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Show PREDICTS A BIG YEAR FOB UTAH Salt Lake, Jan. 18. Tribune: Industrial In-dustrial officials of the Salt Lake Koute are swamped with inquiries from prospective settlers who seek farms in Utah, and present indications indica-tions are that 1916 will be ono of the biggest years in the hlstorv of the state for the influx of home'steaders, according to Douglas White, general industrial agent of that road. He said that these Inquiries represented persons who desire from 160 to 20-000 20-000 acres of land. Mr. White Baid: iv.n x jcuer uic omor uay from one of your Utah enthusiasts and underneath the date line, which told that the letter had been written in 191G, there was inscribed a legend. "The Big Year." "It took me some little time to settle tho significance of these three words, but after I figured it out the riddle was easy. He meant the coming com-ing year for Utah, and I believe my Utah optimism is right, for if ever a year promised big things for a state It is what 1916 promises for Utah. Big Crops a Certainty. "Down in the south everybody has a big smile, for the snow, which the city fellows are kicking about, is piling pil-ing up on the valley bottoms and drifting in the canyons. This means a full record for winter precipitation and the fullest measure of summer run-off. Back of this is a certainty of bumper crops in the dry farming sections and a plentitude of water for the irrigation projects. "We all know what the last four years have done In the way of settlers set-tlers for even' section of the state, but, from present indications, 1916 will beat all recordH. In tho industrial indus-trial department of tho Salt Lake Kouto wo aro crowded with, inquiries from homoseekera and land buyers, all seeking properties in Utah. Those inquiries range from tho settler desirous de-sirous of securing a 160-acro homestead home-stead to the colonizer who desires thousands of acres. We have on hand inquiries for tracts of 10,000 to 20,000 acres from responsible people, who have tho best of connections for bringing bring-ing the highest class of homeBeekers to the still undevejoped portions of tho state. "Plenty of these people will find what they wish and each one will Ineist in carrying out the promise which our optimist has made, that 3916 will bo 'Tho Big Year.' "1 can remember when to tell anyone any-one that a goodly portion of Utah's immigration would come through California Cali-fornia meant the bringing down of accusations ac-cusations consigning the proposer of such strange conditions to the foolish fool-ish house. Yet today it is all different and tho promoters of Utah's principal developments are turning directly to the Golden state for their most substantial sub-stantial settlers. Theso farmers who have learned their business in California Cali-fornia nre all successful here and one of the principal reasons i3 that they are scientific irrigators and know tho full value of water, making every acre foot do Its full duty. "This is a lesson which the old timer on Utah's irrigated lands has been slow to learn and he even now scorns the system which produces cidps with little more than an acre foot of water per season and continues con-tinues to ruinously drown his wonderful wonder-ful land with a wasteful application of several acre feet of water. Nev ortheless, the conditions nre changing, een if slowly, and sooner or later the area possible of Irrigation will bo doubled and trebled by simply the proper use of the life-giving water. Increase In Irrigation. "Speaking of irrigation, I think it safe to state that the next year or two will see a vast increase in southern south-ern Utah's area of watered lands, for those who have their cars to the ground can hear the rumble of two or three great projects for which there is an ample supply of water now running to waste. The great successes of Delta and MUford aro certain to be duplicated within a short period. "i believe that Utah is now fully awake to her real possibilities, that the days of wild-cattlng in her lands has passed and that the real solid worth of her fertile valleys and mesas will causo 191G to be in reality the Big Year." |
