Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-10-22

Lancaster county farms of Pennsylya-
MIA, or Westuheslcr farms of New York,
or Somerset county farms of New Jer-
! sey. Experiments have proved that ten
acres of ground irrigated from waters
gathered in great Neurological basins
/ will produce as much as so acres from
the downpour of rain as seen in our re-
gions. We have our freshets and our
droughts, but in those lands which are
to be scientifically irri gated there will be
neither froshets nor droughts. AS you
take pitcher and get it full Of water
and then sot it OH table and take q
drink out Of it when you arc thirsty and
never think Of drinking pitcherful all
at once so Montana and Wyoming and
Idaho will catch the rains of their rainy
season and take up all the wators of
thoir rivers in great pitchers Of reser-
vors and refresh their land whenever
they will
Gods Earthly Throne.
The work has already been grandly
begun by the United States government
Over 400 lakes have already been Off
cially taken possession of by the nation
for the great enterprise of irrigation
Rivers that have been rolling idly
through these regions, doing nothing
on their way to the sea, will BIO lassoed
and corrallctl and penned up until such
time as the farmers need them. Under
the Same processes tho Ohio, the Missis-
sippi, and all the other rivers will DO
taught to behave themselves better, and
great basins will be made to catch the
surplus of waters in times of fresbet and
keep them for times of drought The
irrigating process by which all the arid
lands between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans are to be fertilizod is no new ex-
pertinent.
1t has been going on successfully
hundreds of years in Spain, in China,
in India, in Russia, in Egypt. About
500, 900, 900 of people of the earth today
are kept alive by food raised Oh irrigat-
ed lard And here we have allowed to
lie waste, given up to rattlesnake and
bat and prairie dog lands enough to
support whole nations of industrious
population. The work begun will be
consummated. Here and there eXcep-
tional lands may be stubborn and refuse
to yield any wheat or corn from their
hard fists, but if the hoe fail to make
an impression the miners pickax will
discover the reason for it and bring up
from beneath those unproductive sur
faces coal and iron and lead and copper
and silver and gold God speed the
biologists and the surveyors, the en-
gineers and the senatorial commissions,
and the capitalists and the new settlers
and the hrsbandmen, who put their
brain and hand and heart to this trans
fguration of the American continentl
STREAMS in the desert!'
But while speak of the immensely
of the continent, must remark it IS
not an immensely of monotone OF tame
ness. The larger some countries are, the
worse for the world. This continent is
not more remarkable for it's magnitude
than for it's wonders of constructions
Yosemite and the adjoining California
regions! Who that has seen them can
think of them without having his blood
tingle? Trees now standing there that
were old when Christ lived These
monarchs of foliage reigned before Caesar
or Alexander, and the next thousand
wears will not SKATER their scepter
They are the masts of the continent,
their canvas spread Oh the winds, while
the old ship bears on its way through
the ages!
Our Nations Playground. :.
That valley of the Yosemite is eight
miles long and half mile wide and
3, 900 feet deep. 1t seems as if it had
been the meaning of onnipotence to
crowd into as small a place as possible
some of the most stupendous scenery OF
the world. Some of the cliffs you do
not stop to measure by feet, for they
are literally mile high. Steep SO that
neither foot of man or beast ever scaled
them, they stand in everlasting def
ance. If Jehovah has !. throne on earth,
these are its white pillars. Standing
down in this great chasm OF the valley,
you look up, and yonder is Cathedral
rock, vast, gloomy minister built for the
silent worship of the mountains Yon-
der is Sentinel rock, 3,2f0 feet high,
bold, solitary, standing guard among
the ages, its top seldom touched, until
a bride, one Fourth of July, mounted it
and planted tie national standard, and
the people down in the valley looked up
and saw the head Of the mountain tur-
baned with STATS and stripes. Yonder
are the Three Brothers, 4, 600 feet high
Clouds Rest, North and South Dome
and the heights never captured save by
the fiery bayonets Of the thunderstorm
No pause fer the eye, 10 stopping
place for the mind. Mountains hurled
on mountains Mountains i'll the wake
I of mountains Mountains hanked by
mountaips Mountains split Mountains
ground. Mountains fallen. Mountains
triumphant As though Mont Blanc
and the Adirondacks and Mount Wash
ington were here uttering themselves
in one magnificent chorus OF rock ana
precipice and waterfall. Sitting and
dashipg through the rocks, the water
comes down. The Bridal Veil falls SO
thin you can see the face of the noun
tain behind it. Yonder is Yosemite
falls, dropping 2,G34 feet, l6 times
greater descent than that of Niagara.
These waters dashed to death on the
rocks, SO that the white spirit of these
slain waters ascending in robe OF mist
seeks the heavens. Yonder is Nevada
falls, plunging 700 feet, the water III
arrows, the water in rockets, the water
in pearls, the water in amethysts the
water in diamonds. That cascade filings
down the rocks enough jewels to array
all the earth in beauty and rushes on
until it drops into very hell of waters,
"a N q