OCR Text |
Show 77 Unless this can be remedied, it is plain that the area west of the one hundredth meridian, and, indeed, still other areas lying between this line and the Mississippi River, cannot be settled except at local points, which will be selected principally because of the opportunities to use the entire water- supply with the greatest certainty, and the several tracts will thus fall into the hands of speculators and other large holders, to the detriment of that class of settlers most likely to enter and occupy these outlying lands, and establish the nuclei of a continuous cordon of settlement from east to west through the entire interior; small settlements though they might be, still they would be susceptible of a healthy increase by immigration, provided that the rights to each settler of an equable distribution of the water should be guaranteed by law. This cannot, however, be completely accomplished, until the gang-ing of the streams and measurement of the outlying districts are made by meandering the watersheds, estimating the geographical conditions of each, bringing all into districts arranged according to the physical configuration of the country- the division being usually made by drawing lines normal to the general course of the main stream at each point selected for observation- and by determining the arable and arid portions within these districts, with the general profile of the country, a law could finally be framed that would provide for the entire equable distribution of the waters within each basin or water- shed. To this end it is suggested that, at an early day, the gauging of the rivers and principal creeks be commenced, not alone in the valley of the Colorado, but in all the basins of drainage of the entire western country. This can only be done by establishing a certain number of stations that can be made meteorological stations, furnishing a part of their data for the use of the Weather Bureau, when they can be reached by telegraph, and at which the gauging and changes in the streams can be ascertained, as well as the areas of the water- shed and the source of the main stream, with profiles of lines of irrigation- canals, and marked depressions fitted for storage- reservoirs, with estimates of evaporation, while the amounts of arable and timber and grazing sections can be determined by the moving field- parties engaged in the prosecution of geographical surveys, so that prior to actual occupation an exact knowledge can be had of the amounts of water needed to irrigate certain classes of soils in the several localities. That this can be done in connection with the prosecution of geographical surveys of the interior, with comparatively little increase of expense, is patent to me, and a plan looking to the initiation of such additional work can be submitted at any time; should appropriations be sufficient, and authority granted, the same may be taken up during subsequent seasons* SUMMARIZED HISTOBY OF THE SUBVEY. The following is a brief summarized history of the various points bearing upon the development of this work: The officer at present in charge, while serving upon the staff of Brig. Gen. £• O. 0. Ord ( commanding Department of Galifornia) in 1869, conducted a reconnaissance looking to the development of routes of communication through Southern and Southeastern Nevada. While completing the results of that work, in compliance with instructions, a project was presented for the prosecution of similar work in other portions of the Military Department of California. In 1870 this work was suspended, owing to lack of funds. In the early spring of 1871 it was re- organized, and funds from appropriations for " surveys for military defenses" and other sources were placed at disposal for its prosecution in Nevada, California, and Arizona. The expedition of |