7 HE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



169 



leys cannot be depended upon for a regular fruit 

 crop. Fruit is raited, however, and it is of a very su- 

 perior quality. Nevada has one marked advantage 

 over any other State, and this is in the matter of 

 cheap land. It is probable that no other State can 

 offer land as cheap as it might be offered by Nevada, 

 if there were sufficient interest to develop irrigation 

 works in the most favorable localities. This is an ad- 

 vantage of the highest importance, for there are 

 vast numbers of people who desire land but cannot 

 obtain it upon the terms on which it is generally 

 offered. There is a sturdy minority in Nevada who 

 appreciate these facts, and it happens very fortunate- 

 ly that one of them sits in the Governor's chair. He 

 has some strong sympathizers among the wealthy 

 men of the State, and some good backers in the edi- 

 torial fraternity. It would not be at all strange if 

 there were important developments in regard to the 

 settlement of colonies in Nevada during the four 

 year's term of office of Governor Jones. 



Nevada accepted the Carey grant of one 

 Wants million acres, but made no provision for 

 Proof. utilizing it. The school lands are obtain- 

 able upon easy terms. Indeed, the terms are too 

 easy, and have resulted in the acquisition of large 

 and valuable tracts by speculators, who are waiting 

 to realize profits from men of enterprise who shall in- 

 vest their money, or from settlers who shall invest 

 their labor. But there are still vast bodies of land 

 which can be obtained in Nevada on very easy terms 

 by those who desire to reclaim and colonize them. 

 But in most places costly storage works will be re- 

 quired. It is a pity that they cannot be built under 

 some form of public enterprise. Probably the easiest 

 and quickest way to solve Nevada's problem, and 

 turn the tide toward population and prosperity, would 

 be to establish one colony which would conspicuously 

 illustrate the possibilities of her soil and climate. 

 There are numerous places where this could be done 

 by cheaply acquiring land which is subject to old 

 water rights, and is thus supplied from the natural 

 flow of the streams. When the American people dis- 

 cover that Nevada is a fit place, for the making of 

 homes, and that homes can be obtained there more 

 easily than anywhere else, the tide will set in that di- 

 rection. But very naturally the public will wait for 

 Nevada to demonstrate her own faith in these possi- 

 bilities. 



Californians are feeling fairly cheerful 

 California's . 



Mistaken this season. The freezing of the Florida 

 Policy. oran g e Cr0 p crea ted a good demand for 

 the California product, and the destruction of decidu- 

 ous fruits and grapes throughout the northern fruit 

 belt, from Illinois to New York, promises to confer 

 additional benefits. But the fact that such unfortu- 



nate incidents as these are necessary to make good 

 prices should set the Californians to thinking. Is it 

 not time for them to stop increasing the production 

 of things which they now export largely, and begin 

 to increase the production of things which they large- 

 ly import? The scheme of the diversified farm, which 

 aims first at the production of what each family con- 

 sumes, and then of a surplus adjusted to the demands 

 of a local market.and figures last of all upon producing 

 what must be sent to distant markets, bearing heavy 

 transportation charges, is just as well suited to Cali- 

 fornia conditions as to those of Utah or Idaho. And 

 there can be no question that farms organized upon 

 this theory will be far more prosperous in the long 

 run' than those which are planted to a single class of 

 crops. Those who went exclusively into the raisin 

 crop have already learned this lesson. In time the 

 lesson will be taught to those who confine themselves 

 to other branches of horticulture. The fact is, that 

 competitors of the California fruit industry are grow- 

 ing up in half a dozen States which are nearer the 

 great markets and offer cheaper land and better rail- 

 road facilities. There is probably no place in the 

 world where a fairly industrious man can get so good 

 a living for so little work as in California, but it is not 

 to be obtained in the long run by dependence on the 

 single crop. 



During the past ten years the agricul- 

 Sacramento tural population of California has in- 

 Valley. creased chiefly in the southern counties 

 and the San Joaquin Valley. We are inclined to predict 

 that the next decade will see the largest increase in 

 the temperate belt on the eastern slope of the Sierra 

 Nevadas and in the Sacramento Valley. Northern 

 California has been much neglected and has devel- 

 oped on the worst possible lines. In the first place, 

 the people have sneered at irrigation and have raised 

 in consequence about one-quarter as much as they 

 could have raised with the right amount of moisture 

 at the right time. In the second place, they have 

 gone in for large farms almost exclusively. A few 

 have prospered, but most have grown steadily poorer. 

 The agricultural population of the Sacramento Valley 

 actually decreased between 1880 and 1890. It is said on 

 good authority that the public and private debt of 

 the valley exceeds the actual value of all the real and 

 personal property. And yet the capabilities of the 

 country are simply incalculable, and every twenty 

 acres susceptible of irrigation ought to win a living, 

 and, in a lifetime, a reasonable competence, for a 

 family. Furthermore, the climatic conditions are 

 favorable to the development of the most charming 

 forms of social life. What the Sacramento Valley 

 needs is irrigation, a reformed agricultural system, 

 and new blood. With these three elements a won- 

 derful civilization could be realized, but the result 



