THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



203 



crop, and will live on it thirty days with his wife, if 

 married, he may make final proof and secure a patent 

 to his holding. The water contract continues as an 

 obligation, which may be paid up at any time. He must 

 pay his proportion for maintenance, and this require- 

 ment is sufficient stimulus to a complete reclamation of 

 his farm. 



The rapid development of lands under the Carey 

 Act, the high-class population that has turned to farm- 

 ing under irrigation, the substantial character of im- 

 provements, the rapid growth of beautiful towns, all 

 justify the liberality of the Carey law. It would im- 

 pose no hardship on anyone if equally liberal laws were 

 made to apply under the Reclamation projects of the 

 Government. The fear of letting down the bars has 

 resulted in the imposition of absurd and severe restric- 

 tions. The pioneers of early days did not endure more 

 of hardship than have many of the pioneers on the new 

 lands under the Government projects during the last 

 five years. It has been unfortunate that there have 

 been so many changes of administration on the Govern- 

 ment irrigation work. It was in the nature of things 

 that many incompetents should be employed, that many 

 promises were made which could not be kept, and that 

 settlers relied on the statements of irresponsible persons 

 connected with the work. The harvest of disappoint- 

 ment has been great and the worries and heart aches 

 innumerable. Big men in the service have been few, 

 notwithstanding it should have demanded the greatest 

 of engineers and the most capable of administrative ca- 

 pacity. Perhaps the service has tried to do too much. 

 The clamor of many communities for the Government 

 to come in and construct great irrigating systems has 

 been listened to, to the detriment of work already under- 

 taken. Any community with an understanding of the 

 history of the reclamation service to date will hesitate 

 long and exhaust other resources before tying up with 

 our Uncle Samuel, much as we venerate him. 



Much has been said, during the past year, 

 Rural Life relative to the life of the farmer. The in- 

 and Other quiry started by Mr. Gifford Pinchot, as a 

 Things. P ar t ^ hi advertising work, resulting in 



the organization of the "Country Life 

 Commission" has aroused in some degree an increased 

 interest in rural problems. A study of farm life when 

 too much localized would lead generally to erroneous 

 conchisions. New England has lost much of its early 

 farming population. The progressive man has always 

 looked to the West and in consequence that territory 

 east of the Allegheny mountains has suffered the most 

 seriously. With the trend of migration westward and 

 toward the cities, the farms have been neglected and a 

 new population has taken the place of the original sturdy 

 stock. New England has felt the effect of this transi- 

 tion for a hundred years. She furnished pioneers for 



the Mississippi Valley and the great prairies beyond. 



New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio now contribute 

 their share toward the settlement of the unoccupied pub- 

 lic domain. This movement has already had a marked 

 influence on land values in those states. The farmer 

 who is successful either sells his estate to those who are 

 willing to work as the soil now demands, and removes 

 to a neighboring town, or retains his interest and de- 

 parts to build a home where his declining years may be 

 spent in peace and contentment. Many of these farmers 

 and more of their sons and daughters go to prairies and 

 mountains of the West. It is seldom that they return 

 to take up permanent residence in the east after one 

 Western experience. The Western boy who secures 

 his education in the East seldom remains there. 



This tendency to go West was born in the infancy 

 of the country and it is as strong today as it has been 

 at any time in the history of the nation. It is difficult 

 to understand why whole communities of the East are 

 robbed of their rural population when the lands there 

 are far from being fully developed and when large areas 

 have never yet been disturbed by the plow or reclaimed 

 from their original swamp condition. 



Climate alone would be an inducement for the pro- 

 gressive man to go West. A climate favorable to man may 

 not be so favorable to the growth of crops upon which 

 he must depend for subsistence. The West, particularly 

 the inter-mountain region, has shown new phases of agri- 

 cultural life. Science and agriculture go hand in hand. 

 By controlling the moisture applied to the ground 

 through irrigation, the fanner has been developed into 

 a thinker and he conducts the affairs of the farm from 

 the standpoint of a manager rather than as an individ- 

 ual toiler. This is what appeals to those who desire to 

 improve conditions. 



We prophesy that the acme of rural life will be 

 reached in the inter-mountain districts of the West. The 

 topography of the country is such as to give to every 

 individual and to every community an independence 

 that cannot be attained elsewhere. It dwarfs a people 

 to live in a country where one industry predominates. 

 The land of varied resources must be the future home 

 of the greatest men of the race. The mountains and 

 valleys of the West furnish all of the resources known 

 and enjoyed by man. Mineral wealth lies hidden in the 

 depths of every range; coal, oil and gas are found in 

 abundance; the waters of every stream will turn the 

 wheels of all industries; timber for all time grows 

 wherever nature has furnished sufficient moisture ; shale 

 and limestone insure an inexhaustible supply of Port- 

 land cement ; the land produces riches wherever it is cul- 

 tivated and water is supplied, while the sun shines three 

 hundred days in the year. Add to this such scenery on 

 every hand as the greatest artist cannot imagine in his 

 supreme flights of imagination and we must admit that 



