354 DRY-FARMING 
soul successfully without irrigation. All this points 
to the ‘high antiquity of agriculture without irriga- 
tion in arid and semiarid countries. 
Modern dry-farming in the United States 
The honor of having originated modern dry-farm- 
ing belongs to the people of Utah. On July 24th, 
1847, Brigham Young with his band of pioneers 
entered Great Salt Lake Valley, and on that day 
ground was plowed, potatoes planted, and a tiny 
stream of water led from City Creek to cover this 
first farm. The early endeavors of thé Utah pioneers 
were devoted almost wholly to the construction of 
irrigation systems. The parched desert ground 
appeared so different from the moist soils of Illinois 
and Iowa, which the pioneers had cultivated, as to 
make it seem impossible to produce crops without 
irrigation. Still, as time wore on, inquiring minds 
considered the possibility of growing crops without 
irrigation; and occasionally when a farmer was 
deprived of his supply of irrigation water through 
the breaking of a canal or reservoir it was noticed 
by the community that in spite of the intense heat 
the plants grew and produced small yields. 
Gradually the conviction grew upon the Utah 
pioneers that farming without irrigation was not an 
impossibility; but the small population were kept so 
busy with their small irrigated farms that no serious 
