THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF DRY FARMING 35 



promise of results that will be greatly significant in the 

 future is encouraging. 



The promoters of dry farming. That dry farming as 

 now practised is comparatively recent in its origin will 

 be apparent from what has already been said. That it is 

 the outcome of the efforts of individuals in various states 

 laboring simultaneously and in a tentative way has been 

 shown. That these efforts all led to the one conclusion 

 viz., that the keystone to successful dry farming is the 

 proper conservation of soil moisture, has been made clear 

 and in consequence no one individual can arrogate to 

 himself the honor of having introduced this system by 

 which the wilderness and the solitary place are to be 

 turned into a garden of productiveness. 



The efforts of those individual workers, however, 

 would never in themselves have given dry farming the 

 status that it has today. Organized effort was necessary 

 to rivet the attention of the world upon the importance 

 of the dry farming movement. This came with the or- 

 ganization of the dry farming congress. Men who were 

 interested in the sale of lands in dry areas are to be 

 credited in large measure with the launching of this 

 movement which is destined to lead to material results 

 such as are without parallel in the world at the present 

 time. This is owing to the immensity of the area that 

 will be affected by this movement. 



The first dry farming congress was held at Denver, 

 Col., Jan. 24-26, 1907; the second at- Salt Lake City, 

 Utah, Jan. 22-25, 1908, and the third at Cheyenne, Wyo., 

 Feb. 23-25, 1909. At this Cheyenne congress foreign 

 delegates were in attendance from Canada and the Trans- 

 vaal, Australia and Russia and Brazil. It was decided at 

 this congress that the time for convening should be 

 changed from early winter to the autumn, and in conse- 

 quence of this decision, the next congress convened at 

 Billings, Mont., in October of the same year. The 



