THE IRRIGATION AGE. 289 



ought not to be, and can be prevented, and must be or our fairest 

 acres will soon cease to produce more than twenty -five bushels of 

 corn to the acre and the drouth years will become more severe. 



One of my neighbors built a dam on his farm that backed water 

 three hundred yards and at the deepest was eight feet deep. Will 

 you believe me, just one rain filled this to the top with dirt that came 

 down with the rush of water from the corn, fields, over which as soon 

 as it was settled he hauled the largest loads of hay, and he said to me 

 the other day, "If I had not sold my farm, I would put in at least one 

 month's work building dams this summer and fall " Again I say, 

 wake up, my friends, farmers, you can ill afford this fearful loss, at 

 least when you can easily prevent it yourselves by spare hours of 

 work now and then; and this grand work has in it more to our fair 

 country and state than all the gold of Alaska. 



And the creation of these little reservoirs is replete with great 

 results now and hereafter. It will replace the thousands of natural 

 pools that we have so ruthlessly and thoughtlessly destroyed. 

 Springs will again break forth from their hidden sources and instead 

 of a mighty rush of water after every big rain, we will have a steady 

 flow of spring water down our creeks and branches the year round, 

 in which the finny tribe will sport and hide as they did twenty-five 

 years and more ago. Do you think I am wrong in this? Ask the 

 early settlers of Eastern Nebraska so short a time ago as the years 

 are counted only half of a good life time. Illinois has ditched and 

 tiled her farms and emptied her sloughs and ponds till the question of 

 moisture is almost as serious there as here. 



Dr. Johnson, a writer of prominence of Champaign county, Illinois, 

 has said: "Yes, we have tiled and ditched our farms to get a few more 

 acres, and to abolish chills and fever; but we have instead introduced 

 typhoid and kindred diseases that kill far more than fever and ague 

 ever dii." As I stood on the banks of the Wabash last year and 

 looked at its low water, I could not help regretting the day when 

 good sized steamboats loaded and unloaded at the wharves at Terre 

 Haute. 



I have traveled eight times in a wagon the full length of our 

 state, besides the thousands of miles I have made in other journeys 

 through most every state and territory in the West. I must say we 

 have the best of Uncle Sam's domain and let us take good care of it 

 and it will continue to pour into our laps more golden dollars than all 

 of the mines of the mountains. 



Bayard Taylor, the great traveler and writer one* 1 said: "I have 

 traveled all over the Globe but this Missouri Valley is the best of 

 all." Was he not right? 



If what I have written will move some of our farmers to put into 



