22 'l ' HE I R RIG A TION A GE. 



head of the National Irrigation Congress by founding a settlement 

 Hence, the Plymouth Colony of Idaho, of which more will be said in 

 future numbers. 



The Plymouth campaign taught me that, if colonization was to 

 be developed on a sound basis, there must be a permanent organiza- 

 tion, and that this, if successful, would almost inevitably combine 

 many irrigation projects, siuce there are a hundred unanswerable ar- 

 guments in favor of organizing the western emigration movement of 

 the future upon a great scale. Hence, the Associated Colonies, in- 

 corporated in New York in the Spring of 1897, under my presidency. 

 The work of this company has taken me constantly back and forth 

 across the continent, and called for frequent addresses from Boston 

 to Los Angeles. It took me to Europe last year and gave me a brief 

 but fruitful opportunity to see co-operation in its triumphant progress 

 as the regenerator of agriculture where the industry had formerly 

 sunk well-nigh to hopelessness. I found the greatest American mag- 

 azines such as The Century, The Review of Reviews, Atlantic Monthly, 

 Forum, and North American Review ready to offer me a platform to 

 present the claims of our cause. Some of my literary work has been 

 translated and republished in France, Germany, and Austria, and re- 

 sulted in correspondence with eminent social scientists and reformers, 

 who have encouraged me by saying that the ideas of colony-building 

 presented are sound and feasible and adapted to the improvement of 

 their own as well as of our country. During the past summer I have 

 completed the final revision of a book dealing with the whole subject, 

 and hope that through this medium the message will reach the widest 

 publicity. 



The work in which I am immediately engaged, as the practical 

 part of the general movement, is the making of Standish Colony, in 

 Honey Lake Valley, among the mountains of Northern California. 

 Having determined that at this stage of the work I can do no better 

 service than personally to conduct the iniiial settlements, at least 

 during that part of the year that may be spared from the eastern 

 field, I have built my house in the midst of the sage brush and pro- 

 pose to share the experiences of pioneer days with my friends, the 

 colonists. At Standish we are applying all the plans of settlement 

 that will be advocated in this department, so that it must, at least, be 

 granted that I possess the courage of my convictions and am willing 

 to bring my ideas to the test of actual experience. I shall speak 

 frankly of Standish and the Associated Colonies in these pages, giv- 

 ing all other colonies and irrigation enterprises the benefit of any- 

 thing learned of our trials and progress. 



I ask the reader's pardon for intruding so much of a personal 

 nature upon his attention, but when I consult a doctor I want to know 

 that he has had opportunities both of education and practice, and 

 those who may look to these pages for guidance in home-making, or 



