THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



19 



of any other section of the Union. The recent comple- 

 tion, May 1, 1905, of the Senator Clark line the San 

 Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake, through Southwest- 

 ern Utah and Nevada, has opened this country to the 

 rest. of the United States. Hitherto the situation of 

 these rich deposits, far distant from rail communica- 

 tion and source of demand for manufactured iron prod- 

 ucts, has prevented Eastern capital from becoming in-, 

 terested to any large extent. 



A tremendous trade in iron products from South- 

 western Utah is bound to arise over the San Pedro line 

 via the port of San Pedro with countries beyond the 

 Pacific. 



John T. Jones, a metallurgist in the employ of a 

 Pennsylvania syndicate, asserts that he finds in Iron 

 county a body of iron that will aggregate 400,000,000 

 tons. There is water in the Rio Virgin River for all the 

 needs of great iron factories and every other natural 

 element, such as coal and lime, for the economic reduc- 



more in the sun. Indeed, it is said that on some parts 

 of the Sahara water will freeze at night, and an egg will 

 cook on the burning sands by day. This is due in large 

 measure to the rapid cooling of the sand and the loss of 

 heat to the cold outer space, there being no blanket of 

 vegetation to retain the heat of day. This is also due 

 in Utah to the elevation, the whole desert being over 

 5,100 feet above the sea level, the air is rarified and can 

 not retain the heat of day. However, I do not think I 

 have ever experienced such a balmy, delightful breeze 

 as blows up the desert from the south at night, remov- 

 ing all sensations of weariness or fatigue which the 

 burning sun creates. There is something grand about 

 sleeping in the open air under the canopy of the heav- 

 ens, with this glorious night air blowing in your face. 

 The vast expanse of sky and its far away meeting with 

 the desert gives a feeling of freedom and serenity. In 

 the pass which we have spoken of there is a beautiful 

 spring of water which bubbles out and forms a mud 



P" 



Irrigation by Flooding. (From Primer of Irrigation.] 



tion of iron is at hand. This is just south of the desert 

 in Washington county. 



Leaving the palace cars of the San Pedro line at 

 Lund one crosses the desert by the stage route through 

 the pass in the very heart of the Iron Mountains to 

 Cedar, some thirty-five miles distant. Lund is a pala- 

 tial desert town, composed of two or three little wooden 

 shanties, a well of filthy alkaline water, and the railroad 

 station. It is an important shipping point for cattle, 

 which are driven in here from all directions and sent to 

 Omaha. Pour to five thousand head of cattle are some- 

 times shipped from here in a single day. It is a mar- 

 velous sight to see these vast herds of cattle being con- 

 centrated from all quarters of the horizon, midst clouds 

 of dust, in the pens at Lund. 



Working on the desert is attended with numerous 

 difficulties and hardships, not only on account of the 

 vast ranges of temperature, but also on account of the 

 terrible dust storms which continually arise and render 

 leveling work impossible. I hare often noticed a tem- 

 perature of 40 early in the morning and a temperature 

 of 96 in the shade toward noon, and 150 degrees or 



canyon below. Much of it is used for irrigation by the 

 Roots, who have established their home there, and the 

 rest is dammed up in several little ponds. Climbing 

 the Iron Mountains to the north of the pass we pass 

 rows of little low cedar trees resembling orchards and 

 see occasionally little round chambers, with narrow 

 openings, in the cliffs. Right in the center of these 

 hills to the north of the pass appears an enormous out- 

 crop of iron. The richest sort of magnetite and hema- 

 tite exists in compact masses of thousands of tons. The 

 enormous pinnacle of iron rises fifty to a hundred feet in 

 the air. It has given off lump after lump, which has 

 fallen down, forming an extensive talus formation at 

 the base or has rolled down 'the hill far away. Forming 

 almost an amphitheater around these iron outcrops rise 

 the peaks and huge crags of these typical desert moun- 

 tains. The level floors of the ravines are decked with 

 the blue gray sage which grows amid the rocks every- 

 where, the coppery grey greasewood, with here and there 

 a dark green cedar. And now and again the pretty 

 little peeps greets the eye with its bright little red flow- 

 ers, interspersed with the silvery, pinelike leaves of the 



