THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



which he now proposed must have seemed nothing less 

 than startling to his followers. It is plain that in pro- 

 posing such an innovation he not only comprehended the 

 social necessities of the situation, but anticipated, with 

 remarkable foresight, the possibilities of intensive agri- 

 culture by means of irrigation. 



The first settlement which he planned was, of course, 

 Salt Lake City and its neighborhood. This became the 

 model of all future colonies. It was laid out in such a 

 way as to secure an equitable division of land values 

 among all the inhabitants. 



The city blocks consist of ten acres each, divided into 

 eight lots of one and a quarter acres. These lots were 

 assigned to professional and business men. Next there 

 was a tier of five-acre lots. These were assigned to me- 

 chanics. Then there were tiers of ten-acre and of twenty- 

 acre lots. These went to farmers, according to the size 

 of their families. Under this arrangement every colon- 

 ist was a small landed proprietor, owning a certain 

 amount of irrigated soil from which he could readily pro- 

 duce the necessities of life. The division of land values 

 was remarkably even, for what one man lacked in 

 area of his possessions he gained in location. The small 

 lots were close to the centre of business ; the largo lots 

 more remote from that centre. As the place grew in 

 course of years from an emigrants' camp to a populous 

 city, with paved streets, domestic water, electric lights, 

 and railways, the inevitable rise in values was distributed 

 with remarkably even hand. Not a single family or indi- 

 vidual failed to share in the great fund of " unearned 

 increment" which arose from increasing population and 

 growing public improvements. 



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