THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



Looking back now to his studies and the ded actions he 

 drew from them, it is interesting to note how conditions 

 have changed in twenty-five years, and to what extent 

 his words of advice require revision before they can be 

 offered to the settler of to-day. 



When Mr. Nordhoff wrote his books cattle and cattle- 

 men were just beginning sullenly to recede before the 

 rising tide of agriculturists in the great San Joaquin 

 Valley. He correctly foretold the first effects of the in- 

 dustrial revolution that would follow, predicting that the 

 railroad and the public lands, and, later, the old Spanish 

 grants, would be divided among farmers ; that the cattle 

 would be compelled to seek the mountains for free range, 

 and would come into the valleys only to be fattened upon 

 alfalfa and other crops. But he foresaw only the first 

 effects of these changes, and the farmer who should pro- 

 ceed upon his advice to-day would certainly fail to prosper. 



Mr. Nordhoff championed the cause of the small far- 

 mer against the great landowner, but his idea of a small 

 farmer is widely different from the present significance of 

 the term. He saw in the San Joaquin " cheap farms for 

 millions." These were to be acquired, either from the 

 railroad or the government, in tracts ranging from one 

 hundred and sixty to six hundred and forty acres. This 

 was what he meant by "small farms," and they were 

 small, indeed, compared with the great ranches of thou- 

 sands or tens of thousands of acres. But they were 

 still of quite imperial dimensions compared with the 

 unit of ten, twenty, or thirty acres which is now consid- 

 ered amply sufficient for the settler's needs. 



While Mr. Nordhoff recognized the advantage of irri- 

 gation, he did not appreciate its actual importance, nor 



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