Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-10-04

1lHcnt Must fic IbOrOuSnIy dominate
blythe Christian Rcligion-How to Spra
the Gospel,
It was great anthem of praise tina
went up from the crowded throngs at th
Brooklyn Tabernacle Sunday morning
Sept. -, where the Rev. Il. De Wit
opening hymn was:
No moro let human blood he split,
Vain sacrifice for human guilt
But TO each conscience be applied
The blood that flows from Jesus side.
The subject of the sermon was. From
Ocean to Ocean, OF My Transcontinenta
Journey" Text Psalms lxNii, s: "Ht
shall have dominion from sea to sea.
The preacher said:
What two seas are referred to? Some
might say that the text meant that
Christ was to reign over all the lant
between the Arabian Sea ant
Caspian Sea, or between tho
Red Sea and the Mediterranean
SEA. or between the Black Sea
and the North Sea. No; in such case my
text would have named them. 1t meant
from any large body of water on the
earth clear across to any other large
body of water And so l have a right to
read it: He shall have Dominion from
the Atlantic Sea to the Pacific Sea. My
theme is, America for Gods
First. consider The immensity of this
procession IF il were only small
tract of land capable of nothing better
than sage brush and with ability only to
support prairie dogs, 1 should not have
much enthusiasm in wanting Christ to
have il added to his dominion. But it's
immensely and aff1uence no one can i'm
aeinc unless, in immigrant wagon or
stage coach or in railtrain of the Union
Pacific or the Northern Pacific or the
Canadian Pacific orthe Southern Pacitic,
he has travcrscd ii. Having been priv
ileged six times to cross this continent,
and twice this summer, [ have como to
some appreciation Of its magnitude.
California, which ] suppose in boyhood
from it's size on the map, was few yards
across; a ridge of land on which one
must walk cautiously lest he hit his
head against the Sierra Nevada on one
side or slip off into the Pacific waters on
HE other. California. the thin slice of
land as suppos d it to be in boyhood,
have found it to be larger than all the
State and all Pennsylvania added to-
gethor; and if you add them together
their square miles fall far short of Cali
fornia. North aud South Dakota, Mon
sana, and Washington Territory to be
launched next winter into Statehood,
will be giants at their birth. Let the
Congress of the United States strain a
point and soon admit also Idaho and
Wyoming and New Mexico. What is the
use keeping them out in the cold any
longer? Let us have the whole contin-
ent divided INTO States with senatorial
and congressional representatives and
we will all be happy together. If some
of them have not quite the requisite
number OF people, fix up the constitu-
ton to suit these cases. Even Utah will
by dropping polygamy soon be ready to
enter. Monogamy has triumphcd in
parts of Utah and will probably triumph
at this fall election in Salt Lake City.
Turn all the Territories into States and
II some OF the sisters are smaller than
the elder sisters. give them time and
they Viii soon NC as large as any of
them. Because some of the daughters
Of Il family NAV be five feet in statur,
and the others only four rceu, 10 MOI
let the daug hters feet five high shut the
door in the faces of those who are only
four feet high. Among the dying utter
ances of our good friend, the wise
statesman and great author, the brill
liant orator and magnificent you'll, S. S.
Con. was the expressed determination
to move next winter i'll Congress forthe
fansference of other Territories into
States.
But, says some one, in calculating
The immensely OF our continental acre
age you must rememberth that vast reaches
OF our public domain are uncultivated
heaps OF dry sand, and the bad lands OF
Montana and the great American desert.
am glad you mentioned that. Within
twenty five years there will not be be-
tween the Atlantic and Pacific coasts q
hundred miles of land not reclaim ed
either by farmers pillow or miners crow
bar. BY irrigation the waters of the
rivers and the showers of heaven in what
are called the rainy season will be
gathered into great reservoirs and
through aqueducts let down where and
when the people want them. Utah is
an object lesson. Some parts of that
territory which were SO barren that a
spear of grass could not have been rails ed
there i'll q hundred years are now as rich
as Lancaster County farms of Pennsvl-
vania or Westchcster farms of New York
or Somerset County farms of New
Jersey.
Experiments have proved that ten
acres of ground irrigated from waters
gathered in great Psychological basins
will produce as much as fifty acres from
the downpour Of rain as seen in GU,
regions. We have our freshets and ou1
dronghts, but in those lands which are
to be scientifically irrigated their will
be neither freshcts nor droughts AS
you take a pitcher and get it full OF
water and then set it on table and take
drink out of it when you are thirst,
and never think of drinking a pitcher
full all at once, SO Montana and Wyoming
and Idaho will catch the rains of their
rivers in great pitchers of reservoirs and
drink out of them whenever they will
aud refresh their land whenever they
will.
The work has already been grandly
begun 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 roll
ing idly through these regions, doi.e
nothing on their way to the sea, will DC
lassoed and corralled and penned an
until such time as the farmers need
them. Under the same processes the
Ohio, the Mississippi and all the other
rivers will be taught to behave them
selves better, and great basins will be
made to catch the surplus of waters in
times of freshet and Keep them for times