Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-08-05
SOUTH ALBERTA
WATEREO PLATEAU
Great Fertility Produced by Irrlga-
ton in a District Of Little Rain,
TRIBUTE TO THE M0RM0NS.
What Il. jackson wray, Methodist
Minister, Has 20 Say on the subject
In u Manitoba Newspaper.

An account OF crop conditions in this
district Is practically an account Of the
work Of the Canadian Northwest lrri-
CATION company Before the appear
ance Of the Irrigation company there
were neither crops nor crop prospects,
and In all probability without the COM
pany, there never would have been.
The seer OF visions is not reckoned
~ much account In this prosaic world
but ths man, whoever 1t was that
dreared a dream and saw this relent-
less prairie dotted with homesteads ana
checkered with waving wheat fields
was grand dreamer, man Of faith'
n YOU will, but man whose faith mas
been more than justified by his works
Not without honor Is the seer the man
who sees, save IN his own country anu
the ranoher didn't believe in that
dream a bit and he said so. Balbea
wire Is a WEAKNESS to the flesh Of the
herder OF cattle but the barbed wire
has come 70 stay, and the rancher Is
preparing 30 fold his tents IKE tno
Arab and silently steal away Leth-
bridge itself has no great faith IN the
enterprise. Some trust In cattle ana
some In bitches said they but we trust
IN the pay rod at the mines lhat >
good enough FOR US. Some OF the GU
timers said they had been in the couh,
try going on twenty years ana ndu
never raised cabbages and that settled
N They were not all that way, 1917
tunately and there was enough pupllc
shirt In the town to put up goou
bonus for the sake OF having me water
an The streets but nevertheless there II
stll n tyne OF townsman who pr0phe-
sies terrible things and disheartenlng
en- the newcomer. unwlse enough to
seek advice around the bar-room,
man that Is great on WHISKY nus ~,
uraliy no place for water either lils ll''
or out Under these circumstance
the only course open to the eohpHly
10 demonstrate the practicapluty oi y
rlgation was 70 induce practleal llrlsa
tlonlsts to take up land ana give 'he
thing a fair trial a,,o
Right 10 the south OF us, the peopiSs
called Mormons, had made success vi
of irrigatlng. Certain of them were
willing 10 come, They were also WIZ.
ing 10 construct the canals. Terms
we're agreed upon and two settlements
were started. Magrath and surlns,
Now, II Is quite customary ana III eVou
order TO decry these people as bad cltl-
zens and so forth, and | am not re-
tained ln their defense, but there are
one ar two things about them that are
Noteworthy. First, 1t is refreshing IN
these DAYS 10 find body OF men VINO
viii stand for principles and suiier loI
them IL need be. even II they are eIroh-
cons Second, they are neither ashah-
ed nor afraid 60 raise and rear tan-
Nv Third brotherhood IL apparently
something more than a name aihohs
,hen, At the beginning OF the year
Mr. peterson, OF Maprath, lost his Wlle
ana took the body south 70 be burleu'
when no returned he found 40 acres
Of his land plowed and seeded a
similar thing was done az stiriins TOT
Mr. sykes during his wife's sickness
other instances might be meh'loheu'
I'M, enough said Fourth they are
taking steps 10 have prohibition en-
acted In their district, and II DE
worthy thing 10 make the wilderness
hiossom az the rose, that also must
Inc scored to their credit, system
that nroduces such results may DC
connounded Of truth and error, as most
human systems are. but II cannot De
lightly dismissed as foolIshness OF
knavery. or a mixture Of both. MIN
isters daughters who have been school
teachers among them tell me they nave
n singular way Of meeting people, IN
the shirt In which they are approached.
and they bear them witness that they
are kind hearted and hospitable,
Mr.. T. NJ. Evans. superintendent OF
the irrigation company drove s,na,
marty OF us out TO Magrath on the llth
of this month. The first house In thls
settlement was put up in June 1888
1ust over two years ago, Today hei'
Is population Of over GOO, ana purely
agricultural at that Two years asO
there was a beautiful eNpanse OF pra''
RE: today there are some l,bl9 acres
under cultivation. The large comlnu'
nal fields OF various kinds OF gran
and roots surround the town on al
sides and the crops are, without eN'
ceptlon. excellent. One or two patches
OF oats sown late In June on sod vii
hardly make more than fodder bu
for the rest / sympathize with MT
Evans. who is credited In town at ans
rate with drawing the long bow wher
describing things at Magrath and sllrl'
ing.
Undoubtedly It pays to break in fal
for spring sowing, and yet oats sow
on the sod this spring are strong anc
well. eolored and promise an excellent
yield. The spring wheat was heade.
out and In splendid condition. We saw
Rasmussen's. Melgrund's and Harker'i
and IL was hard TO tell which was th'
best The finest results In grain, how
ever, have been obtained I'm fall wheat
Mr.. Dudley has a plot OF go acres, No
mere sample The sod was turned N
June and the wheat, 40 bushels TO th'
acre. sown I'm September. Mr.. Fairfield
OF the experimental farm, and Mr.
ueathershaw both OF whom are goot
Judges. accompanied us. and II was IN
animously conceded that finer wheat
was not grown In the old country, Man.
itoba or the states. IL stood by ac'
tual measurement at that time foul
feet six inches, not here and there Q
head. but the whole field. II wa'
heavy, dark and solid, running 2
heads and more 10 root Mr.. Head
has a patch that is In part equal tC
this but the area Is smaller.
Bishop Harker was busy so that
could not obtain all the information
desired. There was one patch Of sugar
beet that demonstrates It's possibility
as crop. but whose II is | do moi
know, and Bishop Harker himself has
an excellent stand Of alfalfa. Nearly
every house has something of a gard.
en- beside IL and the variety OF IN,
produce from corn 10 squash forbId'
enumeration In one garden In IN.
coulee berries and currants were dolnl
well.
IL must not be considered that belnp
so new the town Is badly housed
shacks are In a very small minority
most Of the dwellings are cottages. bat
there are several excellent frame
houses, Mr.. Ryrie's Bishop Harkers
Mr. Bagshaws. Mr.. Cariers just com.
pleted. and Mr. Rasmussen's, just be.
gun.
At Stirling much the same conditions
prevail Though nothing quite cqual'
MFR. Dudley's wheat yet ! think thai