Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

IRRIGATION WORK IN THE UNITED STATES. 91 are still unsurveyed, such estimates are only mere guesses. It is known, nevertheless, that the quantity of land far exceeds the water supply. Using present information, it would be conservative to fix the future possibilities of irrigation at 30,000,000 acres, or nearly three times the acreage now watered in the United States. The reclamation of this vast area would create a new empire in the West, and support in comfort and prosperity no fewer than 15,000,000 people. The engineer- ing and economic problems involved in a work of this magnitude naturally excite keen interest among scientists and statesmen. The Federal Government, the several States, and many powerful Corporations are fully awake to its importance. An era of irrigation engineering has dawned upon the great American desert. To adjust the physical conditions of this region so that the desert’s resources may be fully developed, providing homes for thou- sands of people, the Governments of the United States and Mexico are now preparing plans for stupendous engineering works. In accord with the policy urged by Theodore Roosevelt while Chief Executive, the flood waters are to be conserved in immense reservoirs in Colorado, Wyoming, and Arizona, and the whole river is to be controlled and its waters diverted upon the desert areas in both countries. LAWS RECOGNIZING IRRIGATION. In order to promote agricultural develop- ment of the arid and semi-arid regions, Con- gress lias enacted at different times three great laws—namely, the Desert Land Act, the Carey Act, and the Reclamation Act. By the Desert Land Act, approved March 3, 1877, Congress recognized that the legislation governing the disposal of the public domain under which the Mississippi The Desert vaßey was settled were not Land Act. «... „ i r effective for the disposal oi lands producing no crops without irrigation. This law provided that any citizen of the WASTEWAY OF THE IRRIGATION CANAL LEADING FROM THE NORTH PLATTE RIVER. YELLOWSTONE RIVER AND HUNTLEY CANAL, MONTANA. The canal passes in tunnel through the hill. CANAL OF THE TRUCKEE CARSON IRRIGATION PROJECT, NEVADA.