THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



ment and a healthier tone to public thought. Above 

 all, it taught the men of the frontier the great lesson 

 that this is a government of laws and institutions, and 

 that nothing is to be gained in the end by resorting to 

 violence, at least when nothing more precious to human- 

 ity than the ownership of dumb brutes is the issue in- 

 volved. 



The irrigation development of Wyoming is distributed 

 over a wide area. As has already been said, it has grown 

 up mostly as an adjunct to the cattle business. The 

 water supply is very abundant, and admitted of the con- 

 struction of many cheap canals by settlers, without the 

 assistance of outside capital. Grass, grain, and vege- 

 tables are the principal crops, but the State annually 

 sends from half a million to one million dollars beyond 

 its borders for agricultural products. This is due in 

 part to the fact that the chief farming centres are wide- 

 ly separated from the principal towns and not connected 

 with them by railroads. It is due also to the fact that 

 small-farming has not yet been undertaken to any extent, 

 and that farmers produce mostly only what they can feed 

 to cattle or sell to others having cattle to feed. 



The most active agricultural region is in the north- 

 central portion of the State, in Johnson and Sheridan 

 counties. It was from this district that the marvellous 

 wheat, barley, and oats were sent to the World's Fair at 

 Chicago products which astonished Eastern farmers and 

 won the highest prizes. Here, as indeed throughout the 

 State, the farmers are highly prosperous. They have 

 never known the miseries of their drought - stricken 

 neighbors so close at hand in Nebraska and Dakota. 

 Selling their product at home, they have not felt the bur- 



212 



