THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



219 



develop at least one model farm of forty acres, pro- 

 ducing everything that can be grown in the Yellow- 

 stone valley, and illustrating the highest possibilities 

 of irrigation and home-making. Thanks are due the 

 citizens of Billings for the very marked attentions the 

 writer received. 



The people of North Dakota are victims 

 North Da- , , . 

 kota and of the single crop system in a very 



Minnesota. mar k e( j degree. Fortunately the drouth 

 prevailed during the past season, so that their loss in 

 the production of wheat was less than it would have 

 been if they had raised more bushels to sell for less 

 than the cost of raising it. The writer found much 

 interest in irrigation among the leading men of St. 

 Paul and Minneapolis. There is talk of utilizing the 

 water in the reservoirs at the head of the Mississippi 

 for a ninety-mile canal, covering a district where 

 crops are now precarious. The Twin Cities have a 

 large interest in the development of the country 

 along the line of the Northern Pacific railroad. By 

 the way, the officials of this road are making a close 

 study of irrigation possibilities. The writer accom- 

 panied Land Commissioner Phipps and General 

 Agent Davis over a considerable portion of the 

 Northern Pacific, and discovered that both gentle- 

 men were very much in earnest about this matter. 

 Editor E. V. Smalley, of the Northwest Magazine, 

 to whom the writer is indebted for marked attentions, 

 is also giving much thought and patient study to ir- 

 rigation. 



President Henry R. Whitmore, of St. 

 Trans- Miss- T . . . . . 



issippi Con- Louis, is vigorously pushing the ar- 



ran g ements f r the meeting of the 

 Trans-Mississippi Commercial Con- 

 gress, which will assemble in his city four days, be- 

 ginning Monday, Nov. 26th. This has become one 

 of the most important bodies of the kind known to 

 American life, and the coming session promises to be 

 the most interesting and effective in its history. Rep- 

 resentatives of all States west of the Mississippi, as 

 well as of Louisiana and Minnesota, will be present. 

 Prominent topics of discussion will be silver coin- 

 age, irrigation, disposition of the Indian and public 

 lands, the Nicaragua canal, a national bankrupt law, 

 the improvement of western rivers and harbors, anti- 

 option legislation, mining laws, and the admission of 

 the Territories. A half day's session will be devoted 

 to irrigation, with addresses by F. H. Newell, of the 

 Interior Department; Elwood Mead, president of the 

 late Irrigation congress; J. S. Emery, national lec- 

 turer; and William E. Smythe, chairman of the Na- 

 tional Committee. The date of the congress has 

 been made with a view to securing the attendance of 

 members of Congress en route to Washington. It is 

 hoped that a very large attendance of the friends of 

 irrigation will be secured, and that the Trans-Miss- 



WM. E. CURTIS. 

 Of Washington, D. C. 



issippi Congress will go on record in favor of the 

 policies advocated at Denver. President Whitmore 

 is not only a very earnest but a very intelligent 

 friend of the irrigation movement. 



The elaborate series of letters reflecting 



Mr. Curtis' . , ,. f .... , 



Western various phases of western lire, political, 



Letters. j n d us t:rial and social, which occupied a 

 conspicuous place in the Chicago Daily Record, 

 every day from the middle of September to the 

 middle of October, attracted wide attention and very 

 favorable comment. They were the work of Mr. 

 Wm. E. Curtis, the distinguished Washington cor- 

 respondent of the Record, the friend of Blaine and 

 the former secretary of the Bureau of American Re- 

 publics. Mr. Curtis has had the benefit of wide 

 travel and observation and his contributions to cur- 

 rent literature, as well as his admirable work on the 

 lecture platform, have given him an enviable reputa- 

 tion. His entertaining book, "Capitals of Spanish 

 America," is the standard work on its subject. His 

 recent series of letters constitute a real service to the 

 western people. Although his trip was a very rapid 

 one and the work of furnishing three columns of en- 

 tertaining matter each day severe, even for a writer 

 of his experience, his judgments were generally very 

 true and his pictures correct. He has succeeded in 

 giving wide currency to the most attractive aspects 

 of the irrigation industry, and has struck a number 

 of telling blows in favor of the diversified farm. 



