THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



wholly to be developed. Its growth will open new av- 

 enues for employment and new outlets for the products 

 of the soil. 



The mining industry is also in its youth. To use a 

 common phrase, but a true one, " the surface of the 

 ground has only been scratched." Old methods have 

 been outlived, and the conditions of the industry are 

 changing in vital ways ; but the work of taking gold and 

 silver, copper, lead, and iron from the foot-hills and 

 mountains of California has only been begun. The day 

 of the individual miner, working with his pan in the 

 gravel bed of the stream, is mostly passed. The conditions 

 of hydraulic mining were materially altered by legisla- 

 tion because of the injury done by polluting the rivers 

 and filling their channels ; but quartz-mining is in a 

 state of rapid development, and is destined to assume 

 prodigious proportions. It will add untold millions to 

 the wealth of the community, increasing the demand for 

 labor and widening the markets of the farmer. 



Nature has unquestionably provided the foundation of 

 a marvellous industrial life in which millions of people 

 will finally participate. To-day these resources are un- 

 developed. There is but one force that can awaken the 

 sleeping potentialities into a manifold and fruitful life. 

 That force is human labor. Looking down the years of 

 the future, it is possible to predict, with the accuracy of 

 mathematics, that human labor will coin from these va- 

 cant valleys and rugged mountain-sides billions upon 

 billions of money. The wealth to be so created will 

 build many beautiful homes, capitalize banks, factories, 

 and railroads, and send great steamships across the Pa- 

 cific to foreign shores. To whom shall these things be- 



186 



