And should be guarded like forests and water.

Leave something for the

future to decide.

The

exhaustion.

In our own Western States and Territories, the scarcity of both the water and forests has rendered necessary their preservation as public utilities; and the preservation of the forests for the purpose of conserving both the water and the timber supply has come to be recognized as the wise and proper policy of the Federal Government. The quantity of high grade mineral fuels in the West is relatively much smaller than that of the forests; and the proper conservation of these fuels is a matter of far-reaching importance. This government should not now repeat the mistakes of the past. Let us not do what the next generation cannot undo. We have a right to a proper use of both the forests and the fuel during our lifetime but we should not dispose of the birthright of our children. If this government sells its remaining fuel lands, they pass out of its future control.

If it now leases them we retain control and a future Congress will be at liberty to decide whether it will continue or change this policy. Meanwhile the government can inaugurate a system which will encourage the separate and independent development of the surface lands for agricultural purposes and the extraction of the mineral fuels in such manner as will best meet the needs of the people and best facilitate the development of manufacturing industries. . . .

Already probably one half of the total area of the high-grade coals in the West has passed under private control. Including both the lignite and the coal areas, these private holdings probably aggregate not less than 30,000,000 acres of coal fields. With the remainder of the lands containing mineral fuels reserved at least by the government, there will be ample opportunity to determine in the near future which of the two systems - private ownership or the leasing system with general government supervision — will best protect the interests of the people and thus promote the permanent development of the West.

The necessity for care in the future management of these fuel of our fuels. supplies is further illustrated by the rapid rate at which use of such fuels is increasing in the United States. The amount of coal used

in this country during the last ten years is practically equal to that used during the preceding fifty years of its history. During each decade of this period the coal used was practically equal to the sum of that used during all the preceding decades. This remarkable development and the certain continuity of this prodigious growth compels us to recast all estimates as to the life of our "inexhaustible resources." We can foresee the time when the eastern industries will be much more largely taxed for supplying foreign markets. Then the West will also be largely engaged in varying manufacturing enterprises and this will require the intelligent use of every ton of available fuel in that region. The grave importance of conserving the fuel supplies in the West still remaining under the control of the Government, with a view to the accomplishment of these important purposes, impels me again to bring this matter to the attention of Congress.

153. The Reclamation of Arid Lands

Quite as important as the conservation of our national resources is the development of the great arid regions which are to-day unproductive. The most distinguished advocate of a generous policy of governmental reclamation has been Mr. Newlands, of Nevada, and in championing the Reclamation Law of 1902, he made the following speech in the House of Representatives on May 14, of that year.

of the arid

section.

The so-called arid region extends from about the one hundredth The extent meridian of longitude to the Pacific coast. Draw a line north and south through the middle of the two Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and all to the west of it is either arid or semi-arid, the aridity increasing as the Rocky Mountains are approached. The eastern portion of this great region is semiarid, while the narrow fringe along the Pacific seaboard is humid. Within the boundaries named thirteen States and three Territories lie wholly or in part, and, excluding Alaska, they constitute nearly one-half of the superficial area of the Republic. It is estimated that they contain about 600,000,000 acres of vacant public land,

The

character I of the water

supply.

Small

irrigation schemes.

of which about 60,000,000 acres may be irrigated if the water supply is properly conserved and distributed. In other words, it is possible in the future to actually reclaim for cultivation in this vast region an area about equal to the area of the two States of Illinois and Iowa. The rest of this vast area cannot be cultivated. It will consist largely of mountain ranges and arid plains, for which it will be impossible to obtain sufficient water for irrigation, though they will be useful for grazing.

This region was once called "The Great American Desert." It is mainly mountainous. The Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the other mountain ranges take up a very large proportion of its area. It is impossible anywhere to cultivate by means of rainfall. Grasses adapted to the arid region grow on these plains and mountains and sustain the wandering herds from which most of the beef cattle of the country are recruited. Only valleys and plateaus in their vicinity are level enough for cultivation. The mountainous character of the country would prevent cultivation even were water abundant; but there is only sufficient water for a small part of the level portion of this area. The waters for cultivation must come from the creeks, streams, and rivers which have their sources in the snows of the mountains. These waters must be led away from the streams by lateral canals and ditches, and in order to accomplish this the water must be taken out where damming the river is comparatively easy. The snows which are the source of these creeks, streams, and rivers fall in the winter and melt in the spring and early summer. Most of these snows melt before May, leaving a scanty supply for June, July, and August, the period when the heat is intense, and when the dry air sucks the moisture out of everything, and when moisture is most required for ripening crops.

The first lands taken up in such a region are along the creeks and rivers and in the valleys where water is needed for supply. These lands being overflowed by the spring freshets, would produce wild grasses, which the stock men would cut for hay, thus tiding over severe winters when the snow covered and concealed

the wild grasses of the plains and imperilled the lives of the stock. Then, growing more provident, the stockmen would divert the flood waters by canals over the land not naturally overflowed, and thus increase the hayfields. Then came the mines with their communities of merchants and miners requiring food supplies of every kind. And so the small farmer was developed, who, by diverting canals and ditches, sought to give his land the needed water for cereals, vegetables and fruits.

necessity for large

treatment.

From these conditions has come the present irrigation develop- The ment of the West. The condition of the streams in the period of lowest water was the measure of possible reclamation. The flood scientific waters were of no use, for they were not available when needed for ripening the crops, and it is these flood waters, which finally make their way to the ocean or to great lakes in the sink of the desert, like Salt Lake, Humboldt Lake, Walker Lake, and others, that it is proposed to make available for the arid lands now remaining unsettled. To accomplish this requires the broadest generalization, the study of an entire river, with all its tributaries and their subtributaries; the maintenance of an equal and sustained flow of the river during the planting and growing season, and the utilization of every device upon every part of the river necessary to preserve this equal flow. The lands to be benefited may be hundreds of miles away from the location of the stored waters, but these stored waters being above them, not below them, will be on tap, responsive to the demands of intelligent husbandry.

of even dis tribution of

The idea is that the Government should do the primary work of The probler constructing the reservoirs and larger canals, so that the water may be brought within the reach of those who are to settle on the water. public lands and use it in their reclamation and cultivation. Storage enables the utilization of a greater amount of the torrential waters in irrigating the arid plains, as the stored waters supplement the torrential waters later on and ripen the crops which would otherwise be burnt by the hot sun. Storage involves the treatment of an entire watershed in a scientific way regardless of State lines. The problem is to maintain an equal and sustained flow of the

streams, so that the torrential waters may be kept from flowing to waste and may be conserved and let into the stream when the natural supply is exceedingly limited. Very large rivers have numerous tributaries, with their sources in the snows of the mountains. The more water there is stored the greater the extent of the torrential waters that can be utilized in irrigation, for storage guarantees the service of water when it is most needed, and settlers can safely take out the torrential waters in the spring and bring larger areas of land under cultivation when they feel assured that the stored waters will come on later in a period of drought, and furnish the crops with the needed moisture.