FACTORS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 143 



an intelligence which has seldom been equaled. They saw that 

 the one thing which the soil of the valley lacked was water, 

 and that water was to be had in the mountain streams; there- 

 fore the obvious thing to do was to divert that water to the soil 

 instead of allowing it to run to waste. Accordingly, canals and 

 ditches were dug, the water was utilized, and the barren land was 

 made into a fruitful garden. The Mormon community is to-day 

 one of the most prosperous in the United States, and that pros- 

 perity is based primarily on the irrigation ditch. Meanwhile 

 there were numerous scattered irrigation systems developed on a 

 small scale by individual settlers on the banks of streams. Nat- 

 urally this method was applicable only where the water was easily 

 diverted and little outlay was needed. 



The second attempt at irrigation on a comprehensive scale 

 was at Greeley, Colorado. Here the cooperative principle was 

 applied as it had been in Utah, though it was not, as it had 

 been there, based upon a common religious belief and obedience 

 to a common authority. That this community was unusually 

 intelligent and progressive is shown not only by its irrigation 

 works, but by its magnificent school, its lyceum, and other build- 

 ings designed to foster its intellectual and social life. The most 

 scientific methods of irrigation and cultivation were adopted, 

 and the community prospered and became the example for other 

 colonies both in Colorado and California. 



Later a new method of irrigation was adopted in California. 

 "The spirit of speculation in which California was born soon 

 fastened. itself upon irrigation, as it had done in the case of 

 mining, and ran a mad race through southern California. Irri- 

 gation in this state became corporate and speculative. Where 

 Utah and Colorado had depended only upon their hands and 

 teams for the building of irrigation works, California issued 

 stocks and bonds, and so mortgaged its future. Men began 

 to dream of a new race of millionaires, created by making 



