The record-union., 1897-09-02
Secretary Wilson Investigates the
Conditions of the Farmers.
Confident That Hard Times Is Thing of
the Past.
Everything Points to a Renewed
Activity in Agriculture in
States West of the Mississippi
River-Possibilitie for Irriga-
tion ON Cattle Ranges in the
Mountain Regions.

Mountain Regions.
CHICAGO, Sept. flames Wilson,
Secretary of Agriculture. has returned
from a trip through the Western States,
where he has been investigating condi-
tions regarding irrigation and other
matters which will tend to widen the
scope of agricultural intrests. Mr..
Wilson has been investigating the sys-
TENS of irrigation in Western Nebraska,
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah. part of Ida
no and North Dakota, and the result of
his observations will be fraught with
interest to Western agriculturists. He
has gone into the question of the condi
ton of the range horse. He hopes to
make the animal capable of competing
with the horses of Europe.
Mr.. Wilson is enthusiastic concerning
the agricultural future of the West, and
is confident that hard times have pass
ed for the farmers west of the Misss-
sippi. During his months trip through
the Western States he examined into
the conditions existing among the
farmers. He found that the latter had
found the wave of prosperity and that
they were buying new machinery, MAX
ing mum berless Improvements and are
able to pay off their mortgages.
81 have been through the mountain
States," said Mr.. Wilson, ''in order to
learn what could be done regarding ir-
rigation in the range lands of West
ern Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming,
Utah, part of Idaho Montana and
North Dakota The principal object of
my trip through these States was to as
certain to what extent they could add
to the annual production by further ir-
rigation During the course of my OBJ
servation I have found that these
States have already used up the wa
ters in many districts without being
able to irrigate the bottom lands. They
are now agitating the theory of dam
ming the waters in winter. Various
schemes are on foot to bring this about.
Some advocate the idea that the Gov
ernment should take up the matter and
pay for the cost of damming. Some
think the State Governments should be-
gin the work. Others are organizing
companies and selling the stock in the
East. Everything points to a renewed
activity in agriculture in these States.
"Some rivers in these States are not
being used for irrigation purposes.
Among these are the Grand River in
New Mexico and the Yellowstone River.
The Yellowstone has magnificent VAL
ley all through Montana. 1t is going to
cost money to get the river out of its
banks, however, and to build aqueducts
to irrigate the higher lands of the val
ley
This inquiry naturally led to an in
vestigation of the condition of the
horse. Why is the horse of the range
practically worthless? This is a ques-
ton which has troubled Western agri
culturists for years. The range horse
can be made a profitable source of in
come. I find, by careful investigation
over those seven States, that the
grasses of the uplands, though they arc
never irrigated, are very nutritious.
They are just as nutritious as the blue
grasses of Iowa, provided, of course,
that the animals get enough of range.
81 found that the animals, with rare
exceptions, have nothing to keep up
their growth in the winter, or to main
tain their quality of sustenance obtain
ed during the summer months. Lead
ing range men agreed with me that a
colt kept growing both summer and
winter continuously for two years
would be as large as a colt at five
years with no feed in the winter. They
also agreed with me that good winter
ing would give them a horse weighing
800 or 400 pounds more at four years
than he is at five years old, or without
any better blood than they have got,
an 1 100 or / ,200-pound horse-just such
a horse as is now used in European
armies.
IT have an agent in Europe at the
present time investigating the require
ments for heavy draft, carriage horses
and animals needed for army purposes.
I have very little doubt that if the
range horses in the Western States
were properly cared for they would be
able to compete with European horses.
I hope to bring about such a competi-
ton and to have the market for Ameri
can horses lively in European countries.
During my trip found a very extern
sive interest in growing sugar beets to
make sugar. Granu Island, Neb., is
on the edge of the dry belt. Sugar beets
is one crop that grows Independently of
droughts. About 5000 to 1000 acres
of land are necessary to cultivate a suf-
ficient crop of beets to keep a factory
in operation
1.-THE dry product, or the pulp, is not
being used to the best advantage. At
Grand Rapids and Lehigh. Utah. it is
fed to range steers. The amount of it
that would make two pounds of gain in
a first-class steer, worth 6 or cents.
would make a pound of butter but
such has not occurred to the sugar-beet