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National Geographic : 1897 Feb
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THE UTILIZATION OF THE VACANT PUBLIC LANDS 53 use of this element must be of paramount importance to secur ing title to the land. If the waters of the perennial streams which are wasted during the winter months could be stored and reservoirs could be con structed to impound the storm waters, the area of territory sus ceptible of irrigation could be largely increased. As the irrigable land is far in excess of the available water supply, the land to be irrigated should also be selected with a view to the most eco nomical use of the water, so that the available lands should be irrigated and disposed of as agricultural lands, and the remain ing lands be held for disposition for other uses. The importance of observing the strictest economy in the dis tribution of water and the selection of lands is forcibly stated in the minority report of the Special Committee appointed by the United States Senate in 1889 to consider the subject of the irriga tion and reclamation of the arid lands. It says: " The irrigable lands are limited in extent. The area of the arid region which can be irrigated is a small fraction of the entire region. This arises from the fact that all the waters that can be used are insufficient to serve all the possible irrigable lands. It therefore becomes necessary to select the lands to be redeemed. On the wisdom of this selection vast interests depend. It is possible to irrigate lands on the mountains and on the high plateaus, but if the water is used there it cannot be used below, and these elevated lands will not make the best homes for the people. The climate there is rigorous, and the variety of agricultural products that can be raised is limited, being chiefly hay and vegetables. To use the water on such lands is largely to waste it, and to drive agriculture into the moun tains is to doom the people engaged therein to a dreary life in a subarctic climate. It is therefore manifestly to the interest of the greatest number of people that the agriculture of the arid lands should not be established in the mountain regions. The valleys and plains below are warm, salu brious, and rich, the variety of agricultural products is great, and if the waters are used on these lands they will give support to a prosperous people." If this is the condition with which we are confronted with re gard to the vacant public lands in the arid region, then it must follow that these lands should not be disposed of until they have been brought to an agricultural condition, if due regard be had to the practical and economical disposition of them, and with a view to deriving the greatest benefit for the state and nation. This may be accomplished in three ways: (1) by the construc tion of reservoirs and irrigating works and the adoption of an irrigation system under the direction of the general government;
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