Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-09-28
IRRIGATION.

Shortly before congress adjourned,
Congressman Lucas delivered u speech
upon irrigation, while a bill was
pending to permit states in which
arid land is locatedto reclaim the same.
This is a subject that is of great inn
%portance to the northwest, and as Mr..
Lucas remarks are of general interest
we give space toaportion of his speech.
He said:
"The great and absorbing question
west of the Missouri river to the valley
of California, from the line of the Brit
ish Possessions to the warm water of
the Gulf, is one of sufficient moisture
for agricultural purposes. The soil is
the richest and most lasting there is
on the continent; the climate is not
surpassed for health, vigor, and crops
by any other portion of the Union.
The people are the hardest, pluckiest,
most determined and industrious of
u citizenship. They do not falter in
the task of conquering and reclaiming
the wild lands of the plains, if they can
have an open field and Il fair fight.
In the absence of IL sufficient rainfall
they are handicapped in their efforts
and labor against great disadvantages.
BY no means are they discouraged,
conquered and driven out. for they
know that some time in the future
this great body of what is now semi
arid land will be reclaimed by the
gradual processes of an intelligent civ
ilization. But this mean years of toll
and time, and it will he the third or
fourth generation who will see the
country blossom like a garden and
yield magnificent crops i'll response to
the touch of the farmers hand.
1t is needless to argue that civiliza-
ton acts like magic upon what is
marked upon all the old maps s'The
Great American DESERT for thousands
of cities, villages and farms are today
found within this scope in a prosper
GUS condition. Indeed, the splendid
city of Omaha stands upon the eastern
border of this (then) desert. and west
of it, stretching for hundreds of miles
are found young citis, towns and farms
unsurpassed in any other section; and
all reclaimed land from the "Unknown
Desert" within the recollection of
most of the members of this house.
One of the potent powers in this
revolution was the building of the
Union Pacific railroad by q subsidy
from the congress of the United States.
That body of legislators builded wiser
than they thought when they provided
for that line of railroad across IL track
less desert; for following it's line came
the hardy, sturdy and dauntless pic.
neer who pitched his tent or built his
sod shanty upon the unpromising, hot
and dry prairie, and with a courage
and spirit that challenges admiration,
begun the work of making a home.
For years this class of men have bat
tied with drought, hot winds and short
crops in summer, and keen, cutting
blasts i'll winter. until they are well
nigh worn out. True, many of them
have lived long enough to see their
hopes fulfilled. and are fairly we'll pro-
vided for in their afternoon of life.
But the obstacles they met and in
part overcame were many. The one
most dreaded of all was a lack of moist
IRE. The rainfall moves west very
slowly. and as it nears the base of the
mountains from the east-and the
same is true west of the range-goes
much slower. and less precipitation is
observed. Perhaps at Il given distance
almost a failure may always be expect
ed because of certain atmospheric in
tiuences that are not necessary to be
discussed at this time.
The scope of country that is en-
braced i'll the arid belt comprises parts
of the Dakotas, Montana. Idaho. Wash
ington, Oregon, Wyoming Nevada,
California. Nebraska, Col r o, New
Mexico, Arizona. Utah, Kansas. Okla
homa and Texas.
1 know the opposition of the majori-
Il W vi w Mllttl lllCy UIC plcdSGu
to call ''paternalism." But 1 remind
them of the fact for years and years
congress has appropriated money. and
large sums of money. not to furnish
water to fertiliZe land. but to build
levees and protection to restrain floods
of water from destroying the utility of
magnificent plantations that lie along
the great water ways sustained by the
people of the whole country. 1t is a
proper function of congress to protect
the property of the people in such
eases as much as to protect their liber-
ty or lives when opposed or in danger.
1t is not a consistent objection to say
it is ''%paternalism' to aid the great
West in redeeming the millions of acres
of land from its arid condition and
making them the most fruitful and
valuable of any in the nation. We