The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-07-03

from Mexico, ana Wi4Ie sun -
plain Of Kansas and Nebraska, ana all
the wonderful country beyond them TO
+he Sierra Nevadas were the undls-
puted territory of the savage; long,
long. before the widest dreamer ever
dreamed of the cities and railroads
which now dot and streak the maps OF
the west. the pioneers of these people
made that memorable pilgrimage over
a thousand miles or more of trackleSs
waste to the shores of Utah's Dead
Sea, and laid the foundation for the
City of the Saints" and the civilization
and wealth of the forty-ifth state. The
Beehive and the Lion, symbols OF
industry and strength, were ever be
fore their eyes, and they faltered not
when confronted by obstacles which
would have turned back a less courage
Gus and determined people.
They gave to the United States the
model for the irrigation systems winch
have redeemed so much of the arid
west: for it was their hands that first
caught the runaway waters OF the
mountain SHOWS and turned them TO
the thirsty earth, conquering its des-
ert places and making of Utah, with
it's hundred fertile valleys, beautiful
oasis filed with the fields and farms
of happy husbandmen-
Their great emigrant trains made the
preliminary survey over mountain,
desert and plain for the first tranScon-
tinental railroad.
They unlocked the treasure vaults Of
the mountains and turned a stream
of metals valued beyond $100.00000O
into the mills and minis of the nation.
They built the cities and towns that
are and ever will be prosperous, and
in the midst of them erected great tenn
pies dedicated to the worship Of God.
These and many other wonders have
they accomplished, and yet the work
has barely commenced which is to
make Utah one of the greatest COM
monwealths beyond the Rockies.
Fairer than any other land under
the heavens is Utah. Her scenery is
more majestic than the scenery of
Switzerland. From Arizona to Idaho
extend a chain of valleys within which
every pastoral scene is exhibited.
GliStening on her bosom is that mar
vel of creation-the Great Salt Lake
in the eXhilarating and briny waters
of which you may enjoy the singular
sensation of floating without effort,
with the emerald depths beneath you
and the blue of the skies overhead
Why should not prosperity have its
permanent home in Utah. where field
and farm, mines, mills and manufac-
tories produce their daily tribute? And
why should not the people of Utah be
content, when 10 all their other innum-
cradle blessings is added an incompar-
able climate that tints the cheeks of
youth. and fills the years of age with
vigor?
Nature must have intended Utah to
be & perfect dwelling place. for in ev-
cry portion Of the states domain
Man and beast at Plenty's feast
Her gathered bounties share"
1t would be an almost endless task to
enumeTate all of her generous gifts to
the state. 1t is enough to say that
probably no other portion of the
United States or Of the world has re-
ceived so many of her benefactions.
Standing at the threshold of state
hood, with her eventfUl history behind
her; with the foundations for her fu-
ture greatness carefully laid; with her
great mineral resources barely intro
duced to development; with her agri-
cultural areas under perfect irrigation
and countless acres yet awaiting the
canal and lateral; with iron parallels
reaching into her most distant con-
fines, and railroads building to con-
meet her with the Deep creek country
and the southern California coast; with
splendid cities already built, filed with
the triumphs of architecture and busy
with the hum of manufa ctories; with
her people devoted to industry-con-
serva tive and progressive-with her
marvellous lakes and springs, and her
beneficent climate-Utah may well look
to the future with a confidence such as
no other member of the union ever
felt at the moment of casting aside the
trammeling garments of territorial life
and appearing first in the vestments of
a sovereign state.
Utah's period Of development is still
before her, and the number and di-
Versity of her great resources justify
the conclusion that this period will be
fruitful Of profit to her people. 1t is a
well known fact that in Kansas and Ne
braska the measure of business is de-
termined from year to year by the
single resource of agriculture. If rains
are plentiful and crops result, every
thing goes well; but if droughts prevail
or insects devastate and the crops fail,
the season Of prosperity is interrupted
and a flood Of resulting calamities de-
LUCE the people. In states where agri-
culture is the sole resource, values
f1uctuate with the fortunes Of the farm
er, and all classes of investments are
proportionately affected.
Utah, happily, is dependent on no
single resource. and therefore it n ain
in contrast with that of the states
where agriculture is the sole reliance
and where prosperity is always. there
fore, either upon the crest of the wave
or in the trough Of the sea With agri-
culture, gold. silver and coal mining
with stock raising and manufacturing
from native raw materials from which
to draw, there is always in Utah a
certainty: for if one resource fails for
respond with their tribute.
AGRICULTURE.
The traveller on a five days journey
between the two oceans, traverses the
first three days comparatively level
country chiefly dependent upon agri-
culture. The fourth and fifth days he
Journeys through the mountain system
which commences with the Rocky
mountains, that bisect the state of
Colorado from north to south and eX-
tend in broken ranges to the Sierra
Nevadas that fringe the Pacific ocean,
one thousand or more miles further
west The country lying between these
two mighty ranges of mountains has
been aptly termed the Great Basin"
and within 1T are found the diversity
of resources mentioned as furnishing
the best guarantee to the growth of
cities and states.
Agriculture in this basin is not ex-
emplified. as ii is in the eastern states
upon great areas Of level land, but is
confined to numerous mountain-rimmed
valleys, rich in productive soil and
supplied with needed moisture from the
mountain streams Of melted snow di-
verted from their original channels
through thousands of canals and later
ais to the fields of the farmer. Be-
cause the SHOWS are eternal upon the
,,,o,,p+air, reaLS denendenca iS not