The most painstaking and systematic inquiry, however, ever made with regard to the extent of her water supply resulted in the conclusion that at least 6,000,000 acres of rich soil could be irrigated. The commission of 1893 reported twenty lakes and sixteen rivers of importance, which with minor streams and springs could be made to irrigate upward of 5,000,000 acres; and artesian wells would bring up the total to the figure above named. It should be borne in mind that the splendid agricultural prosperity of Colorado and Utah is based upon a cultivated area of only about 2,000,000 acres. It seems, then, that, so far as her agricultural capabilities are concerned, Nevada might sustain at least as many people as do Utah and Colorado put together, at their present stage of development. The products of the irrigated lands of Nevada are the fruits, the vegetables, cereals, and grasses of the temperate zone, and, in the extreme southern portions, the more delicate products of the semi-tropics, such as figs, olives, pomegranates, almonds, Madeira walnuts, and, in sheltered places, even oranges. When we add that Nevada, like all parts of the arid plateau, is distinguished for pure dry air, an extraordinary amount of sunshine, and consequently a very high degree of healthfulness, it can be scarcely maintained that the state is destitute of attractions. What is true in regard to the possibilities of Nevada is true of large areas of land in other Western States and Territories. It must be remembered that irrigated land can be relied upon to yield bountiful crops with practical regularity, as the water-supply is ever present, while for most persons the fine pure air in these high regions is peculiarly healthful and invigorating. Thus the great West still offers millions of acres of exceedingly productive land which can be transformed into gardens and made to increase the national wealth by untold millions if the government will treat these tracts as any wise or thrifty private owner would treat them. If the government or the various commonwealths would take all the available land which can be irrigated and give to the unemployed work at fair wages until the great desert tracts become fertile areas, the national or state domain would be enormously increased in wealth at a relatively small cost through the wise employment of the now paralyzed hand of industry. Returning to the question of the Mississippi river, let our national government build a permanent levee, which, like the great highways of ancient Rome, should be built to endure for generations.