Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/170

154 which was estimated as being the amount required to irrigate all the land under the project. The rates at which this water was to be furnished by the company to the owners of land were named in the agreement, and were very low — much lower, in fact, than the rates for irrigation which prevail in Southern California. The land, while unproductive in its arid state, is, when irrigated, among the most fertile in the world. A date for the completion of the work was named, with the provision that the term should be extended to cover any delays in the work for which the company was not responsible. The company by the terms of its contract gave security for the carrying out of its agreement, the estimated total cost of which was about $14,000,000. The land, under irrigation, would have been worth $100 per acre or more. The project fully carried out would have created an economic asset, subject to taxation, of a value, of nearly or quite $100,000,000. The company in 1909, entered into an agreement with the state government of Sonora, by the terms of which the state, appreciating that the land was of little value until canals could be built, agreed not to assess its holdings higher than 4 pesos a hectare for the term of ten years.

From 1912 until the present time, conditions in the Yaqui Valley have been so uncertain and the raids of the Yaqui Indians have been so