120 THE IREIGA T10N A GE. 



and complexity of undertakings, and finally a point was reached 

 where progress must cease unless the assistance of some more 

 powerful factor could be enlisted which might successfully grapple 

 with the greater issues presented. 



It was at this juncture that the irrigation corporation came to 

 the rescue, and it has since become a prime factor in the development 

 of the agricultural resources of the arid region. The individual and 

 community efforts, however, have paved the way for the new 

 departure, and the substantial results achieved by them made it 

 possible for this powerful agency to become a factor in the work. It 

 was their successful efforts that had first subdued the implacable 

 desert and demonstrated the fertility of its lands and the possibility 

 of creating prosperous agricultural homes and communities in a land 

 which had long been regarded as a suitable dwelling place for only 

 the buffalo, the coyote, and the Indian. These pioneers had demon- 

 strated that the so-called desert lands of the arid region, whose 

 acquisition from the Government could be accomplished practicaliy 

 without cost, assumed a value under the practice of irrigation equal 

 to that of the very choicest farming regions of the Eastern and 

 Middle States, and the uniform success which crowned their efforts 

 in this field attracted the attention of capitalists to these enterprises 

 as presenting unusual opportunitids for profitable investment. 



Under the -individual and community regimes the prime incentive 

 was the transformation of certain desert lands in productive farms, 

 which were to serve as ,the permanent homes of the individuals who 

 inaugurated and executed this work, of reclamation, and they 

 expected their profits through the actual farming of the lands so 

 reclaimed. 



(To be continued). 



