OCR Text |
Show 506 INTERSTATE ADJUDICATIONS These tables disclose a very marked development in the population, area of land cultivated and amount of agricultural products. What- ever has been effective in bringing about this development is certainly entitled to recognition, and should not be wantonly or unnecessarily destroyed or interfered with. That this development is largely owing to irrigation is something of which from a consideration of the testi- mony there can be no reasonable doubt. It has been a prime factor in securing this result, and before, at the instance of a sister State, this effective cause of Colorado's development is destroyed or materially interfered with, it should be clear that such sister State has not merely some technical right, but also a right with a corresponding benefit. It may be asked why cultivation in Colorado without irrigation may not have the same effect that has attended the cultivation in Kansas west of where it was productive when the territory was first settled. It may possibly have such effect to some degree, but it must be remem- bered that the land in Colorado is many hundred feet in elevation above that in Kansas; that large portions of it are absolutely destitute of sod, and that cultivation would have comparatively little effect upon the retention of water. Add further the fact that the rainfall in Colo- rado is less than that in Kansas, and it would seem almost certain that reliance upon mere cultivation of the soil would not have anything like the effect in Colorado, that it has had in Kansas, and that the barren- ness which characterized portions of the territory of Colorado would have continued for an indefinite time unless relieved by irrigation. Turning to Kansas, the counties along the Arkansas River, com- mencing from the Colorado line are: Hamilton, Kearney, Finney, Gray, Ford, Edwards, Pawnee, Barton, Rice, Reno, Sedgwick, Sum- ner, Cowley. Taking the same years as are given for the Colorado counties, the population is shown to be: We have been furnished by the United States Census Office with statistics of the corn and wheat crops of those counties from the years 1889 to 1904. Corn, wheat, and hay are the leading crops in Kansas. It would unnecessarily prolong this opinion to copy these tables in full, so we give the figures for 1890,1895,1900 and 1904: Population County------------------------------------------------------------- 1880 1890 1900 Hamilton......................................................... 168 2,027 1,426 Kearney.....................______........__________________ 159 1,571 1,107 Finney.....________________......___________...........................___ 3,350 3,469 Gray.......________.................____..................................... 2,415 1,264 Ford...................____..................................... 3,122 5,308 5,497 Edwards........................_____........................... 2,409 3,600 3,682 Pawnee..........-.......______________________.....____..... 5,396 5,204 5,084 Barton..............._______________.....-.....______......... 10,318 13,172 13,784 Rice.................................-...............----........ 9,292 14,451 14,745 Reno........................................___________....... 12,826 27,079 29,027 Sedgwick....................................__________........ 18,753 43,626 44,037 Sumner..........-.................................-............. 20,812 30,271 25,631 Cowley.............................-.....................-..... 21,538 34,478 30,156 104,793 186,552 178,909 |