THE VALUE OF WATER 



451 



Recognizing their dependence upon water, campers and 

 hunters always make camp, when possible, near some spring 

 or stream. For a similar reason the earliest settlers of the 

 Mississippi valley and of the great plains to the west settled 

 first upon the lands bordering the streams.. When all of the 

 land bordering the streams was taken and the settler was 

 obliged to take land farther back, the first improvement he 

 made was to dig a well, for he must have water. 



FIG. 277. Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain. Nearly one-half mile in length. 

 Over 1800 years old. From History of Sanitation, Cosgrove, 



528. Water Valuable for Purposes Other than Drinking. 

 Streams and other bodies of water have always been the high- 

 ways for commerce. Until the invention of the locomotive 

 and the perfecting of the modern railroad, which have taken 

 place within the last century, the means of transportation by 

 land were very poor and costly; in fact, there had been scarcely 

 any improvement in modes of travel since the dawn of history. 

 The ox and the horse were but 'little improvement over the 



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