irrigation purposes. This has brought about the rapid growth of cities
and a substantial industrial advance in the former arid regions of the
far West. The most notable impulse to this movement was made in 1902
when Congress passed a law, the Reclamation act, providing that the
proceeds from the sales of public lands in thirteen States and three
Territories should be expended by the National Government in the
construction of irrigation works.
The total receipts from the sales of these lands amounted to $28,000,000
by the end of the year 1905, and twenty-three projects, dams,
reservoirs, or canals were in different stages of construction. The most