Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-03-29

into forms, fumes were built upon the
hillsides. tapping the streams that dis
charged into the Great Salt Lake, and
conducting the water in diminutive
threads upon the seed plots. The result
was new miracle of resurrection; out
of the unkindly earth, parched and
fruitless through unnumbered centres.
came luxuriant green LEAKAGE, which
bv and by blossomed and yielded
ab,lndantlv after its kind The peo-
ple called it an answer to their prayers
thew had voiced in their passionate
helplessness, and were reconciled but
to a less devout understanding it APP
pears as merely another reading from
the eternal and infallible gospel of
work. No matter what the means of
encouragement; they threw heart and
soul into their labor. And no matter
what Interpretation their blunt under
standings put upon the outcome, it has
ever since stood as monument to the
power and effectiveness of tireless eff
fort. To all the West it has been a
pillar of cloud by day and pillar of
| fire by night
After that first year the process was
repeated again and again and on
| larger scale. as means and opportun-
| ties increased, until in our day we need
| go no farther than the Salt Lake Basin
| for an example of what may be ac-
cOmpliShed upon the bare expanse of
| the arid domain if a supply of water
| can be secured and judiciously con-
| trolled and applied. Not only the single
| farm or the single valley, but the whole
State is in debt to the irrigation ditch:
dependent upon ii for life. The Nor
mons were the pioneers amongst the
people of our race in this country in
applying the idea, but others have fol-
lowed their lead, profiting by their
| experience. In most cases capital has
taken the place of religious zeal. but
the result is much the same. 1t hap
| pens that data are now at hand to show
Utah's economic condition in the pre-
sent year. study of these data is
calculated to dispel many popular il
| lusions, to correct many false impress
sions concerning the possibilities of
conquest in our arid domain.
| Please bear in mind that without the
artificial canal and ditch the cultiva-
BILE lands in Utah would be almost nil.
| Rainfall comes at the wrong season for
| maturing crops of any sort. Without
the ditch Utah could not raise enough
beans in year to supply a single
state dinner. in Boston; without the
ditch. she could not grow potatoes
enough to furnish her own citizens
with charms against rheuma tism. Fruit
| would be unheard of as a product of
her soil. She would have a populat ton
of few thousands, wearing their lives
away like gnomes in the depths of the
mines, subsisting by chance or charity
on stale stuff from the outside world.
Hers would be the civilization Of the
Klondike or the Sierra Madres
As it is, this is as proud a Common
wealth as any of the West. and the
pride is justified. In the current year
the output of the mines, in gold. silver,
lead, copper and coal, represents a
value of twenty-five millions of dollars
The livestock interest, including pro-
ducts of the dairy, is half as large
From the irrigated orchards fruit will
be shipped abroad to the value of two
millions of dollars. Beet sugar manu-
featured within the State from beets
grown by irrigation will exceed in
value a million and a half of dollars.
| L W. anu olie- Hall IlIlllOHS OF collars
stand for the wheat crop, while other
farm products, in great variety, will
reach total of seven and one-half
millions. The figures are quite mean
ingless in themselves; as compared
with statistics from other States, in the
humid region, where man has only
abetted nature, the showing is insig-
nificant. But that is not fair com
parison. We must compare with alb
solute zero. Every dollar in the total
has been wrung by sturdy persistence
from a desert that nature had laid
| away and forgotten.
Nor does a mere statement of the
| fgures present the whole case What
is true of the individual is very likely
to be true of community: wealth
easily acquired is usually easily dissi-
pated. while wealth hard won abides.
| Inc one gives but passing tone and
| color to society; the other imparts
lcharacter. After her half century of
trlal, Utah has now permanent place
amongst the States Whatever
changes come to her will only be in
the way of betterment and increase
| Under the spur of iron necessity. she
has built her institutions soidIy from
the foundations; nothing short of a
cataclysm can effect her prosperity.
| Understand that | speak Of the indus
trlal and not of the social life. From
| the Gentle point of view there f. still
much to be desired in the way of reduc-
| ing the Inflammation of a morbid spirit
| ual condition; but time is a gentle ana
| patient nurse. Certainly the critical ne
| Rod of the disease is past. and one feel,
| safe in predicting complete restoration
| TO health. In the meantime. il is nos
slble to discover some benefits to com
| pensate for the evil Whatever else they
We're, the early Mormons were workers
And besides, as one of the Salt Lake
newspapers naively remarks. Utah has
plenty of children for labor in the beef
| fields
The steady growth of the agricultural
| interest has inevitably reacted upon all
| other aspects of life AS between the
mine and the farm. considered as
means for giving solidity to a society
any people in its senses would elect the
latter. In a community where mining is
the only. or even the principal occupation
all social and Industrial institutions lack
stability. The prosecution of the quest
for gold and silver is essentially a matter
of what the human family calls luck
The discovery of bonanza lode is not
the result of sure precedence; If it were
then every prospectOr would own one
Millions of dollars may be expended upon
one seductive property, in exploration
and development, with no result but fail
ure; while upon the neighboring property