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The report surveys arid western territories, delineating their extent and classifying lands by moisture regimes while compiling rainfall records, topography, and soil character. It assesses which areas require irrigation or drainage, analyzes engineering and water‑management challenges, and offers practical recommendations for settlement, agriculture, and grazing under limited water supplies. Accompanying maps and statistics support proposals for organizing irrigation and pasturage districts and draft legislative measures to guide the disposal and sustainable development of these public lands.
The first edition of this report having been exhausted in a few months and without satisfying the demand which the importance of the subject created, a second was ordered by Congress in March, 1879. The authors were thus given an opportunity to revise their text and eliminate a few formal errors which had crept in by reason of their absence while the first edition was passing through the press. The substance of the report is unchanged.
J. W. P.
July, 1879.