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Show V $ Blossoms In The Desert ... f iN i -- - 'S. Work And Foresight Paid Rich Dividends That tha desert literally "has blossomed" is evident on every ide. When the pioneers adopted that objective as one of their reasons for being, they went about the job with foresight, devotion to work, faith in God and unflagging perseverence. The pioneers refused to give up! In thd facer of tremendous odds, they continued forward. The strong comforted the weak. With sorrow there was joy. With drudgery there was recreatior. With heartaches and disappointments there were many person al triumphs and satisfaction in achievement. They worked and planned and prayed, and then worked even harder, to make the desert blossom. They built homes humble at first, but progressively finer. They planted crops, dug canals, chopped timber, cut stones. With their passion to make good there was a deep spiritual ity, a reverence for God, a real respect for their religion. This was actually what brought them west! Their insistence on woi shiping the Lord in the manner they wished. "Blossoms in the desert" today include productive farms, cool streams, attractive homes, fine dairy herds, growing industries, hundreds of miles of fine roads. Irrigation projects that put of acres of land are numerous. life-givi- water upon thousands ....We h ave chosen as art for this page two familiar scenes in this area tWo scenes so typical of "blossoms in the desert." One is of the ruqged beauty, the verdure, the river-oasi- s of Logan Canyon. The other is a view of Bear Lake from the canyon road. With respectful deference to our pioneers for their achievements in conquering the desert, we offer these stanzas from Walt Whitman's "Pioneers! O Pi oneeis I" We primeval forests felling, We the rivers stemming, vexing we and piercing deep the mines within, ( We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving, Pioneers! O pioneers! 0 resistless restless race! O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender love 0 I ail! mourn and yet exult, I am rapt with fr- love for all, Pioneers! O pioneers! On and on the compact ranks, With accessions ever waiting, with the places of the dead quickly fill'd, Throuqh the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stopping, Pioneers! O pioneers! O to die advancing on! Are there some of us to droop and die? has the hour come? Then uoon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the gap is fill'd, Pioneers! O pioneers! r & |