THE IRIGATIONAGE 381 



we can see in the course of these rivers the dim outline of a mighty 

 civilization, blest with peace and crowned with a remarkable degree 

 of prosperity, in case wiser laws and just policies shall prevail in the 

 years of the immediate future while institutions are forming. But if 

 it be otherwise, if greed and ignorance are allowed, and we ignore the 

 experience of older countries than ours, there will remain to us only a 

 gloomy forecast of legal, economic, and possibly, even civil strife. 



In discussing this phase of the subject, let us follow the Missouri, 

 Columbia and Colorado rivers in their lonesome course through moun- 

 tains, plain and desert to the place where one joins the Mississippi, 

 where another mingles its waters with the pacific, and where a third 

 flows into the Gulf of California. For it is not only interesting but 

 important to see in the midst of what surrounding so large a future 

 population must dwell, and upon what other resources than water and 

 land it will rear its economic edifice. 



The climate of the western half of the United States takes its 

 chief characteristic from its aridity or dryness. The heat of its south- 

 ern summers and cold of its northern winters are alike tempered and 

 mitigated by lack of humidity. Neither the humid heat which pros- 

 trates nor the humid cold which penetrates to the marrow is known in 

 the arid region. The western mountains and valleys are a recog- 

 nized natural sanitarium where thousands of invalids are sent each 

 year by physicians to regain their health. 



The dominant feature in the physical apppearance of the arid re- 

 gions is its mountain topography. On every hand a rugged horizon 

 meets the view. Prom north to south, from Canada to Mexico, the 

 Rocky Mountain range makes the backbone of the continent. Along 

 the Pacific coast the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges lift the bar- 

 riers to intercept the moisture and condense it into snow. Between 

 these two principal chains, with these connecting ranges and outlying 

 spurs, are many minor systems, so that the whole country is a succes- 

 sion of mountains and valleys, of forests and deserts, of raging tor- 

 rents and sinuous rivers winding in their sinks upon the plains or 

 making their difficult way to the distant ocean. The far West is thus 

 a land of the greatest scenic beauties, and widely celebrated as such. 



The cultivated lands lie in the valleys, rising with gradual slope 

 on either side of the stream to meet the foothills. Narrowing to the 

 mountains, these valleys widden as the river loses grade and ap- 

 proaches the sea or its confluence with a larger stream. There are 

 valleys which will accommodate hundreds, others, thousands or tens 

 of thousands, and a few, Hke the Sacramento, in California, where 

 millions may dwell. 



In the eastern portion of the arid region, and in high altitudes 

 further west, the land is covered with nutritous natural grasses, which 

 furnish ideal range for live stock. But the characteristic badge of 

 .the region is the sagebrush. This brave plant of the desert is com- 



