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Umax Powerlook 2100XL, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 11,445,508 bytesbut out there you must even carry water. Land without water is not worth anything. The proposed San Carlos Dam on the upper reaches of the Gila River, Ariz., will impound sufficient water for the irrigation of at least 80,000 acres of fertile land lying in the Florence-Casa Grande Valley below. The Gila River is a flash stream carrying enormous quantities of flood waters at times and at others is practically dry. The Pima Indians were irrigating considerable quantities of land in the lower valley long before the white man ever visited that country. Gradual encroachments by the whites, whose diversions head in the stream above the Indian ditches take out practically the entire flow, thus leaving, during low stages of the stream but little, if any, water for the Indians. In extremely dry seasons not only the Indians but the whites as well suffer seriously from a lack of water. Storage, of course, will obviate this. Ample storm waters are available to more than provide for the acreage mentioned, 80,000 acres. It is not so much a lack of water as it is a lack of storage. An oversupply one day with none at all the next does not lend itself to successful irrigation. Aside from this the property damage during destructive floods is enormous. Construction of the proposed reservoir will not only prove highly beneficial from an agricultural standpoint but will also go a long way toward controlling those destructive floods which now sweep annually down the Gila River. Under appropriations authorized by the act of May 18, 1916, two diversion dams with distributing systems are being constructed across the Gila River below the proposed San Carlos reservoir for the purpose of irrigation land in Indian and white ownership. One of those dams has been completed and the other is now under construction. Something over $1,000,000 have already been expended, or at least authorized, for the construction of those distributing works. Being diversion dams only means that when there is any water in the river it can be utilized but without storage; when water is most needed, none is available. The area to be served by the proposed reservoir and now partly under irrigation from the distributing systems already constructed is almost equally divided between the Indians and the whites, there being about 35,000 acres of Indian land and 45,000 acres in white ownership. The soil is fertile and highly productive. Additional water only is needed. With an assured supply these lands are easily worth from $150 to $200 per acre. Without water they are practically valueless. The intermittent supply now available from the inconstant stream flow is too precarious to justify additional development without storage. The proposed reservoir is entirely feasible from an engineering standpoint and has been favorably reported on and recommended by competent engineers. The project is also fully justified from a financial standpoint. Unless storage is provided in the near future there will be a real need for the Government, in behalf of the Indians, to enjoin the white water users above the Florence-Casa Grande Valley from diverting the water to which it is believed the Indians have a prior and better right. This is bound to lead to serious difficulties and possibly a substantial loss to white landowners who in good faith have expended largely their means in the development of their pres-