Repository: UIHistories Project: War Publications - WWI Compilation 1923 - Article 23 [PAGE 5]

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lost in the parched valleys. Sometimes in H^d to considerable distances from the mountains an rivers way to the ocean; but for the most part their even thirsty sands and gravels around the edgi vallevs or disappear in marshes, salt lakes, or sinks, similar to those of I fcahi Nevada, and eastern Oregon. Throughout this part of western Asia as well as the western United States, the possibilities of progress are found in the occurrence or ab. senc;c o( the moBt valuable of* all minerals, that is, water. Without it very rich

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and otlur industries ean flourish and have- flourithed; a high degree of prosperity has -been reached, checked only by devastating wars or destroyed by the long continued misrule of the Turks. In considering the reconstruction of Asiatic Turkey, the restoration of its ancient cultural conditions, or the extension of industry, the first and foremost undertaking, after a fair and stable government has been assured, is the conservation and use of the water supply, scanty in most places but abundant in others. Before any considerable development of the water resources can take place, it will be necessary to build highways and railroads the •J conditions here being similar to those encountered in our own and west, where the first step in utilizing the public lands was the building of railroads and the construction of roads over which could be moved economically the labor and materials needed in the building of dams for storing floods and in the excavation of canals, tunnels, and other works needed in the conservation of water. Care must be taken, however, to locate and build these railways where they will not interfere with the future building of reservoirs or the development of water power. The water power resources of the country as a whole, particularly in Armenia near the headwater of the Tigris and Euphrates, are large, and the first operation toward construction work pertains to the study of these water powers and to the consideration of how these may be used practically in the building of other needed improvements. Fuel is expensive, and altho coal mines do exist, the coal is not available at points near where most of the heavy work must be undertaken. Petroleum is known to occur in many localities, some of which have already been acquired by the British; but the use of fuel oil for producged if water power can be employed. 6