Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1902-03-06
Communication.
Sterling, Colorado,
March. Bird. 1902

EDITOR Mo. VALLEY l'IMES:-Ilo
tri-state irrigation congress that l
told of in my last, met in Sterling
on the Goth and 9th of February,
and the States were we'll repre-
sented by delegations of earnest,
hopeful, enthusiastic men, all ac-
ting as one MN upon the one all
absorbing topic IRRIGATION.
The meeting was presided over
by Gov. Savage, of Nebr ASIA, as
Chairman, and ex Lieutenant Gov.
Brush, as vice. Chairman.
On the first day the address was
delivered by Mr.. Maxwell, Chair
man of the executive committee of
the irrigation association. The
address was very scholarly and
practical, and was listened to at
tentively by al appreoiative audi
eience, which completely filled
the opera house. he told the sto-
ry, (only in better way, that ev-
cry man is telling his friend and
neighbor what a land of promise
this would indeed become if irri-
cation as planned by the Associa-
tion is carried out.
! went to this meeting to take
notes of his speech in order to re-
port it to your paper, but was sc
carried away by his enthusiasm
that laid down my pencil and
listened.
He sounded one note of warn.
ing, "do not destroy your forests.
They are the one bulwark from
which you build all others. II
your forests, which skirt the noun
tains cfests are destroyed, your la
Dor will have been in vain, yo,
he'd better destroy your cities thar
your forests. The plan of the as
|sociation is for individuals AM
companies to do all they can do
and when they can 60 no further
then to petition Congress for aid
Mr.. Maxwell claims that if Con
gress will appropriate Sl43,OOO,OO'
to build storage reservoirs, i
would store all the snow water an,
flood water during spring floods
thereby saving millions every yea
by floods along the larger river
and would give Colorado a system
of irrigation bitches that woul'
soon make this lovely land bios
sHyu sgilE fd ael6ass efr.suu, ~ 80.
son County, if you can, what thi
means to Colorado when all thi
comes to pass, for come it will.
You could not doubt if you ha,
seen this boad of earnest, shrewd
enterprising typical western mel
that are fighting great fight wit
dame nature herself, and will wiz
because their cause is just, givin
homes to the homeless, and bring
ing plenty into an arid land.
On May 10th, 1869, the U. T
Railroad, the first to cross our con
tinent, was finished, and one o
the most stupendious pieces o
!. work ever before undertaken b,
man was ended, but the great cas-
built the road, or better still, til,
entire nation done the work, bu
there is still here another piece o
work just as great, just as ia
reaching, just as important, bein,
undertaken, and the great west i
trying to fight it alone. The cas-
looks on just as the old world di,
when Columbus dared to talk of
new world, and a new world it will
indeed be when these semi-arit
plains shall yield sixty and hun
dred fold.
There is no more productive
land on earth today than lies il
the South Platte valley, only wait
ing for the water, and it is almos
here, and then what a rush thei
will be by home-seekers, and cap
italists of the east to get in on til,
\ ground floor. There are thous
ands in the east who now fear I,
come but who will come when tn,
water comes. They will come lik,
bees, they are already coming
There are now 100000 peapl,
east of the Missouri river and on.
ly 100000 west Of it, but the cas-
will tip up and spill over into oul
fair land.
I wish the good people of lows
could gee what wa SAW today II