The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1889-11-16
From Ocean to Ocean.
A Graphic Description of the Wonderful
Scenery of the Great West and Its Bound
less Resources.

In his sermon at the Brookly Taber
nacle, on September -, Rev. Dewitt Tai
mage chose for his subject, "From Ocean
to Ocean, or Ny Transcontinental Jour
ney." Text Psalms Xxi. s; "He shal
have dominion from sea to sea. The
eloquent divine spoke as follows:
What two seas are referred to? Some
might say that the text meant that Christ
was to reign over all land between the
Arabian Sea and the Caspian Sea, or be-
tween the Red Sea and the Mediterranean
Sea. or between the Black Sea and the
North Sea. No; in such eases my text
would have named them Ii meant from
any large body of water on the earth clear
across to any other large body of water.
And 50 have a right to read it: He shall
have dominion from the Atlantic Sea to
the Pacific Sea. My theme is America
for God
First consider the immensity of this pos
session. If it were only a small tract of
land capable of nothing better than sage
brush aud with ability only to support
prairie dogs. | should not have much en-
ikttsiasm in wanting Christ TO have il add
ed to His dominion. But its immcnsity
and atfiueuee no one can imagine unless in
immigrant wagon or stage coach or in rail
train Of the 'nion Pacific or the Northern
Pacific or the Canadian Pacific or the
Southern Pacific, he has traversed it,
/ Having been priviledged six times to cross
/ this continent, aud twice this summer,
have come to some appreciation Of its mag
( nitude California, which ! supposed in
! boyhood from its size on the map. was
( few yards across, ridge of land on which
/ one must walk cautiously least he hii his
( head against the Sierra Nevada on the one
I side or slip off into the Pacific waters on
+ the other, California the thin slice Of land
as | supposed ii to be in my boyhood |
Z have found to be larger than ali the States
Of New England aud all New York State
and all Pennsylvania added together; aud
if you add them together their square miles
fall far short of California North and
South Dakota, Montana, and Washington
Territory, to be launched next winter into
statehood, will be giants at their birth
Let the congress Of the United States strain
= point and soon admit also Idaho and
Wyoming aal New Mexico. What Is the
use keeping them out in the cold auyluugcr
Let Us have the whole continent divided
into States With Senatorial ani Congress
ional representatives and W. will al be
happy together. II some Of them have
not quite the requisite number Of people
tx up the Constitution to suit these cases.
Even Utah viii by dropping Polygamy scen
. be resdy 10 enter. Mouo.amy has triumph.
ed in parts Of Utah and viii probably
triumph al this fall election in Salt Lake
Cay. Turrf al the Territories into States
and il some Of the sisters are smaller than
the elder sisters give them time and they
will soou b. as large a. any Of them. Be
cause some Of the daughters Of a family
may be- iye fee, in stature aud the others
ave feet high shu, the door in the faces of
those who are only four feet high Among
the dying nttcraness of our good friend the
wis. statesman aud great author, the brit
I Ian, orator and magnificent saui, ;. :.
Cox. was the expressed determination Ia
move next winter in Congress for the
! trausfgreucs Of other Territories into States.
Bat says some one, IN calculating
the immensity ot our continental acreage
you must remember that vast reaches ot
our public domain are uncalfiya,ed heaps
Of dry sanJ, and the bad lands Of Mon
tana aud the great Amerieau desert.
am glad You mentioned that, Within
twenty I've years there viii not be between
the Atlantic aud Pacific coasts hundred
mikes Of land 10, reclaimed either by far
mcr plow OF miners orowbar By irrigt-
tion. the waters Of the rivers and the
showers 81 heaven in what are called the
rainy season viii be gathered in,o great
reservoirs and through aqaelucjs let dawn
where aud when the people want them.
Utah Is an object lesson. Some parts Of
that Territory which were 50 barren that
/ spear Of grass could not bave bcsn raised
there IA q hundred years are now rich rs
Lancaster County farms ot Pennsylvania,
or WosSrhester farms Of New York, oF
Somerset County farms Of New Jersey
Experiments have proved that ten acres
Of ground irrigated from waters gathered
tN LtAsAk EAANNAtt-ktAA A4~A&i- VIII l1lNHAAtE -
much As fitty acres from the dowupour
+ of rain A. seen IN cur regions We ehayeour
lrcshe,s aud our dronghts, but in those lands
which are TO be scientifically irrigated there
+ will b. neither freshets nor drOughts. A You
take a pitcher and get it full Of water and
then set il on a table and take drink out
/ OF it whcn You are thirsty, and never think
g H., lin. "a ,.ft.b.-F,,f al ~ ,pa, 49,,
Montana and Wyoming and Idaho viii
catch the rains of their rainy season aud
take up all the waters Of their rivers in
great pitchers Of reservoirs and drink out
Of them whenever they viii. and refresh
their land whenever they viii
The work has already been grandly be-
gun BY the United States Government.
Over four hundred lakes have already been
officially taken possession of by the nation
for the great enterprise Of irrigation.
Rivers that have been rolling idly through
these regions, doing nothing on their way
to the sea, will be lassoed and eorraled aud
penned up until such time as the farmers
need them. Under the same process the
Ohio, the Mississippi and all the other
rivers will be taught to behave themselves
better, and great basins will be made TO
catch the surplus of waters in times Of
freshet and keep them for times of drought
The irrigating process by which all the arid
lands between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans are to be tertilized is no new expert
ment. 1t has been going on successfully
hundreds of years in Spain, in China, in
India, in Russia and in Egypt
About eight hundred million OF people
of the earth to-day are kept alive by food
raised on irrigated land And here we
have allowed to lie waste, given up to rattle
snake and bat and prairie dog, lands
enough to support whole nations of indus
trious population. The work begun will
be consummated. Here and there excep-
tional lands may be stubborn and refused
to yield any wheat or corn from their hard
fists, but if the hoe fail to make an impress
sion, the miners pick-axe viii discover the
reason for it and bring up from beneath
these unproductive surfaces coal and iron,
and lead and copper, and silver and gold,
God speed the geologists and the survey
ors, the engineers and the Senatorial com
missions, and the capitalists and the new
settlers, and the husbandmen who put their