UTAH'S LESSON. 



BY J. W. GREGORY. 



T TNDOUBTEDLY if any reader of THE AGE, of 

 l^J average intelligence, depending upon the out- 

 ward appearance of things as judged from the 

 standpoint of experience, had been given a balloon 

 view of the whole scope of country now embraced 

 within the limits of the United States, but before any 

 part of it had been reduced to cultivation, that por- 

 tion of the whole now known as the Territory of 

 Utah would have been pretty nearly the last to be 

 selected as the site of a great, rich, self-sustaining 

 commonwealth. 



This is only a new illustration of the old saying 

 that you can't always tell from the looks of a toad 

 how far he can jump. 



THE RESOURCES. 



The people of Utah claim for their Territory that it 

 contains every known mineral, and that the richness 

 of such deposits, coupled with its capacity to pro- 

 duce so wide a range of fruits, grains and forage in 

 immense quantities, constitute such resources that if 

 the Territory were completely cut off from the rest of 

 the world, she could still sustain her citizens in the 

 comfortable enjoyment of all the necessities and lux- 

 uries of civilized life. 



Making all due allowance for the pride of locality, 

 it must be conceded that Utah is indeed a most re- 

 sourceful, self-reliant commonwealth, and that in the 

 genesis and growth of her civilization and develop- 

 ment she has pretty nearly demonstrated in advance 

 the truthfulness of the claim quoted, unduly boastful 

 as it may seem at first blush. 



THE MARVELOUS RESULTS. 



The results growing out of the faith, courage and 

 persistence of the little band of zealots who first set- 

 tled in Salt Lake valley must be an ever-increasing 

 marvel to the student of the achievements of Ameri- 

 can pioneers. What they have built up in Utah in a 

 little more than half a century illustrates three facts: 

 That irrigation and the small farm constitute the true 

 and sufficient basis of industrial independence; that 

 that faith in God which leads men to the faithful 

 and patient performance of every duty, however 



commonplace, becomes in its application and effect 

 the most effective self-confidence man's faith in 

 himself; and that it always has been, is and always 

 must be true that there is more in men than in sea- 

 sons or soils. 



The first settlers in Utah, coping with conditions 

 and surroundings so apparently unfavorable that hu- 

 man invention could scarcely conceive a harder com- 

 bination of circumstances, have worked out a mate- 

 rial success which challenges the wonder and admir- 

 ation of mankind. Analyzed, this success is seen to 

 have proceeded from the painstaking discharge of the 

 duty of the hour; confining individual effort within 

 the bounds of individual ability; the faithful, patient, 

 industrious use of natural agencies within reach; and, 

 most of all, from that genuine cooperation of man 

 with man through which communities may well-nigh 

 work miracles. 



A SIGNIFICANT LESSON. 



One of the most significant of the lessons to be 

 drawn from the peopling of Utah is taught by the 

 fact that the rich mines of which the Territory now 

 boasts not only were not utilized but were considered a 

 detriment to the genuine progress of development. 

 Whatever millions of gold and silver may now be 

 extracted from her mountains to be pointed to with 

 pride as the values appear in tables of statistics, the 

 fact remains that her true greatness, her abiding 

 prosperity, have sprung from and are based upon the 

 small farm watered frorn the irrigation ditch. And, 

 as if to emphasize this fact, Nevada, hard by, illus- 

 trates the contrasting method of attempting to build 

 up a commonwealth on the mining of the precious 

 metals. Despoiled of millions of wealth in gold and 

 silver, and abandoned by those she has enriched, Ne- 

 vada is turning toward that form of development 

 which abides with and enriches the State by making 

 homes for people, that development which alone can 

 save her stability and permanent standing as a State. 



It will be well indeed for Arid America if the les- 

 sons taught by Utah shall be duly heeded by the peo- 

 ple of sister States and Territories. 



KANSAS AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. 



F. D. COBURN, Secretary Kansas State Board of Agriculture, before the Irrigation Convention at Hutchinson. 



MOST of our people are past the point of needing 

 to be told that irrigation is a good thing, or 

 even largely essential. What they want to 

 learn now is the ways and means ; they need to be told 

 where there is water; its distance below the surface; 

 the cost and capacity of wells, and the machinery for 

 its most certain, economical and rapid lifting; care- 

 fully calculated plans for storage reservoirs, the times 

 and methods of the water's most judicious application. 

 These and kindred problems which confront the 

 Kansas farmer have never so pressed for solution as 

 during the last two years. Speaking for Kansas ag- 

 riculture, in its larger sense for Kansas as a whole 

 without in the remotest degree disparaging the im- 

 portance of irrigation, or the need of giving it that 



large measure of consideration that we are in duty 

 bound to give it, I am convinced there is another 

 kindred matter pressing, of equal, if not paramount 

 consequence; although the utterance of such a con- 

 viction may be a little short of the rankest heresy in 

 the Kansas State Irrigation Convention. Please do 

 not infer from this that I am not as much and enthu- 

 siastically in favor of irrigation as any man from any- 

 where. The point I make is that the mass of our 

 people who live outside of this marvelous Arkansas 

 valley and beyond reach of its wonderful underflow 

 should give a better appreciation to the rainfall; to 

 harvesting and storing the wealth of water so copi- 

 ously, beneficently sent them without money and 

 without cost, and seeking (and finding, if permitted 



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