Home-making by the Government 



2 77 



loneliness. We find under these condi- 

 tions also that there is no strong tendency 

 on the part of the young men and women 

 to drift to the crowded cities. 



From Tempe to Mesa is another short 

 ride by rail through a well-irrigated sec- 

 tion. Leaving Mesa in the early morn- 

 ing, when the air is fresh and sweet with 

 the perfume of countless blossoms, we 

 journey for a distance of 8 miles through 

 a region where nature seems to be ever 

 at work producing varied and wonderful 

 forms of vegetation. Just beside our 

 window we note the magnificent date 

 palm, its broad leaves bending in graceful 

 curves and shading an abundance of lus- 

 cious fruit. We are, indeed, in Egypt, 

 for the date, you remember,- was the 

 bread of the desert. If we doubt, a little 

 further along we come upon an olive 

 orchard, and just beyond the almond 

 trees are in bloom, lending fragrance to 

 an atmosphere already perfumed. 



We pause to observe a large flock of 

 ostriches wandering over an alfalfa 

 meadow and rub our eyes to be sure we 

 are really in our own country. More 

 familiar to us appear the sleek, fat cattle 

 standing knee deep in the cool alfalfa. 

 This alfalfa is a wonderful crop down 

 here, a veritable farmer's bank account, 

 frequently yielding 12 tons to an acre per 

 year, worth from five to ten dollars per 

 ton. 



We linger just a moment to gather a 

 few oranges from the grove beside the 

 road, and as we eat we wonder why such 

 fruit never comes to our tables. 



There is such a riot of color about this 

 cottage that we want to stop long enough 

 to ask the housewife how she can get 

 roses to bloom in this wonderful way, but 

 we have a long journey and we only learn 

 that most farmers' wives in this valley, 

 having both time and inclination, delight 

 in beautifying their homes. 



"th£ land that god forgot" 



All too quickly we have driven over 

 this flowery, fruitful vale. With a sud- 

 denness that is startling we come upon a 

 scene of death and desolation, where 

 everything bears mute evidence of a ter- 



rible struggle for life. It is the land some 

 one called "The Land that God Forgot." 

 Everything that grows is covered with a 

 thorn ; everything that crawls is deadly. 

 It is a topsy-turvy wonderland. We may 

 not drink of the waters of the desert 

 stream, for they are salty. In this strange 

 region they dig for wood and climb for 

 water, for the water is found in cup- 

 shaped pools in the hills and the wood is 

 the big root of the mesquite. 



For 20 miles our road, a government 

 road, stretches across the desert and we 

 begin to feel some of its compelling and 

 pervasive mystery. There is a beauty and 

 charm about it, too, which cannot be de- 

 scribed. The distant buttes are glowing 

 richly red in the early morning light and 

 the landscape, some one has said, "sug- 

 gests a thought of God's original palette 

 whereon he mixed the colors with which 

 he brought forth the glories of a south- 

 west sunset," the opal-tinted morn and 

 the fairest shades of rose and green and 

 yellow. 



The desert vegetation is interesting. 

 We come upon the Sahaurra, the giant 

 cactus, the sentinel of the desert, clothed 

 from base to top with thorns, yet bearing 

 delicate and waxen yellow blossoms. 

 Singly and in pairs they grow, some at- 

 taining a height of 45 feet. Sometimes 

 we find them in groves. The cliff-dwell- 

 ers used the heart of this plant for floors 

 in their houses. 



Our first stop in the desert is at Desert 

 W T ells. It remained for our generation 

 to discover that underneath these burn- 

 ing sands, and at no great depth, is an 

 inexhaustible supply of water, fresh and 

 sweet. At several points along our way 

 the government has put down these wells 

 to supply the needs of the thousands of 

 men and teams constantly crossing the 

 desert. 



Rising straight up from the desert is 

 a distant range of mountains. They seem 

 to float above the edge of the level plain, 

 intangible and unreal, yet transcendently 

 beautiful in coloring and contour. 



As we enter the mountain country 

 glory after glory of view is presented. 

 Changeful, charming landscape pano- 



