HISTORY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF THE EEGION. 



21 



prove itself the equal of eastern Nebraska and Iowa, and that the 

 same methods of farming would be equally successful. They finally 

 awoke to their mistake and, not knowing any w^ay to meet the hard 

 conditions, returned, generally to the region from which they had 

 come. In many cases they carried with them an opinion of the dry 

 country which was as much worse than the truth as their expectations 

 had been too high. For these reasons the man who left the semiarid 

 regions 15 or 20 years ago is likely to undervalue the possibilities 

 which they possess. 



As has been said, this desertion took place during the period of the 

 lowest prices which a generation has known and during the most 

 severe series of dry seasons experienced in 40 years, if not in the 

 entire history of the country; years when farmers in the best agri- 

 cultural sections of the country were obliged to sell horses, cattle, and 

 hogs for anything they would bring, for lack of feed to keep them. 

 Economic factors were as potent in bringing about these conditions 

 as natural ones. 



CONDITIONS THAT HAVE BROUGHT ABOUT RESETTLEMENT. 



With the return of normal financial conditions and the increase in 

 demand for agricultural products, prices began to rise and continued 

 to rise till now they are at a point scarcely dreamed of 15 years ago. 

 Favorable seasons returned large crops and the result has been the 

 greatest period of prosperity that farmers have ever known. Farm- 

 ing became a very profitable business. In consequence, land values 

 rose enormously, and of necessity rents also. Men who had failed to 

 secure a foothold for themselves and those who thought their farms 

 too valuable for what they produced, began to seek cheaper lands. 

 New crops and new machinery had been introduced into the dry 

 country and the few settlers who had remained produced good crops 

 at a good profit. If any other influence was needed to bring about 

 the settlement of the dry lands it was furnished by the land specu- 

 lators and other promoters who took advantage of the opportunity 

 and made every effort to give impetus to the movement, many of 

 them using the most unscrupulous methods. Magazine writers, 

 speculators, and enthusiasts heralded what was said to be the dis- 

 covery of new methods of tillage which were certain to produce 

 enormous crops every year. It has been commonly stated that such 

 methods were in general practice on the Plains and that the good 

 crops of recent years were entirely due to them, when as a matter of 

 fact these crops have in most cases been due to more than normal 

 rainfall. There is no marked improvement in the methods of tillage 

 practiced on the majority of farms. This does not mean that nothing 

 better can be done. Reference is here made only to what has been 



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