Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-05-14
An ANCIENT CIVILIZATION.
Region Of the United States Which is
Now Most Arid and Forbidding,
WAS ONCE THE GARDEN SPOT OF
THE CONTNENT-IN AGES PAST
SO HIGHLY DEVELOPED, ARE
NOW DRY SANDY WASTES,
WITH NAKED ROCKS AND PET
RIFIED FORESTS.

United States which is the last to be
settled, was one of the cradles of civili-
cation and the most highly developed
section of our continent. While other
great areas are annually green in grow
ing and yellow in ripening, producing
crops to feed the world, this section,
once the garden spot OF America under
the magic influence of water, is to-day
barren, arid and uninhabitable waste.
Civilization sprang from agriculture
and the earliest agriculturists OF Amer
lea, as well as of Europe, Asia and
Africa began in arid lands. Scientists
tell us that the fundamental art OF ag-
riculture began everywhere in the
world, under conditions of great arid
ity-on sandy plains and hot deserts.
The most ancient agriculture of Amer
lea is found in that southwestern sec
ton of the United States which was the
very last to be settled by white man;
where natural vegetation is now so
scant that it barely gives character to
the landscape; where sand storms drive
over the country; where barren plains
spread under lurid sky; where the
landscape is often one of naked rock
and where adamantine forms stand in
groves, and fossils are buried in the
rocks. In this section, the ethnologist
tells us, the Indian tribes, in ages lost
to history, cultivated the soil by arti-
fetal irrigation and developed corn,
cotton, potatoes and other vegetables
useful to man, while the rich valleys to
the east and north were yet untouched
by agricultural labor.
History, it is stated, begins in the
Valley of the Nile for civilization was
born there This civilization emanat-
ed from agriculture and agriculture was
made possible by irrigation. Two arts
transformed early savage society; ag-
riculture and domestication OF animals,
and the latter grew out OF the former.
The first fields were cultivated IN arid
lands and the first civilized govern
ments were organized in arid lands.
Under torrid skies, or rainless, treeless
plains, terrifying in their desolation, ag-
riculture the domestication. OF animals,
art in metals, temple building, cities
and civilization, had their beginning.
And yet, strange as it seems, it has
very simple explanation. The savage
man loved the Forest and the plains,
the clear rivers, the beautiful lakes and
the shores Of the salt sea, for there he
found native fruits and game and fish
in plenty. But when all such lands
had been occupied by the tribes, each
jealous of its hunting grounds, there
remained only the arid lands for set
Element. Then gradually the deserts
were penetrated by men, willing to
forego the pleasures of the chase and
the abundance and luxuries of the for
est, plain and waters, that they might
obtain peace, even with toll. With toll
commenced civilization. Man could
not, in his primitive condition and with
his rude Implements, subdue and con-
Quor Nature in her rank luXuriance of
savanna and primeval forest. lie could
lead water onto desert land easier than
he could fell trees. He could control
the spring gushing from the rock on
the edge Of the desert easier than he
could destroy the vigorous plants OF the
humid region.
From small systems of agriculture
and irrigation, there gradually develop
ed great systems, and the arts of war
and the chase gave place to the useful
industries and state of civilization
and power Agriculture under irriga-
ton was at first petty. 1t began on the
smaller streams and brooks which
could be controlled by individuals or
small congregations of men and had its
origin on the borders of the desert.
Then having learned to cultivate little
patches of corn or barley, the early far
mer gradually widened his operations
until he utilized the waters of the rivers
and built large irrigation bitches.
While in Egypt irrigation commenced
on this small scale, at the present time
the water is controlled by great dams
near the mouth Of the Nile and work is
now being projected where twenty-siX
millions OF dollars are to be expended
by the British government in stipend
GUS irrigation operations.
In India, the people first learned to
store the food waters in little reservoirs
constructed by erecting dams across
gulches, and thousands OF these tanks
were ultimately made. England has
pursued a far-sighted policy in her
treatment of the irrigation question in
her colonies. Since her control OF IN
dia, irrigation works have been con-
structed ON vast scale at an aggregate
cost of three hundred and sixty mil
lions of dollars. This represents miles
upon miles of great irrigating canals,
some of them a hundred and seventy
five feet in width-and the hydraulic
engineering of which vies with the best
in the resulting in an enormous
~ increased production from the soil
and the certainty of crop returns.
In sunny Italy, whence emanated
some of the greatest warriors, poets,
philosophers and statesmen of the
world, agriculture was an honored pro-
fession and irrigation was brought to
such high state of perfection that the
regions are now known as the classic
lands of irrigation. The works con-
structed by the Romans are Of the most
substantial character; they were skill
fully and massively built and compare
favorably with the modern works of
India.
Although modern irrigation in the
United States is not an untried pro-
blem, it is yet in its infancy and no ma
rional policy has been adopted. In no
country in the world are the conditions
more favorable than in the United
States, but the industry is new and
Americans have yet to learn important
lessons which the inhabitants of Orien-
tai countries have learned by centuries
of experience.
With the abundant results attained
by government support in other coun-
tries as an object lesson, is anything
more reasonable than that the United
States government Snould enter Iln0n a