THE SPIRIT OF THE WEST 



335 



most inspiring pages in the annals of our 

 commonwealth. It is a story of progress 

 and human achievement — a battle with 

 nature in her sternest and most forbid- 

 ding aspect. 



future writers will record the irriga- 

 tion movement as an epoch in our his- 

 tory the far-reaching influence of which 

 overshadowed in importance any other 

 progressive movement since the opening 

 to settlement of the Mississippi Valley. 

 The reclamation of vast areas of our arid 

 and semi-arid regions, which is being pro- 

 moted by the Federal Government and 

 by large corporations working in con- 

 junction with several States, is of pro- 

 found economic importance to the nation. 



The additional opportunities thus cre- 

 ated for homemakers are already serving 

 to check the undesirable efflux of the 

 country people to the city. Millions of 

 acres of desert, unleached by rain and 

 storing in its bosom the fertility gathered 

 there by centuries of washings from hills 

 and mountains, are being quickened by 

 life-giving waters. 



Cities, populous and great, have sprung 

 up ; rural communities, attractive and 

 prosperous, broad vistas of fertile fields, 

 and blossoming orchards whose yields 

 are prolific beyond comparison, replace 

 the wastes of sand and sage-brush. 



Economic forces are at work today in 

 the country, and particularly in the arid 

 West, which are gradually but surely 

 shaping our agricultural development 

 along new lines. In many parts of the 

 irrigated country agriculture now occu- 

 pies a position of greater dignity among 

 the vocations than ever before. Its place 

 among the scientific professions is now 

 recognized and it is calling more strongly 

 every day for the best talent and brains 

 the nation afifords. 



Agriculture in the desert is intensive 

 and calls for and encourages a higher 

 degree of intelligence than is found in 

 humid regions. Farms are small and set- 

 tlements are compact. There is constant 

 interchange of ideas among the farmers, 

 whose relations become intimate in the 

 transaction of daily business. 



Individualism, which is a characteristic 



of the farming regions of the East, as 

 well as provincialism, are less known in 

 the irrigated sections. The irrigation 

 canal is the connecting link which binds 

 the community together. 



This great public utility is controlled 

 and operated for the common benefit. 

 Cooperative management of the irriga- 

 tion system is a fundamental principle 

 on each of the Government projects. The 

 inevitable tendency of such management 

 has been cooperative organization, which 

 today is extended to all the farmers' 

 activities — individual, educational, and 

 social. 



Gradually there has grown up a desire 

 for betterment of conditions, and with 

 the coming of ample financial returns 

 there is evidence of a desire to improve 

 the character of home life. The country 

 is becoming citified, and life on the irri- 

 gated farm is growing attractive. The 

 isolation and loneliness of farm life 

 where farm homes are far apart are 

 eliminated. 



Farm life and its duties under these 

 conditions are regulated today very much 

 the same as the man of business orders 

 his afl^airs. The old haphazard methods 

 of agriculture have no place here, where 

 every acre must be made to give its max- 

 imum yield, and where the crop itself is 

 carefully considered with regard to mar- 

 kets and cost of production. 



There are today in the irrigated West 

 a dozen or more rural communities which 

 in artistic and beautiful homes, or in the 

 nearly ideal conditions of home life en- 

 joyed by the people, have no rivals in 

 the East. 



As new communities rise, provision is 

 made at once for the educational and 

 religious needs of the people. The cen- 

 tralized graded school is growing in pop- 

 ularity, and is being established in many 

 sections. The children are carried to 

 and from the school in carriages. Ele- 

 mentary agriculture is being taught, and 

 an effort is being made to inculcate in 

 the child a love of nature and a respect 

 for life in the country. 



The daily newspaper keeps the farmer 

 in touch with the outside world and its 



