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Show Possible population The tendency on all irrigated lands is to small farms and a dense population, and especially is this the case in the warmer climates, where the products are more varied and have a higher commercial value than the products of the colder regions. I think it is a safe assumption that the day will come when the size of the average Salton Basin farm will not exceed 20 acres. On a basis of 950,000 acres, total acreage under cultivation, this would give 47,500 farms, and assuming 5 as the average family directly supported by the farm, gives a rural population of 237,500. If the urban population is 30% of the whole, we may expect eventually, a total population of 339,000, or approximately 230 to the square mile. If we carry out this same ratio for the Lower California lands and assume the acreage irrigated as 640,000, it gives a total population of 569,000 that some day will be dependent upon these canals for their support. This may seem an exaggerated statement, but a study of the statistics of population will convince you that it is not. England has a populaion of 500 to the square mile, Belgium 535, Saxony 605, France 195 for its entire area of 204,000 square miles which includes all of the mountainous and uninhabitable regions, the province of Loire, which contains no large manufacturing city, has a population of 328 to the square mile. The estimated population of the inhabitable regions of India is 400, Massa- |
Source |
Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : California exhibits. |