58 



DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



The Utilization of Limited Water Supplies on Dry Land. 



The purpose of this Congress is to devise ways and means of develop- 

 ing the agricultural resources of those large areas of fertile lands which 

 lie above and beyond the irrigation canal. Although irrigation and dry 

 farming differ in many essential features, yet there are many reasons 

 why western farmers who follow these two methods of farming should 

 be on friendly terms. In the first place, they are neighbors. There is, 

 as a rule, only a silver thread of water between the irrigated alfalfa and 

 the dry land wheat. I regret to say that some of the actions and utter- 

 ances of these two classes have not always been neighborl3^ There has 

 been more or less mud-slinging on their part and dry clod throwing on 

 your part across the canal. (Laughter.) Those who practice and believe 

 in irrigation have at times attempted to belittle the possibilities of 

 the dry upland and to consider it a region suitable only for grazing stock. 

 On the other hand, the dry farmer frequently declares that irrigation 

 water is a nuisance and that he would not use a drop if a ditch crossed 

 the upper boundary of his farm. (Laughter.) I take it, gentle- 

 men, that these are extreme views, and to my mind the sooner these 

 two classes get together and work harmoniously for the up-building of 

 this western country the more rapid will our progress be. In that western 

 country, which people designate the Mountain States (and do you know it 

 is a wonderful country — Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, New 

 Mexico, Arizona and California too — all of this great Rocky Mountain 

 region in fact) the soil of the upper benches is frequently better and 

 deeper than that of the valleys. In my own experience in locating irri- 

 gation canals I have found to my deep regret that the best land is fre- 

 quently above the proposed canal. I remember some years ago when 

 I was locating the extension of the Bear River Canal, some of the best 

 land in that valley was left above the canal, and it has been a matter 

 of deep regret to me ever since that we could not have raised it twenty- 

 five or fift}' feet and covered all of that area. Then, too, under favorable 

 conditions, this deep fertile soil which cannot be artificially watered, pro- 

 duces a better quality of grain. Another reason, its extent is also much 

 greater. No one knows how much land can be irrigated in the arid and 

 semi-arid regions of the United States. It has been variously estimated 

 all the way from sixty to one hundred million acres. This much we do 

 know, that for every acre that is irrigated by the generations that will 

 follow us there are likely to be several acres of equally fertile soil that 

 must be cultivated without irrigation, if cultivated at all. Our children 

 and children's children may in time reclaim by irrigation 70,000,000 acres, 

 but these descendents of ours will still gaze just as we do now on from 

 one to two hundred million acres of arable and irrigable lands for which no 

 water can be obtained. Nothing that I may say can show more clearly 

 the magnitude of the problem you may have undertaken. In your praise- 

 worthy efforts to establish happy and prosperous homes on what is now 

 the uncultivated and uninhabited uplands of this western countr3\ I bring 



