382 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



monly held in derision by those who behold it for the first time, and 

 until they learn to know it as the shelter and dependence of range live 

 stock when the terrible blizzard sweeps from the north and as the sure 

 indication of good soil and the humble prophet of the field, orchard 

 and garden. Thus it happens that to the casual traveler the appear- 

 ance of the region is forbidding. It is only in localities where the 

 work of reclamation has been in progress long enough to permit the 

 growth of trees, with farms and homes, that the value of the soil and 

 climate can be appreciated. There are such instances in all the seven- 

 teen states and territories of the far West. One of the most striking 

 is the Salt River valley of Arizona. Here the traveler, after a long 

 and tiresome journey through waste places, finds himself suddenly 

 confronted with homes rivaling in taste and luxury those of eastern 

 states, and with orchards and gardens which resemble more the cen- 

 tury-old gardens of France and Italy than a creation of the last twenty 

 years. 



Similar instances are the San Bernardino valley of Southern Cali- 

 fornia, the Salt Lake valley of Utah and the Boise valley of Idaho. 



Another fact which contributes to the breadth of the economic 

 foundation of western agriculture is the variety and value of its min- 

 eral wealth. In this it is richly endowed, not only with the precious 

 metals, but with the baser ones used in arts and industries, and with 

 unusnal quantities of coal, ore and building stone, the latter of which 

 includes many rare and valuable kinds, such as marble, onyx and 

 agate 



While the annual value of these products runs into the tens of 

 millions of dollars, it is literally true that their development is yet in 

 its infancy. With the extension of railroad facilities, the improve- 

 ment and cheapness of mining processes, the extension of agriculture, 

 and consequent increase in the volume and decrease in the cost of 

 home food supply, the gain in annual production will assure in the 

 future dimensions which would now be considered beyond belief. 



To the mines must be added the forests which cloth the mountain 

 sides, especially those of the northern part of this region. To a large 

 extent this is still virgin ground, where only the foot of the hunter 

 and explorer has trodden. It is a region unrivaled in its opportunities 

 for such development of water power. The Shoshone Falls in Idaho 

 are scarcely inferior to those of Niagara. The hundreds of streams 

 which fall from the 10,000 level of the Rocky Mountain range to the 

 4,000 foot to 5,000 foot level of the plain at their base are destined to 

 turn more wheels of industry than have yet been harnessed west of 

 the Mississippi river. Back of the irrigated lands are the grazing 

 lands, of which there are probably not less than 400,000,000 acres. 

 Those lands have, been the dominant factor of the pioneer life of many 

 of the arid commonwealths, and they are destined, under proper man- 

 agement, to always constitute the great nursery of. cattle, sheep and. 



