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Show I The Awakening B' The people of Utah generally have never been aroused to the greatness of the agricultural possibilities of their state. H Climate Indicators, Moapa. H Her future in agriculture has been seen only by a few of her best H thinkers along that line. The early impressions of the desert char- H actcr of the west perhaps are responsible for the slow growth of H agriculture. It was left to science to demonstrate that climate, soil H and irrigation joined to make agricultural conditions ideal in Utah. H We take great pride in crediting the pioneers with being the H creators of modern irrigation. H Those who have followed in the footsteps of the pioneers in Utah, however, have not been so diligent in developing the possibili- ties of irrigation. Until within the last three years irrigation, largely, has been attended by failure and distrust. It has been left, largely, to eastern people to give Utah new inspiration, which is being followed H cry diligently by the young blood of Utah. H Perhaps no factor has been so potent for the good or irrigation and the development of agriculture in Utah as the irrigated lands companies which have sprung up within the last two years. By the industry of these companies our deserts have been touched as by magic; our surplus waters are being utilized and the waste places re- plenishcd. iSRSgf miii IB V vV A Boring for subterreancan water. As specific instances of progress a number of the accomplishes accomplish-es ments might be mentioned. At Abraham, in Millard County, where lands two years ago were considered as of slight value, today they have a selling value H of one hundred dollars per acre. The history of progress in that neighborhood is as amazing as it is interesting. Through the instru-H instru-H mentality of some of our most industrious citizens these lands have H been developed from their desert barrenness into modi- ti farms. 1 Eastern people from the middle west and eastern states have pur chased these lands and are farming them in tracts varying from forty to one thousand acres in a tract. The transformation has been phenomenal. phe-nomenal. Perhaps the largest oat fields in the west are growing upon these lands today. As high as five thousand acres of virgin soil have been planted this year. One firm alone headed by two energetic sons of Cincinnati, W. Howard Ogborn and Charles L. Newton, have eight hundred acres in oats and forty acres in potatoes. They paid over seventy thousand dollars for their property and are showing our old Utah farmers that , fanning pays as a business. The same firm invested forty thousand dollars in garden lands at Moapa in our neighboring state from which they will take seven thousand five hundred dollars in cantaloupes in one year. So rapid has been the progress in Millard County lands that the problem is not how to get crops but how to care for them. It is really -...-' . ' . yc"pf "These Denizens of the Farm Bring Money to Utah." a stupendous problem for the promoters of this section how to take care of the crops this year. So fast has the country grown that it is giving much concern as to who is going to harvest and thresh these crops. Their storage in itself is a great problem. Granaries or a vast elevator will be required before the crop can be properly cared for and all of which must be provided within the next ninety days. The development of these lands already foretell new towns with their new industries in every line. The great possibilities of Millard County farms arc obvious. Situated in close proximity to the mineral resources of Nevada and Southern Utah, the success of these farms is considered established, as markets need give the farmers no concern. A study of this great tract of land is almost fascinating. It is almost as level as the surface of Lake Bonneville with which it was 1 Feby. 12, Moapa. Head Lettuce. once inundated. It is irrigated from the most peculiar life-giving river in America, which almost vies with the Nile in interest. It is irrigated from Sevier River, which has its source in the virgin springs and snowcapped summits of the Wasatch mountains. The Sevier River after forming away up in Garfield County runs in a horseshoe shape for over four hundred miles, coming back almost within one j hundred miles of its source and there deposits itself in one of the lakes of the great basin. Turning water into wine. Scattered over this tract of land are found many evidences of a prehistoric civilization. Canals, which once carried the waters of this river over the lands now being reclaimed arc traceable for miles. i Fragments of crockeryware, showing the high development in the art of crockery are found in abundance. That the civilization corresponded cor-responded with that of the civilization found in Mexico and the Isthmus is evidenced by the devices which are found that were obviously ob-viously used for grinding their grain. , Another Utah project which will at least equal the development jj in Millard County may be found on the Price River in Carbon County near the towns of Price and Wellington. Here a tract of twenty thousand acres is being reclaimed by the surplus waters of Price i River which is being husbanded in the mammoth reservoir on the Wasatch plateau near the source of the river. The great canals are i now being finished and the system will be complete and ready to ' sustain the great transformation in this district which will occur this ! fall and in the spring of 1909. The people of Eastern Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Michigan are greatly interested in this section. The state of Utah has loaned part "This is pay dirt." of its fund, set aside for such purposes under the operation of the Enabling Act and wise legislative enactments of our state for the I development of this p'ect. ij This section will tt noted for its wonderful yields in alfalfa. I sugar beets and fruits and will be one of the great- sources of wealth to this state. It will supply the great markets of Eastern Utah, made by the coal industry, which, are now being supplied largely from Colorado, Kansas and Iowa. I Another project being promoted by the same people who have brought out the two above described, has its location on the Moapa i River in Lincoln County, Nevada. This tract will be one of the 11 great feeders to Salt Lake City, for while it is in the state of Nevada I. it is situated on the Salt Lake route and finds its market in and H through Salt Lake City, besides the great mining industries along . H that railroad. ',' IH Progress has been phenomenal in this district also. Prior to the t IH advent of the railway the tract was isolated. Its development was I H retarded somewhat by the washouts which were notoriously irritating 1 1H to the progress incident to that line's growth. n il The cantaloupes and fruits of Moapa arc now famous for ex- ;H cellence and quality, although they have been on the market in a lim- H iled way but one year. The present season will witness hundreds of H carloads of cantaloupes shipped from this section to the markets of Ne- 1 'H vada, Utah and eastward to Chicago and New York where their sale ;H is already contracted. The profits to the farmer, notwithstanding , H the disadvantage of transportation, which the railroads are adjusting j H to meet his requirements, are phenomenal. The returns from one j H acre of land in crops like cantaloupes and winter garden truck range I from two hundred to eight hundred dollats per acre. The great values of these crops lie in the reason that they reach the market at seasons of the year when they have no competition whatever. ! I "Diverted from its banks to help the State Banks." Many Salt Lake people are landowners in this wonderful valley. 'H A number of syndicates have been formed to garden these lands as purely money making propositions. The lands are superior to California in the quality and quantity of their yield, and they arc des-tincd des-tincd to vie with them in fabulous valuations. Besides the projects already named the industry ot their pro-moters pro-moters has already laid its hands on similar tracts in Beaver County and in San Pete County. These people are not proclaiming their wonderful work from the housetops. All the general public know of it is by the results accomplished. Among the factors that have counted in the great work of re-clamation re-clamation in Utah and which have co-operated in these enterprises are the State Agricultural College at Logan, which, under the able direction and counsel of Dr. Widtsoe have helped point out the way and helped all who would listen to understand the potency of our lands, water and climate. Our railroads have not been backward IH with aid. They are doing much tojielp the progress of agriculture. 11 Digging for Dollars in a Moapa Cantaloupe Ground. |