the big root of the mesquite.
For 20 miles our road, a government
road, stretches across the desert and we
begin to feel some of its compelling and
pervasive mystery. There is a beauty and
charm about it, too, which cannot be described. T h e distant buttes are glowing
richly red in the early morning light and
the landscape, some one has said, "suggests a thought of God's original palette
whereon he mixed the colors with which
he brought forth the glories of a southwest sunset," the opal-tinted morn and
the fairest shades of rose and green and
yellow.
T h e desert vegetation is interesting.
W e come upon the Sahaurra, the giant
cactus, the sentinel of the desert, clothed
from base to top with thorns, yet bearing
delicate and waxen yellow blossoms.
Singly and in pairs they grow, some attaining a height of 45 feet. Sometimes
we find them in groves. T h e cliff-dwellers used the heart of this plant for floors
in their houses.
O u r first stop in the desert is at Desert
Wells. It remained for our generation
to discover that underneath these burning sands, and at no great depth, is an
inexhaustible supply of water, fresh and
sweet. At several points along our way
the government has put down these wells
to supply the needs of the thousands of
men and teams constantly crossing the
desert.
Rising straight up from the desert is
a distant range of mountains. They seem
to float above the edge of the level plain,
intangible and unreal, yet transcendently
beautiful in coloring and contour.
As we enter the mountain country
glory after glory of view is presented.
Changeful, charming landscape pano-

278

T H E NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

ramas are unfolded before us. The colors
illusive and divinely artistic, shift and
change and blend as we gaze in wonder
and amazement.
THE

MOST

WONDERFUL H I G H W A Y
B U I L T BY M A N

EVER

W e are now entering upon what many
travelers have described as the most wonderful highway ever made by man. A
great thoroughfare built for 40 miles
through the heart of a rugged range of
mountains and for the most part literally
carved from the living rock. As we go
along note the coloring on the rocks, and
believe me when I tell you the colors
shown are not exaggerated, for it would
be impossible for human artist to duplicate, far less to exaggerate, the colors
which the Divine H a n d has put upon
these stones.
I need not tell you that road-building
in a country like this was difficult; that
fact stares you in the face at every point.
W h e n the surveying party reached the top
of Fish Creek Hill the engineer called a
halt. H e wanted time to think; and the
problem before him demanded thought.
H e looked over the cliff into a blind canyon, into which there wTas not even a
foot trail. A thousand feet sheer below
him he could discover faintly a tiny
stream of water and a few green trees.
H o w was he going to get there with a
wagon road over which tons and tons
of machinery must be hauled ? A hurried
reconnaissance disclosed the fact that to
go around the canyon meant adding 15
miles to the road. It was not to be
thought of. So he decided to blast a road
down the face of the steep cliff, and it
was done.
It would be simply terrifying to go
over the road today but for the fact that
the government has built it broad and
comfortable, with easy grades and many
safe turnouts, for standing here at the
edge of the road a pebble slipped from
the fingers shoots almost straight down
a thousand feet without stopping.
A t one point we get a view of the road
almost to the blind end of the canyon,
and can also see the line of road as it

turns back on the other side. Just before
we make this turn we cross a pretty little
bridge 60 feet above Fish Creek. Down
in the bottom of the canyon we find
Frazier's Road House, a comfortable
little inn, with good beds and a genial
landlord. H e r e we shall spend the night.
In this canyon, a miniature grand canyon
of the Colorado, we will witness the
golden glory of a sunset whose splendor
will be impressed forever on our memory. Later we shall sit in the twilight
and watch the stars steal forth in skies
that seem to touch the walls of the canyon all around us.
T h e brooding mystery of the scene and
the witchery of the hour will sink deeply
into our hearts and color our dreams for
many nights hereafter.
In the morning early we make our start
to climb out of the canyon. Another
panorama of mountains, uncanny buttes,
steep-walled canyons, and narrow valleys passes before us. Freakishly shaped
rocks, grotesque and awe-inspiring, tower
above us. W h a t wonder that the Indian
viewed the country with superstition and
awe!
At places we skirt dark chasms. Here
the road has been cut from a rock that is
milk white. H e r e the mountain-top was
blasted off and the road built from the
river up. H e r e we have a long swing on
the edge of a profound forge, and as we
pass along we are thankful indeed that
our road is wide and safe.
Higher and higher we climb, every
moment catching glimpses of difficult
problems in road building worked out
successfully. W e pass through g r e a t
cuts, and here and there the road has been
built up from below with masonry.
THE: ROOSEVELT DAM AND OTHER MARVELS

O u r road has brought us to the top
of the narrow gorge Salt River has cut
through the mountains, and we look down
upon one of the world's greatest engineering works in process of construction,
the Roosevelt dam. This wonderful
structure of sandstone and cement will
rise 284 feet above the river. It will be
1,080 feet long on top and 170 feet thick

H O M E - M A K I N G BY T H E G O V E R N M E N T

279

at the base. Its foundation will cover cement manufacturers was prohibitive.
one acre of ground.
This engineer, undaunted, found a limePlaced by the side of a 20-story build- stone ledge near the dam and proceeded
ing, it would rise ten feet above it, while to erect a cement mill. It has already
its length on top would be more than two turned out 80,000 barrels of cement at a
city blocks. Across its top will be a road- cost far below the lowest bid.
way 20 feet wide.
Power was essential, so a dam was
By day and by night the dull roar of built 16 miles upstream, turning a part
dynamite breaks the desert stillness, and of the river into a power canal. T h e
the canyon walls go crashing down to canal, having less grade than the river,
furnish material for this structure. Great appears to carry the water uphill.
blocks of sandstone weighing ten tons
A part of it is lined with cement. It
each aie swung out on cranes and set in crosses rough country in viaducts that
place.
make us think of the works of ancient
W h e n night comes myriads of electric Rome. Near the dam site it passes
lights burst forth, weirdly illuminating through a tunnel and downward into the
a busy army of toilers, working gnome- mountain, a drop of 220 feet. T h e water
like in a shadowy canyon. It is a wond- falls upon the turbines located in a unique
rous scene, unreal, awesome, and in- power-house, a niche in the canyon walls,
spiring.
and generates 4,400 horse-power. T h e
Every stone that is laid in that narrow power is utilized by the contractor, it
arch, which is to curb that foaming river, operates the cement plant, the electricbrings nearer and nearer the day when light plant, and is used for other purthe town of Roosevelt shall vanish be- poses.
neath an inland sea.
THE: A P A C H E LABORERS
W h e n those massive gates of iron in
the big .dam, weighing 60,000 pounds, are
On the way to the saw-mills we pass
closed, a rising flood will cover the site a number of salt caves, each of wonderful
of the city 220 feet deep. The people beauty. T h e salt is deposited by salt
knew it was a doomed city when they springs. It is from these springs that the
built it, but this did not deter them. They river takes its name, for the waters of
built stores and dwellings, a school-house Salt River are too salty to drink, but forand a church, and brought water from tunately not salty enough to be injurious
distant mountain springs.
when used for irrigation.
This government work is interesting
T h e most difficult problem for the enginot only to the engineer, but also to the neer to solve was the labor question. T h e
layman. It is located in a valley which common laborer did not like the job,
has been the abode of three races, one of chiefly, it is said, because he could not
which lived here when Rome was young. spend his money fast enough. This is a
T w o of those wonderful cliff-dwellings government reservation; there are no
are almost in sight of the modern struc- saloons ; no gambling is permitted. There
ture that is soon to submerge some of are no towns nearer than 60 miles, so
the lands which formerly produced their he did not look with favor on the work.
harvests.
T h e real worth of the engineer came out
O w i n g to the remoteness from trans- when he turned missionary and held a
portation, the government engineer had pow-wow with the Apache Indians, who
to engage in many enterprises. H e built have lived in the basin for generations.
roads to get machinery in. H e sawed It seems incredible, yet it is nevertheless
millions of feet of lumber from the na- true, he succeeded i n ' inducing several
tional forests nearby. H e turned farmer hundred of them to go on the pay-roll,
and raised his own produce, his hay, pork, and, largely through their labors, the
beef, and chickens. In the construction wonderful highway we just crossed over
of the dam 240,000 barrels of cement are was built.
renuired and the lowest bid from the
Some of the Apaches developed. Sev-

280

T H E NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

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HOME-MAKING

BY T H E

GOVERNMENT

281

282

THE

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

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ALMOND ORCHARD IN BLOOM IN THE SALT RIVER VALLEY, ARIZONA : SALT RIVER
PROJECT, ARIZONA

HOME-MAKING

BY T H E

GOVERNMENT

83

DATE TREE IN SALT RIVER VALLEY, NEAR MESA, SHOWING THE ENORMOUS CROP OF
DATES ON ONE TREE : SALT RIVER VALLEY PROJECT, ARIZONA

284

THE

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

MAGAZINE

THE IVY RANCH, NEAR PHCENIX, ARIZONA : SALT RIVER PROJECT, ARIZONA
The bee industry in the Salt River Valley is a very profitable industry, as the climatic
conditions are perfect, and the clover and alfalfa fields, as well as the wild mesnuite. affords

H O M E - M A K I N G BY T H E G O V E R N M E N T
eral, starting as common laborers, showed
such industry and ability that they were
promoted to responsible positions, as road
supervisors in charge of their own tribesmen on difficult road work.
T h e r e is something like poetic justice in
the labor of the Indian with pick and
shovel to reclaim a valley he so often
watered with the blood of the white man.
While the braves are working for the
government on the road, in the cement
mill, the brick-yard, and elsewhere, the
squaws in the teepees weave wonderful
baskets, which find ready sale in the camp
and in the valley below.
Sixty miles below Roosevelt another
enormous structure is rapidly nearing
completion.
It will divert the stored
waters into canals on each side of the
river which lead it to the fields below.
One of these canals was partly excavated
by the cliff-dwellers, who cut it through
solid rock. Think of the patience and
time they must have expended in a work
like this, when their only implements
were of stone.
Settlers are already erecting their
homes on the desert, and soon we shall
call this the land that God remembered,
for, with water from those distant mountains stored in vast reservoirs and led
through a thousand miles of canals and
ditches, the desert will smile, oases of
green will spring forth, and homes of
beauty and peace will dot the landscape.
TERMS

OF

SALE

OF

GOVERNMENT

LAND

If the thousands of inquiries which are
addressed to the Statistician of the Reclamation Service, at Washington, D. C.,
can be accepted as any indication, the
West will be the Mecca for hundreds of
home-seekers this spring. Many other
projects of the government which are
ready for irrigation contain large areas
of land for sale by private owners who
are under agreement with the United
States to dispose of their holdings. By
the terms of the Reclamation L a w no
farm will contain more than 160 acres.
Every settler must reside upon the land,
and must cultivate it for five years before
he can secure a patent. T h e homestead
rights of soldiers and sailors are not

285

abridged by the Reclamation Act. H o m e seekers should have money—how much
depends, of course, upon the settler and
the kind of farming he expects to do.
While there are numerous opportunities
to secure work, the settler with money
and equipment will be able to get his land
in condition for irrigation and will thus
secure an early income from his farm.
A knowledge of irrigation is not absolutely essential. T h e government will
have a practical farmer on each project
to advise new-comers. O n several projects there are demonstration farms on
which are grown the crops adapted to
that section. During portions of the year
the government will give employment to
settlers in constructing canals, laterals,
and building roads.
S U M M A R Y OF WORK DONE

A summation of the work of the Reclamation Service for 1907 shows that it
has dug 1,881 miles of canals, or nearly
the distance from Washington to Idaho.
Some of these canals carry whole rivers,
like the Truckee River in Nevada, and
the N o r t h Platte in Wyoming. T h e tunnels excavated are 56 in number, and
have an aggregate length of 1 3 % miles.
T h e Service has erected 281 large structures, including the great dams in Nevada and the Minidoka D a m in Idaho, 80
feet high and 650 feet long. It has completed 1,000 headworks, flumes, etc. It
has built 611 miles of wagon road in
mountainous country and into heretofore
inaccessible regions. It has erected and in
operation 830 miles of telephones. Its
own cement mill has manufactured 80,000
barrels of cement, and the purchased
amount is 403,000 barrels. Its own sawmills have cut 3,036,000 feet B. M. of
lumber, and 23,685,000 feet have been
purchased. T h e surveying parties of the
Service have completed topographic surveys covering 10,970 square miles, an
area greater than the combined areas of
Massachusetts and Rhode Island. T h e
transit lines had a length of 18,900 linear
miles, while the level lines run amount to
24,218 miles, or nearly sufficient to go
around the earth.
T h e diamond drillings for dam sites

286

T H E N A T I O N A L GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE

a n d canals amount to 66,749 feet, or more
than 12 miles. Today the Service owns
and has at work 1,500 horses and mules.
It operates 9 locomotives, 611 cars, and
23 miles of railroad, 84 gasoline engines
and 70 steam engines. It has constructed
and is operating 5 electric-light plants.
There have been excavated 42,447,000
cubic yards of earth and rock.
The
equipment now operated by the Service
on force account work represents an investment of a million dollars.
This work has been carried on with
the following force: Classified and registered service, including Washington office, 1,126; laborers employed directly by
the government, 4,448; laborers employed by contractors, 10,789, or a total
of all forces of 16,363. T h e expenditures
now total nearly $1,000,000 per month.
Areas, Cost, Expenditures,

Location.

Arizona
California
California-Arizona
Colorado
Colorado
Idaho
Idaho
Kansas
Montana
Montana

etc., on Entire

As a result of the operations of the Reclamation Service eight new towns have
been established, 100 miles of branch
railroads have been constructed, and
14,000 people have taken up their residence in the desert.
T h e following is a list of the approved
projects on which construction has been
commenced.
T h e table shows the irrigable area of the projects to the points
to which it is expected to carry them
during the four years 1908 to 1911; the
estimated cost to complete the work to
these points; the estimated expenditures
to the end of the calendar year 1907, and
the percentage of completion December
31, 1907, based upon the ratios of the
expenses to that date to the total estimated cost:

Projects or Such Units as it is Expected
by ign.

Project.

Salt River
Orland
Yuma
Uncompahgre
,
Grand Valley
Minidoka
Payette-Boise
Garden City
,
Huntley
,
Milk River, including
Saint Mary.
Montana
vSun River
Nebraska-Wyoming . , . North Platte
Nevada
Truck ee-Carson
,
New Mexico
Carlsbad
New Mexico
Hondo
New Mexico
Leasburg
New Mexico-Texas . . . . Rio Grande
,
North Dakota
Pun'ping, Buford-Trenton, Williston.
Montana-North Dakota Lower Yellowstone.. . .
Oregon
Umatilla
Oregon-California
Klamath
South Dakota
Belle Fourche
Utah
Strawberry Valley
Washington
Okanogan
Washington
Sunnyside
Washington
Tieton
Washington
Wapato
Wyoming
Shoshone

Area
in acres.

Estimated
cost.

to Complete

Per
Estimated
expenditure cent of
to Decem- comber 31, 1907. pletion.
$4,362,100
16,900
1,876,700

69.2
1.4
41.7
51.8
•4
46.0
46.5
80.5
88.4

210,000
30,000
100,000
140,000
50,000
160,000
100,000
8,000
30.000
30,000

$6,300,000
1,200,000
4,500,000
5,600,000
2,250,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
350,000
900,000
1,200,000

16,000
110,000
160,000
20,000
10.000
10,000
160,000
40,000

500,000
3.850.000
4,800,000
640,000
370,000
200,000
8,000,000
1,240,000

2,797,300
3,804,600
579,4oo
358,600
167,900
53,200
519,600

69.0
73.o
79.2
81.5
97 o
83.9
.6
41.9

66,000
18,000
r 20,000
i c o , 000
30,000
8,000
40,000
24,000
20,000
100,000

2,700,000
1,100,000
3,600,000
3,500,000
1,500,000
500,000
1,600,000
1,500,000
600,000
4,500,000

75i,85o
7^5,500
1,305,080
1,281,900
418,700
372,180
481,180
565,420
5,220
2,3i3,99o

64.
69
36
36
27
74.
30
37.
8,
5i

1,910,000

$70,000,000

$30,665,570

2,900,000
9,750

1,839,700
1,381,500
282,000

796,400
314,800
344, TOO

26.2

H O M E - M A K I N G BY T H E

GOVERNMENT

287

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