38 THE GEEAT BASIN. 



produced by the hundreds of millious of dollars, pro- 

 duced indeed in such abundance, that since their dis- 

 covery silver has fallen in value so greatly that it has 

 ceased to be the standard of value in the world. It 

 would take more than one lecture to discuss these 

 various mining regions, which, however important to 

 the world at large, after all give little permanent pros- 

 perity to a state. 



There are numerous other minerals. I have spoken of 

 salt lakes. I use the word in a chemical sense rather 

 than in the popular sense. The salts are of numerous 

 kinds. Soda Lake furnishes carbonate of soda by the 

 ton. Mono Lake yields both soda and borax. There 

 are borax swamps in various places ; there are valleys 

 with beds of solid rock salts, and there are numerous 

 minerals of commercial value. 



But this region is, and ever must be, but a sparsely 

 populated region as a whole. As before said, the basis 

 of a nation's prosperity is in its agriculture, and agricul- 

 ture is dependent upon water. Water is the great want 

 of this country. Where it can be obtained for irrigation 

 crops grow with a luxuriance Eastern men cannot appre- 

 ciate, but the supply is limited and we cannot hope it 

 will ever be materially increased. Ultimately, when our 

 whole country becomes more densely populated, then 

 many localities not now occupied will be occupied, and 

 I can imagine that there will be many neighborhoods 

 and districts of great fertility and great production, and 

 of marvelous beauty. The success of the Mormons, in 

 the western part of the basin, gives an indication of 

 what can be done ; and isolated portions here and there, 

 where some enterprising man has gone in and irrigated 

 even on a small scale, give indications of what may be 

 expected sometime in the future ; but at best the popula- 

 tion must and will ever remain comparatively sparse. 



It is, however, a very healthy region, and I imagine 



