From whatever point of view the problem is approached, the sober conclusions cannot be avoided that the desert as an agricultural coun try has its limitations. The only apparent way in which the area of irrigable lands can be seri ously increased is by the construction of reser voirs to save the run-off of the forested moun tains, especially that portion of the desert adjacent to the Californian, Utah and Mexican sierras. Even when this is accomplished there will still be left a vast area of desert. Hence the agricultural produce of the desert will never be large, and this product with the exception of the fruits of southern California will con tribute but little for export, and will never be sufficient to supply the needs of its own popula tion. The Great Desert is and will continue to be a profitable market for the consumption of the fresh and preserved food products and forage of the ocean seaboards and Middle West.
Notwithstanding the scarcity of water and forage the pastoral interests of the desert are considerable. Upon the stony foothills and in the mountain cartons the scant herbage and grass supply nutritious foods for many ani mals, and there are numerous cattle ranches, especially in the Chihuahua province, which are profitable and thriving. Statistics are wanting and hence exact figures cannot be given, but the livestock values of the desert amount to several million dollars, exceeding the agricultural prod ucts many fold.
So far as even the present agriculture in the desert is concerned, it would not exist were it not that its products were consumed at good prices by the people engaged in mining and transportation. One good mining camp a few acres in extent — and there are many of these gives employment and remuneration to more people than whole countries of arid farming lands. Previous to the introduction of the rail way, mining in the desert was limited to simple processes and products. Without mechanical drills and hoists only moderate depths could be reached, and limited quantities of ore taken out and treated. Consequently the deeper, larger and richer ore bodies remained untouched. Sil ver and gold were alone considered, and the mines which now yield over $50,000,000 annu ally of copper could not be touched.
On the California trail near Pearce, Ariz., for 40 years the overland pioneers built their camp-fires against a ledge of quartz. Since the railway came these rocks are being crushed for the gold they contain at one of the most com plete and profitable mills in America. The huge
stamps and other machines were brought from New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Denver; the oil for fuel to run them, from California ; the food for the village of over a thousand people living in homes built of Texas lumber is all brought in from the great canning, packing and fruit-growing sections of the country.
A dozen other places in the desert, each with its modern hoists, smelters, converters and elec tric appliances, are producing millions of mineral wealth per annum. Not only have new mines been opened and equipped, but many of the his toric old mines of Mexico, abandoned because the limit of hand mining had been reached, have been reopened with the aid of the steam-hoist and air-drill, and to-day are more productive than ever.
The Great American Desert yields annually over $100,000,000 worth of metals —chiefly sil ver, copper and gold. This represents at 10 per cent a productive capital of $1,000,000,000. In addition to the paying mines, as large an invest ment is now being made in mine development and preparation for the coming of lines of rail way which are everywhere reaching out to new mining fields. There is every possible reason to expect that The mineral output of the desert will be quadrupled the next decade. Mexico's pro duction of gold and silver has increased steadily despite the political turmoil and anarchy of re cent years. It produced in 1912 gold to the value of $24,343,482, and silver valued at $44, 832,332; Arizona and New Mexico produced a mineral output in 1914 valued at $78,463,191. Silver, instead of being a dead metal, is being mined with renewed activity and improved ap pliances. The American Great Desert yields about $8,000,000 from the United States.
The smelting interests are not the least im portant adjuncts of the mining industry, and each smelter gives employment to many work ingmen. The American Smelting and Refining Company, with its capital of $80,000,000, has great central plants in the desert at El Paso, Aguas Calientes and Monterey. Many of the mines like Boleo, the Copper Queen, the United Verde and Greene Consolidated have their own smelting works.
Many mineral districts of the desert still lie unproductive for want of transportation. This is especially true of the great copper, gold and coal fields of the Pacific States of Mexico, while the rugged western Sierra Madre contains veins of ore awaiting transportation facilities which will furnish many new and important mines.