The Great Reclamation: How the Feds Are Remaking the West
A rare, detailed look at the massive engineering projects intended to turn arid public lands into thousands of small, self-sustaining family farms.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In response to a suggestion by a correspondent, Prof. W. H. Newell, chief of the United States reclamation service, dictated the following account of the federal irrigation undertaking. Under the law of June 17, 1902, the service has been organized for the purpose of making surveys and constructing irrigation works for the reclamation of the arid lands of the west. Funds are derived from the disposal of public lands in thirteen states and three territories. The reclamation will come about largely through the storage of flood waters that now run waste in the spring. Basins will be utilized by closing outlets and catching the waters that otherwise devastate the lowlands. The main feature of the law is to secure the development of the arid region and the creation of small, self-sustaining farms. The government requires that lands held by individuals or corporations be subdivided and disposed of in small tracts, not to exceed 160 acres, to ensure dense settlement. This is to ensure that the lands become a source of strength to the commonwealth through the creation of homes.
“The main thing is to secure ultimately the building of homes and the placing of these in the hands of the people who become self-supporting.”
This 1903 federal push for 'small, self-sustaining farms' via massive irrigation infrastructure reflects the era's obsession with the 'homesteading' ideal. Today, Walla Walla and the surrounding region continue to grapple with the legacy of this water policy, as climate change and competing agricultural interests force a modern reckoning with water rights and the sustainability of large-scale irrigation.
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