PREFACE ix 
and King of Wisconsin. I am under deep obliga- 
tion, for assistance rendered, to numerous friends 
in all parts of the country, especially to Professor 
L. A. Merrill, with whom I have collaborated for 
many years in the study of the possibilities of 
dry-farming in Western America. 
The possibilities of dry-farming are stupendous. 
In the strength of youth we may have felt envi- 
ous of the great ones of old; of Columbus looking 
upon the shadow of the greatest continent; of 
Balboa shouting greetings to the resting Pacific; 
of Father Escalante, pondering upon the mystery 
of the world, alone, near the shores of America’s 
Dead Sea. We need harbor no such envyings, for 
in the conquest of the nonirrigated and nonirriga- 
ble desert are offered as fine opportunities as the 
world has known to the makers and shakers of 
empires. We stand before an undiscovered land ; 
through the restless, ascending currents of heated 
desert air the vision comes and goes. With striv- 
ing eyes the desert is seen covered with blossoming 
fields, with churches and homes and schools, and, 
in the distance, with the vision is heard the 
laughter of happy children. 
The desert will be conquered. 
JOHN A. WIDTSOE. 
June 1, 1910. 
