WI'STERN SIPKKMACY. 35 



been necessary to rely on estimates whicli pretend to be 

 only approximately correct. I believe they are temper- 

 ate. According to these estimates, the region west of 

 the Mississippi embraces 785,000 sqnare miles of arable 

 lands, 645,000 of grazing lands, 400,000 of timber lands, 

 and 285,000 square miles which are useless, except so 

 far as they are mineral lands. In weighing these figures 

 several considerations should be borne in mind. 



1. Generally speaking, those best acquainted with the 

 West make tlie largest estimates of its resources and 

 have the most faith in its future. 



2. Land often appears worthless which experiment 

 proves to be fertile. For instance, the ' ' Great Columbia 

 Plains" of Eastern Washington. The soil, which varies 

 from one foot to twenty feet in depth, is, except in the 

 bottom lands, a very light-colored loam, containing an 

 unusually large percentage of alkalies and fixed acids. 

 A few years ago, sowing wheat on that soil would have 

 been deemed throwing it away; but the experiment 

 resulted in a revelation; viz., that these 14,000,000 acres 

 of peculiar soil are probably the best wheat fields in all 

 the world. Other illustrations equally striking might be 

 given. Eev. A. Blanchard, who is well acquainted with 

 East Wyoming and Colorado, writes: " Nothing is more 

 surprising than the material for supporting a population 

 which continues to be developed in all this region of 

 mountain and plain, which, twenty years ago, was con- 

 sidered an inhospitable desert, capable of supporting 

 nothing but Indians." 



3. Barren lands are often rendered fruitful. Fre- 

 quently all that a sterile soil needs is treatment with 

 some mineral which Nature has deposited near by ; and 

 water makes most of our western deserts blossom as the 

 rose. In 1882, twelve Artesian wells were sunk in Tulare 

 County, California, with astonishing results. They 

 were found to flow from 200,000 to 1,500,000 gallons 

 daily ; and where once were barren plains, the fields 

 are a succession of vineyards, orchards, and wheat 

 fields. Since then many of these wells have been 



