| Show epoch of road building i has opened highways conna unity exploitation and sectional rivalry have colonized desert bastes built cities and founded nations came two brothers to a new land after the manner of man one visions ills castle in spain beside the sea S the other his in the trackless waste 1 of the sagebrush greasewood and t cacti each confident in hla own J wisdom proceeds to make hla dream it come true by drawing to his chosen ky pot the kindred spirit of his kind after this manner the cities by the sea and in the great intermountain empire came into being civic rivalry and commercial jealousy natural attributes ot mans progress have functioned largely in the up building of the anglo saxon and states for a time california fornia gave little thought to arizona to nevada to atah so far as we were concerned these communities existed as dan berous pitfalls into which the poten ual colonist night disappear and I 1 never reach the shores of the pacific t all this is germane proper and ethical in the opening of a new coun try rivalry is the real incentive it thai makes or success whether it be f at the dad s razor stage of life 0 i at the time when senatorial togas appear in abe offing thus and because have our cities grown our state waxed rich and pop ulous for years we needed to consider but the railroads from the east as the means of ultimate greatness however certain mechanical adepts were busily laboring in machine t P hops and laboratory to upset our x veil ordered scheme of transport the successful automobile bad s i ed for a year or two we rather gloried in our bumb the bump roads because each excursion to the next torn or to an adjoining state fur p nashed the auto agent an opportunity to brag or commiserate as the case might be therefore came our epoch ot road 1 improvement first in betterment between adjoining later on as cars were improved or because fords became so numerous that they were constantly getting in the way feces t greater touring radius our t toad builders proceeded to open the highways from the extreme east to the uttermost west we have pro noted and are constructing highways from new york to los angeles from seattle to san diego because tj of these lines of travel that portion H of the united states lying west of j the rocky mountains is rapidly bete coming a political entente therefore the arrowhead trails about three years ago the ot utah who had inherited vision from their pioneer forefathers decided that something must be done to wards the construction of an automobile highway from canada to the border and ocean they argued thus within the confines of the intermountain region are found every climatic condition therefore potentially at least all of the agricultural possibilities needed tor the sustenance of man all es jt minerals timber and ample t when properly conserved and ased the cities near the great salt lake are destined to acome jobbing and manufacturing centers to the tast we have the natural barrier ot the hocky mountains to the west the great american desert tho lines of communication are in bath these directions well established r looking north we find road develop under way south no roads save the almost forgotten old mor aton trail very well we must corf met just a little over ahrea years ago the heroic feat ot an automobile from los an celes to salt lake over this route was t last year nearly A aotoa negotiated this same journey already this year utah has appropriated almost two million dollars tor the arrowhead trail from salt lake 10 at george merely to prepare for an eighteen toot reinforced concrete later to be built the entire nath of the state north and south miles some accomplishment and some for a political h S a bood deal less than dilation ot southern calt anft a amda haa chipped in st abear for the bame highway 1 nin the confines ot dark county ona legislators watching and bew la ehg rn chwa oltha great divide have done themselves proud and gone on record by voting funds for bridging the colorado river north of kangman and opening a highway to st george utah now comes blythe the imperial valley and san diego desiring to be included in this regional system of highways the men developing these transport lines are not visionaries vision aries they number among the big constructive minds of the western states and realize the coming great work of this generation to alf the harnessing of the waters of the colorado river from its dource to the gulf of california they have studied and analyzed the following figures first that the colorado river discharges as high as second feet at yuma araz and as little as second feet during the irrigation season second they know that it is possible to establish a mean discharge by storage reservoirs of between and second feet which in turn means at least acres now waste land will be brought under cultivation ti third this impounding of the flood waters means white coal almost beyond calculation which in turn spells cheap power that will work a revolution in the economic life of this entire region fourth they believe that in order to bring about the accomplishment of these works that unity of purpose must be the watchword watch word of all the interested states and as a means of a better understanding of each sections needs they reckon the automobile highway as primus these proposals are in nowise dreams and even so the city of los angeles in its present greatness was a dream scarce a decade ago the imperial valley was a booc to 1 shot while the colorado desert project as outlined will very likely he authorized by our national congress at its next session to revert to rivalry we must simply broaden our viewpoint resolve our interested states in a community of joint effort to put the big thing across against the opposition of our more states with designs on uncle sams pocketbook and after we win lacking other outlets tor our pioneering instincts we may return to that fine old game of boosting our own towns and cities as the real dyed in the wool chosen ones chas H bigelow in loa angeles blaes |
