WYOMING, LA\V-(iIVEK OF ARID REGION 



lation for the protection of the forests so important in 

 connection with irrigation. 



Wyoming's place as the law-giver of the arid region is 

 due neither to geographical location nor to superior 

 natural resources. Certainly it is not duo to large pop- 

 ulation. It owes its commanding position solely to the 

 character and ability of a few public men who happen 

 to have found in this line of work their best opportu- 

 nities for usefulness. As a result of this fortunate cir- 

 cumstance, Wyoming occupies among western States at 

 the beginning of the twentieth century a relation not 

 unlike that which Massachusetts and Virginia held to 

 the States of the Atlantic seaboard at the beginning of 

 the nineteenth century. 



