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Show WHY DON'T THE PEOPLE SEE IT ? There are practically none of us who have not heard thrilling stories ; of d.scovery and invention that bettered bet-tered the social and .economic condition con-dition of the fortunate individual to-such to-such an extent that they seem persons per-sons especially blessed by providence The older Californians teil of instances instan-ces where the keener eyed and more alert have found treasure in well beaten paths of former prospectors. One great gold mine Still yielding much treasure yearly was located and acquired under such circumstances. circumstan-ces. The posterity of the locator, now gone, still enjoy the affluence and advantages incident to his ability abil-ity to but-see and' out-guess his fellows. fel-lows. The chronicles of science and invention in-vention disclose many most interesting interest-ing tales of discovery in various fields of endeavor and the walks of i life hourly traversed by the human family. For centuries and centuries centur-ies we have eaten and breathed and "rubbed in" bacteria of all sorts nor suspected the menace about us So late as the year 1S82 the great, but little known, country practitioner, practition-er, Robert Koch, opened the eyes of the medical profession to the bacterial bacter-ial world. He pointed out to us the fact that the great white plague, tuberculosis, tu-berculosis, is due to a bacterium. Since that time the race has waged a far more intelligent and successful war against this insidious and destructive de-structive scourge. A year or so later the Kleboeflcr bacillus, the cause of diphtheria was discovered, described and so well studied that the laws and principles of immunity were at least partly worked and understood until today the race enjoys the benefits of antitoxine thereby saving yearly thousands upon thousands of innocent, inno-cent, babies from suffering death or pitiful defects and infirmities. About this same time Eberth discovered the bacillus that causes typhoid and since, men of science have worked out the very considerable knowledge we have of this organism that enables enab-les us to protect ourselves from its ravages. These and other such blessings have come about by reason of the fact that men and women arose capable ca-pable of sensing facts and possibilities. possibili-ties. ' It is very common in the older, more settled and developed sections to hear the older men say, "When I first came to this city, I could have acquired1 title to the land where that building stands for a song." or, "When I came to this county, I well remember, it was simply a vast, un broken prairie. I could have secured se-cured title to a thousand acres for about as few dollars; hut, now, look, it is one vast granary. Ah, if my foresight were only as good as my hindsight, I might well be worth a power more money today. Why Jim Jones came in here thirty years ago last spring with nothing but a yoke of oxen, one milk cow and an old sow and now he owns farms and cattle, is president of the bank and1 has a heap of stock in the interurban line ' Such stories one may hear in any community, town, village or city that has enjoyed any measure of merit. It is very evident fact that we human hu-man beings often entertain a feeling that opportunity was an entity that existed in the day of our fathers, or in some remote place. While the days of our fathers were days of opportunity op-portunity and many places then presented pre-sented great opportunities there are today as splendid chances for self advancement and achievement as any time and people enjoyed. Nor do we need to look afar off to find it. That opportunity is here and now. Opportunity Oppor-tunity is all about U3. I One of the very splendid opportunities oppor-tunities that the Milford Valley presents pre-sents is agricultural pursuits. We are ! now writing for the pennle of Mil-j Mil-j ford and Beaver county and you can ! easily check up the truth or fiction of our statements. If is quit" surprising how few oi the res-'dents nf Mil'ord and other cities. townc. villages and farming communities of Beaver county kno what is going forward in the new de veloping section south o fthe city of Milford. And fewer still seem to grasp the extraordinary developable poss bilities of the locality The Milford Valley has in times past been exploited by the unscrupulous unscru-pulous Perhaps that fact has had much to do with the apparent lack of interest on the part of the majority ma-jority of the leading men of the county co-unty in the development of one of the richest sections in the state. How ever this may be, that time is past. All may now see the worth, and glimpse glim-pse the future of the valley. A few years ago, a dam was built and water impounded on the Beaver River, a few miles above Minersville. Great activity at once was instituted in the valley floor. Land was cleared, plows were started, dwellings went up and roads were' builded. Crops begun to appear when most in opportunity oppor-tunity and unfortunately litigation as to the ownership of the water was instituted and the desert was obliged to await the tedious and calamatous termination of the quarrel. But the water- had been permitted to reach parts of the desert that had for centuries cen-turies lain dorment; the newly sown seeds were sprouted and in many instances in-stances since that time has continued to grow in spite of the lack of the proposed irrigation. One such farm that has received no further than the initial irrigation has continued to gain momentum in growth and production pro-duction until last year it yielded a splendid crop of hay and $7,000 worth of seed without farther demands de-mands on the owner than that he harvest and thresh the crops. Great damage, was done to the people peo-ple iuvilved by this most unfortun-fskeiaNou- is the time for all goodm nate litigation and the development of the valley has been delayed many years; but out of this catastrophe has arisen demostration of facts that are of very lasting value to the valley val-ley The land is abundantly productive, produc-tive, it is especially adapted to alfalfa al-falfa and alfalfa seed production The natural grasses of the Milford Valley have since the days of its early settlement afforded pasturage for many cattle, sheep and horses, but a twenty minute ride out of the city will suffice to convince the most sceptical that the former effort at reclamation of this desert has in spite of the early disappointments it suffered at least doubled the value of the valley as a feeding ground for live stock. Do you have any personal per-sonal knowledge of what the Demonstration Dem-onstration Farm is like? Have you seen their mammoth hay stacks, the marvelous potato field, the corn and melons and hundreds of heads of 3heep and cattle fattening in the fields, within a few miles of your door. Very few of the people of Beaver Bea-ver county realize that there are a number of farms, started in the early ear-ly days of the gravity water project, that today are an honor and a very rpnl flscAt tn Milfnrd and the cnuntv of Beaver. The people of Beaver and Minersville Miners-ville pass to and from their homes, along the state highway and fail to realize that there is anything of interest in-terest in the valley below. They are missing what is going forward and an opportunity to secure to themsel-ves themsel-ves the advantages to be had in the locality. Following the disappointment incident in-cident to the gravity water project, one of the business men of Milford, conceived the idea of irrigating his J land by pumping. Mr. Sloan soon I demonstrated the foasibilitv of his idea by bringing in a well with a j very splendid flow or excelle'nt water He found three strata of free water i bearing gravel within about sixty : feet of the surface. Others followed ! Mr Sloan's lead, until the valley now 'enjoys an entirely satisfactory demonstration dem-onstration of the shallow well irrigation irriga-tion possibilities of the valley. There are now thirty or more irrigation ir-rigation wells in the neighborhood. ' They are certainly satisfactory. They furnish the desert as many oases as :, wells pumped. Alfalfa, alfalfa seed. ! wheat, oats, barley, corn potatoes. 'onions, beets, melons and small I fruits grow where only a little time before the natural brush abounded. Few people realize that the land of the valley floor is fully demonstrated demon-strated and that water may be used in such abundance in few places in the whole country as here. Do yoi: realize that we pump by electric power? Did you know that we have nearly ten miles of power line for the accommodation of the pumping district? Are you aware that the pumping disrict has produced as much as 350 bushels of potatoes, 40 of wheat, nearly 700 pounds of alfalfa al-falfa seed, 6 tons of alfalfa hay per acre? One little plot of ground containing con-taining less than 4 acres brought 'n to the owner over $75. in mellons and cabbage, besides giving a family of 6 all they could use and many delightful de-lightful treats to those of us in reach And that cabbage and melon patch is not finished yet, either. Many unforseen circumstances have arisen to ' d'elay the develop ment of the pumping district. The nn precedented business paralysis throughout the country; the lack of enthusiasm for new undertakings on the part of finance, incident to the business depression during the past war period, the unwilling.ie-s of settled set-tled farmers to undertake --.ale of e'e-veloped e'e-veloped property and reinvestment in new fields, nor have they felt fret to encourage their sons to take on the new responsibility. The business men of this community, as well as all tber communities throughout f' country, have been hard put to it to keep their financial fences up well enough to turn disaster away from the fold; but that condition seems to be beginning to subside The bus--'ness winter is apparently breaking up and the sun of prosperity is bo-ginning bo-ginning to shine. .By way of illustrating this particular par-ticular point, the business men of Milford have been making every effort ef-fort for this entire, period of bus1-ness bus1-ness inaction to find ways and the means to make it easier for the farmers far-mers to proceed with their development develop-ment and aet the same time enable them to provide for a steady income. This almost ideal solution of our difficulties, seems to be embodied in a plan suggested by H. T. Hanks, at a recent luncheon of the business men's club. The plan consists in the formation of an association that will undertake to secure the advancement of credit to farmers in such manner as will enable them to equip their farms with such livestock as they are in position to handle properly. Mr. Hank's idea, is apparently to assist the farmer to secure high grade dairy cows, sheep, hogs, turkeys tur-keys etc., at such a rate of interest as has not been available to him lor a long time nod does It seem likely that so happy a eonsumation of such a plan would be forth coming in the very near future were not such men ? s Mr. Hanks able to see the need of such assistance and willing to himself him-self work to that end. So far as I am aware, the plan has not been worked out in its fullest detail, but to me, it is the first "blue bird" of this business spring in this locality. Dr. Addison Bybee. A |
