Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

86 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. COMPLETED PORTION OF UPPER MAIN CANAL, OKANOGAN PROJECT, WASHINGTON. Idaho the ditches of the miners were similarly employed after the deposits had been ex- hausted. Between 1862 and 1880 many comparatively unimportant canal systems were constructed in Colorado. It is probable that not more than 20,000 acres were under irriga- tion in the Western States in 1870. From 1870 to 1880 was an era of rapid development of small ditches, constructed by individuals and associations of farmers. At the end of that period there were probably 1,000,000 acres under irrigation. In 1869 the famous New York editor, Horace Greeley, began to advocate the settle- Utah is practically the only arid State whose development began with agricul- ture as the chief industry. The precious minerals of California, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana attracted the miners, and in Wyoming the stockmen came long before the man with the plough. In California, after the placer miners had gleaned all the riches from the streams, many of their ditches and flumes were utilized for irrigation, and considerable areas were culti- vated in orchards and gardens. The acreage thus irrigated increased with the growth of population until large systems became neces- sary and were constructed. In Colorado and DAM IN DIVERSION CHANNEL, MINIDOKA IRRIGATION PROJECT, IDAHO. 30,000 horse-power will be developed at this point ENTRANCE TO IRRIGATION TUNNEL, HUNTLEY PROJECT, MONTANA. ment of the West. His motto, “ Go west, young man, go west,” became a slogan, and in 1870 a co- Settle- .. ... ment of the operative association, com- West posed mainly of New Eng- landers, established a colony in Colorado not far from the present city of Denver. Although promoted and aided by the ad- vocates of the Fourier scheme of associa- tion, the American colony differed materially from the communities organized under the French system. Instead of a common owner- ship of land and a community dwelling together under one roof, as planned by Fourier, the Greeley colonists arranged that the unit of