THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



93 



PROF. L. G. CARPENTER, 



of Fort Collins, Colo. 



Whom the Government of France honored with the dec- 

 oration of Chevalier du Merite, Agricole. 



PROSPEROUS TIMES FOR J896. 



DESIDES the usual spring flow of 

 1 ' immigration to the far Western States 

 and Territories, the coming season will 

 witness the arrival of small armies of men 

 to work in the gold mines. Capital has 

 been attracted to these rich mining re- 

 gions, and the diggings will be worked 

 daring 1896 as they were never worked 

 before. This increased population must 

 be fed, and there will be such a demand 

 for supplies that more agricultural lands 

 will be in request, and they, in turn, will 

 be worked for golden crops. 



An era of increased prosperity seems to 

 have begun for this Western country that 

 cannot be called a mere boom. It will be 

 lasting and enduring, and all the indus- 

 tries will be built up while the work of 

 mineral development progresses. Colo- 

 rado will make further great strides dur- 

 ing 1890, and her sister States will also 

 push ahead. Investors in mining lands 

 seem to be investigating the chances in 

 all the States and Territories, and to be 

 making choices in regions widely sep- 

 arated, and, for every mining district 



worked, hundreds and thousands of addi- 

 tional acres of land will be opened up to 

 agriculture through irrigation. Utah, as 

 a State now, will forge ahead to even 

 greater prosperity than at present, and 

 she already has much to boast of. Out of 

 more than 20,000 farms today, only 

 2,000 are in any way incumbered. Nine 

 out of every ten Utah farms are clear of 

 mortgages. And as to the richness of 

 Utah's mineral resources, there is no need 

 to speak just now. New Mexico, Ari- 

 zona and Oklahoma, have made such 

 strides that their showing gives substan- 

 tial foundation for their demands to be 

 admitted to the Union as States. The 

 new State of Washington has made un- 

 precedented advances. 



Irrigation has made Western America. 

 It is the bountiful crops on former arid 

 lands, through irrigation, that have at- 

 tracted attention of late and made more 

 thorough mineral development possible, 

 and the mineral development, in turn, will 

 aid irrigation to continue its grand march 

 in quickened measure. The assertion is 

 made that during 1896 Nebraska will 

 have a million acres of land under irriga- 

 tion. 



In pursuance of the general plan of the 

 Northwestern Immigration Bureau, organ- 

 ized at the St. Paul convention, of which 

 Washington and South Dakota are mem- 

 bers, the two latter States have just held 

 full and enthusiastic conventions and or- 

 ganized State bureaus, with branches in 

 every county. North Dakota, Minnesota, 

 Wisconsin, Montana, Oregon, Idaho and 

 Manitoba, also members of the North- 

 western Bureau, will take similar steps. 



Wyoming did not make great headway 

 during 1895, beyond her heavy coal pro- 

 duction, but during the present year the 

 prospects are that more gold and silver 

 will be brought out. The depression has 

 been seriously felt in her immense wool 

 interests, but the righting of the protec- 

 tive tariff will eventually remedy all that, 

 as it will also for the same interest in all 

 the States. The cattle industry in Wy- 

 oming is a leading one, and the agricul- 

 tural area is being much extended by 

 bringing water upon new lands. Idaho 

 has steadily advanced in mining and agri- 

 culture, and immense areas of arid lands 

 are just now being opened up through 

 irrigation. Montana maintained her old 

 prestige in 1895 as one of the great min- 



