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Show RECLAMATION OF THE ARID LANDS 697 provided by the great dams, canals, and powerhouses of the Bureau of Reclamation were among the chief factors making for this rapid growth. At a cost of $6,738,000,-000 water was being provided to 8 million acres, the crop yield of which was $1,557,-000,000 in 1965; 1,675,000 acre-feet of water were delivered for domestic and industrial uses to cities and towns; the sale of electric power reached $115,483,000.17ri The early objective of irrigating 100 million acres had not and could never be achieved. However, the other dreams of those who contemplated what reclamation could do for the West had been far surpassed. Reclamation had long since gone beyond the limited concept of irrigating dry farmland to the multiple-purpose concept that included providing water for the great cities, power for their homes and industries, recreation at the many reservoirs, and flood control to stay the damage of an angry nature. Yet the contribution of reclamation to agriculture has not been small. A summary of 1957 shows 50,845 farms either receiving or eligible to receive full water service and 50,554 receiving supplementary water service. Together, this was almost twice the number of farms in all New England. To this may be added 17,079 part-time farms getting full water service and 7,702 getting supplementary water service. On these full and part-time farms lived 486,000 people. Interesting also is the fact that the average size for the full-time farms was 72 acres.170 175 The statistics of water provided, acreage watered, and crop yield and income from power sales apply to reclamation and related projects in the 11 semi-arid states and North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, though much the larger part of all relate to the 11 states. Summary Report of the Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, 1966, Statistical Appendix, Parts 1, 2, and 3. 176 "Reclamation-Accomplishments and Contributions," p. 21. The compilers did not provide any information concerning the number of farms operated by other than owners nor what concentration of ownership there may have been, nor did they provide It should be added that while the Bureau of Reclamation was providing water for nearly 9 million acres of land some 24 million acres were being irrigated by a combination of public, semi-public, and private agencies. For 1966 the Bureau of Reclamation reported 134,000 family farm units with an irrigable acreage of 8,623,760 representing 564,000 farm people, all this in 17 states west of the Louisiana-Minnesota tier of states. These same 17 states had enjoyed a growth of 261 percent since the adoption of the Reclamation Act whereas the United States as a whole had a growth of 135 percent. Few policies concerned with public lands have been as popular, as dynamic, or as imaginative. None except free homesteads has produced such striking results as reclamation. Though it has drawn criticism at times and some representatives of other regions not directly benefited have growled at its cost and the competition it has created for farms elsewhere, reclamation has been the decisive factor in making possible the growth of hundreds of western communities and in accelerating the rate of development of the western third of the United States far beyond that of other sections in the 20th century. Reclamation Homestead Entries It has not been possible to separate the original reclamation homestead entries from all other original homestead entries for the years from 1905 to 1915, except for 1907, but statistics are available for final homestead entries for 1913-15 which indicate considerable settlement on Federal irrigation projects in the previous years. any data concerning the enforcement of the excess-land limitations though they did show the steps taken by Congress to free certain areas and lands from the limitations. It should be added that the average size of the part time farms was only 12 acres, many being only 2 or 3 acres. |