THE SPIRIT OF THE WEST 



339 



markets; the circulating library intro- 

 duces the best literature into his home ; 

 the trolley lines now being extended 

 through many irrigated valleys bring the 

 city to his very door. 



Throughout the arid West there is evi- 

 dence of an orderly arrangement of de- 

 tail and a planning of duties which in 

 time will give us office hours on the farm. 

 When crops are intelligently diversified 

 there is little of the back-breaking, heart- 

 discouraging work of the old time one- 

 crop farm. Crops ripen and are har- 

 vested at different intervals, giving the 

 farmer and his family ample time with- 

 out crowding. Where harvests are sure 

 and there is no interference by reason of 

 rain, the farmer can apportion his time 

 and his work with some degree of accu- 

 racy. 



It is remarked everywhere in the West 

 that the mental attitude of the farmer 

 has undergone a pronounced change. 

 The factors of better roads, rural de- 

 livery, telephones, trolley lines, coopera- 

 tion, and frequent association with neigh- 

 bors are primarily responsible. 



For several years nearly all professions, 

 from bootblacks in Butte to steeple- 

 climbers in New York, have been organ- 

 izing, except farming. Acting alone, the 

 farmer has been for years at the mercy 

 of the commission man or the elevator 

 company. 



In the irrigated valleys of the West 

 today there have been perfected a num- 

 ber of strong and successful business 

 organizations for handling special crops. 

 Fruit-growers' associations in several 

 districts are marketing crops each year 

 valued at millions of dollars, and, largely 

 as a result of up-to-date methods, have 

 secured control of the best markets of 

 the world for their products. 



The success of these organizations, the 

 opportunities they ofifer for first-class 

 business ability, as well as the assurance 

 of profits in agriculture, have excited 

 widespread interest among many city- 

 bred people, and have drawn thousands 

 back to the country who could never have 

 been induced to leave the city to take up 

 the old system of farming. 



The agricultural colleges report among 

 their students an increasing number of 

 city-bred youths who are perfecting 

 themselves in the advanced lines of agri- 

 culture and horticulture preparatory to 

 taking up the profession of farming. 



The Reclamation Service began its 

 work in 1902 on the passage of the 

 Reclamation Act. The first contract was 

 let in September of the next year, and, 

 on June 17, 1905, an important project 

 in Nevada was formally opened. 



GIGANTIC TASKS ACCOMPLISHED IN FIVE 

 YEARS 



Progress has been rapid and the activi- 

 ties of the bureau have been extended 

 to 26 or more projects, which to date 

 have involved the expenditure of $60,- 

 000,000. In the seven and one-half years 

 of its work the Service has built 4,215 

 miles of canal. Placed end to end, these 

 canals would reach from Washington to 

 San Francisco and back to New Orleans. 

 Several of these canals carry whole 

 rivers. 



It has excavated 17 miles of tunnels. 



Before the end of the year it will have 

 completed four of the highest dams in 

 the world. Its excavations of rock and 

 earth amount to the enormous total of 

 60,000.000 cubic yards. 



Its roads have a total length of 417 

 miles; telephones, 1,127 miles; levees, 70 

 miles. 



It has purchased 915,751 barrels of 

 cement and has manufactured in its own 

 mill 340,000 barrels. As a result of its 

 work, water is available for 750,000 acres 

 on 13,000 farms. 



The gross value of crops produced on 

 the lands irrigated by the Government 

 projects in 19 10 was $14,038,000. As a 

 result of the work of the Government it 

 is estimated that land values have in- 

 creased more than $105,800,000. 



The Reclamation Service is entering 

 1910 with money and plans for complet- 

 ing most of its larger and unfinished 

 masonry structures, and with about 

 three-quarters of a million of acres of 

 arid land under irrigation. 



It will finish this year the great Roose- 



