RECLAIMING THE DESERT 155 



"Water ! That greatest, most wide-spread, most 

 wonderful, most blessed gift to man! Under its 

 vitalizing contact, the deserts of the West shall 

 spring from sterility to fertility, from barrenness to 

 fruitfulness, from desolation to habitation, from 

 death to life. And then behold the apotheosis of the 

 West ! New heavens shall be opened to the coming 

 millions, a new earth shall be theirs. A mighty peo- 

 ple whose blood is red and whose hearts are strong 

 and true shall here develop an empire in plenty, peace 

 and happiness. Water! It is the spirit of the 

 West!" 



Even from the car window, the possibilities of 

 irrigation powerfully impress the eastern traveller. 

 Knowing what happened in the Imperial Valley, he 

 assumes that these chrome deserts through which his 

 train takes days to pass would likewise yield inesti- 

 mable wealth if they also could be watered! The 

 Sante Fe, the Salt Lake, and the Southern Pacific 

 are invaluable propagandists of reclamation. If only 

 the traveller chances to observe a successful irriga- 

 tion project in operation before he returns East, he 

 will talk of little else for months than the West's op- 

 portunity, making guesses at the millions whom the 

 reclaimed desert some day will surely feed. 



Who will dare predict, in a period of amazing 

 achievement and in such a land, that the problem of 

 farming a majority of our desert lands may not be 

 solved? Why is it more absurd, for supposition's 

 sake, to think of tapping sufficient fountains of water 



