The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-08

country and they buy land under a
canal company, and instead of pur-
/ chasing what they ought to have,
they expend nearly their last dollar in
the retaining of these broad acres and
for water to irrigate them, when small
holdings are the life of the country
which we inhabit.
Again, we skim over the surface soil
and the wealth of the soil beneath is
neglected. A few inches of earth
stirred on the surface is deemed all
sufficient for US to win our livelihood
and to increase our substance, where
I as beneath the surface of the soil, if it
has a proper subsoil, is the wealth of
every farmer. 1t is not more water that
we want so 'badly today so far as my
experience is concerned, as a knowl-
edge OF how to use what we have got.
Great stress is laid upon the fact of
obtaining water. l acknowledge it;
but, as has been said, with this ques--
ton should also be discussed. How
shall we manage the abundant supply
that we have at the present
time! 1t is wasted = wasted by
our farmers in Utah, by the
farmers OF Arizona and New Mexico.
Throughout this arid coCStry water is
wasted; and the farmer gets the idea
that the more water he has the larger
crops he will raise. 1t is mistake; 1
have heard others assert this, and |
endorse their sentiments. 1t wants to
be used wisely, for a blessing abused
is the greatest curse that can be given
to man; but for every blessing properly
used he thanks his God in his heart
for that blessing, while it is a curse to
him II he abuses it. So it is with all
the good things God provides.
We probably have a method of stor-
ing water in these mountain states that
cannot be adopted in those states and
territories farther removed from these
mountain regions. 1t is a theory that
has been advanced in our country and
to some extent put into practice. to
lock I'D the SHOWS and the water of
mountain StreamS-to place lock upon
them and keep them where they fall
and let them down gently when wanted
Mr.. Marshall of Texas gave il the name
of cold storage when I was talking
about it. which is appropriate. We
have adopted this idea: That when we
go into the mountains and watch the
course and the direction of the winds
that prevail in the early part of the
season. we find where the snow natur-
ally drifts on the ridges and in the
draws, and we erect what might be
termed snow fences upon those ridges
and in those places where the snow
naturally drifts over the ridge of the
or drift upon the north side or the
south side. according to the direction
which the wind gives the snow and
carries it. Now, erect snow fences upon
{. ridge with rock or timber. and you
can probably increase that drift from
so to 100 feet. The early SHOWS OF Win
ter become like granulated ice, when
they are preserved in this way 1t is
like an iceberg, and it melts slowly in
the spring and adds to the stream con-
venient to us when we want it. The
SHOWS that come later are light, and
when the sun strikes them in the
spring, they all come in a rush and we
have the water cutting out our dams
and cutting to pieces our canals and
destroying the work, probably of the
whole previous year taken out in a
few minutes by the high waters. This
difficulty has been obviated to a great
extent, because we can lock up the
SHOWS by making these drifts much
larger and aid in keeping them back,
and this ice meltS very slowly in the
spring. Then the water, too, of these
streams-in the fall of the year we go
into the canyons, and whenever there
is a level place or q depression, or
where we can run those waters out, we
make a furrow with a pillow, perhaps, |
and conduct that water out onto these
level places and allow it to freeze, one /
coat upon another, until we have one, /
two. three or four coats of ice on these
level places and in these depressions. |
This melts SLOWLY in the spring, and /
thus we have husbanded the water to [
a great extent that is necessary for !
our irrigation purposes.
There is another point that l will take !
the liberty of mentioning, and that is