Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-07-18

mer from the mOnOtOnouS landscape
presented by the brown and arid hills
which surrounded them on every side,
They We're under those conditions moi
only successful centers of influence
from which to carry on the Christian
izing of the Indian tribes, but forces
tending to break up the migratory i'm
pulse by the establishing of homes
among the early Spanish explorers.
BEGINNING OF MODERN IRRIGA-
TON.
For the beginning of Anglo-Saxon ir-
rigation in this country we must go to
the Salt Lake valley of Utah, where. In
July, 1S49, the Mormon pioneers turned
the clear waters of City creek upon the
sun-baked and alkaline soil in order
that they might plant the very last OF
their stock of potatoes in the hope OF
bringing forth a crop to save the little
company from starvation.
Utah is interesting not merely be-
cause it is the cradle of the modern ir-
rigation industry, but even more so as
showing how important are organiza-
tons and public control in the diver
| sion and use of rivers. Throughout the
! pioneer period of their history the set
| tiers of Utah were under the direction
! of exceptionally able and resourceful
[ leaders, who were aided by the fact
! that their followers We're knit together
by a dominating religious impulse
These leaders had the wisdom to adopt
their methods and shape their institu-
tons to conform to the peculiar condi-
tons and environment Of a land strange
and new to men of English speech,
They found that irrigation was neces-
sary to their existence in the home that
they had chosen, and that the irrigation
canal must therefore be the basis OF
their industrial organization. which
was largely co%-operative; hence, the
size of their farms, which are less than
thirty acres upon the average, and the
nature of their social relations, which
are close and neighborly.
That the great material results which
quickly followed could have been real
lied without the cohesion which came
from an association dominated by re-
ligious discipline and controlled by the
superior intelligence of the head of the
Mormon church, Is doubtful; but that
the character of institutions In the val
legs of Utah, both industrial and social
was chiefly due to the environments In
which they were placed Is beyond dis
pute. Cooperation became the domi.
nant principle simply because the set
tiers were in a land without capital
and it was beyond the power of the in
dividual to turn the mountain current
from it's course and spread it upon his
lands. Only the labor Of many individ-
uals, working under organization and
discipline, could make the canals or dis
tribute the waters. A small farm unit
was chosen, not because men were less
greedy for land than in all other new
countries, but because it vas quickly
seen that the extent of the water sup
ply was the measure of production, and
their ability to provide this was small.
Diversified farming, which is one of the
leading causes Of the remarkably ever
prosperity of Mormon agriculture, was
resorted TO because the territory was so
far removed from other settlements
that it was compelled to become abso-
lutely self-sustaining. The small farm
,,ptt ,,,n1, S,Nn~ s,1f-Ll~,r a.l ILL., -
vantage was still more enhanced by as
sembling the farmers homes In conven-
lent village centers. One reason for
adopting this plan, in the first place,
was doubtless for protection against
the Indians. but it has become a perma-