Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-09-21
Senator Smoot Tells In FOrcible
Language How it was Given to
The World in Utah,
CAME HERE WITH PIONEERS.
And Soon 1t Transformed Mighty
Wilderness Into yeritable Eden
In the Desert.


which were ordered into the record
without delivery on account OF the
press OF time. towards the close OF the
session, was the following address by
United States Senator Reed Smoot from
Utah: The birthplace of irrigation
IN Utah, and the entire vests speaking
of irrigation as II now exists, ana as
sprInging from Anglo-Saxon ciyiliza~
tlon-was the valley Of the Great Salt
Lake; the time of It's nativity, July,ls47.
That was nearly 10 years before was
born. TO speak therefore, of the
earliest attempts at reclalming ihis
once desert land 10y means OF the So
called miracle Of irrigation" except
from the standpoint OF student Of his
tory Is manifestly beyond my power
NV father was among those who par
ticipated, II not in the initial act at
least IN the initial acts of the process,
hut my own arrival upon the scene
pressed by the feet OF the hardy pio-
neers and first settlers of these noun
tain valleys, was by later and a some
what different immigration | came
soon enough, however, to see some of
the early efforts towards redcemIng the
waste places where now shine the most
populous cities and bloom the most
productive orchards and vineyards Of
this favored region. know what II ~
to be called up at dny-break to water
the lot hoe In hand, during the hours
assigned by the local watermaster for
that purpose, and could relate many
incidents, II time allowed, concerning
the growth and development OF the
benefcent system which has done no
much, and IL destined to do far more,
for the reclamation OF arid America
CAME WITH THE PIONEERS.
Irrigation in these parts had its In.
ception with the advent OF the pio-
neers, who with their associates laid
the foundations of this nter-mountain
empire The census OF the pioneer
camp as taken at the Missouri RIVER ut
the outset OF the westward journey,
was as follows! l43 men, three women
and two children, With ~ wagons, J3
horses, 80 mules, &C oxen, 10 cows, and
n few dogs and chickens, a years
provisions. some plows. harrows and
other implements with a liberal supply
OF farm and garden seeds, were includ-
ed In the equipment, The journey
across the great plains began In April
and ended late IN July. TIE historian
OF Utah in his pen pictures Of the ar
rival OF these state builders upon the
desolate shores OF Americas Dead Sea-
says
A DESOLATE PICTURE.
1T was no garden OF the liespcrides
upon which the Pioneers gaaed that
memorable July morning. Aside from
Its scenic splendor Which was indeed
glorious. magnificent, there was little
to invite and much to repol In the
prospect presented to their view a
broad and barren plain hernmed IN by
mountains, blistering IN the burning
rays OF the midsummer sun No way-
ing fields, no swaylng forests no yer-
dant meadows to rest ana refresh the
weary eye. but on all sides a seemingly
intermlnable waste Of sagebrush be-
spangled with sunnowers, 1.-The para
disc of the lizard, the cricket and the
rattlesnake. Less than hair way across
the baked and burning valley dividing
Il IN twaln--as II the vast bowl, In the
Intense heat of the Master pottcrs
fires, In process of Formations had
cracked asunder---a narrow river, tur-
bid and shallow, from s0utii To north,
In many serpentine curve, sweeps on
its slnuous way Beyond a lake. the
rivers goal, dotted with mountain ISL
ands; It's briny waters shimmerng in
the sunlight like a silver shield.
From mountains snow capped,
scanned and craggy lifting THAR king
ly heads to be crowned by the golden
sun, flow, impld, laughing streams,
cold and crystal clear leapIng, dashing,
foamng, flashing from rock TO glen,
from peak to plain, But the fresh c8n-
yon streams are far aud few, and the
arid waste they water, glstening with
beds of salt ana soda and pools OF
deadly alkal, scarcely allows them To
reach the river, hut midway we'll nigh
swallows and absorbs them in its thrs-
~ sands, Above the line of gray and
gold, of sage and sunflower, the sloping
hillsides and precipltOus sleeps clothed
with purple and dark green patches.
These. the oak brush the squaw- Der.
ny, and other scant growths, with here
and there tree casting It's long shad-
ow on hill or IN valley; wire grass
swamp, a few acres Of Withercd bunch-
grass and the lazily waving Will
lows and wild rose bushes ringing the
distant streams, the only green things
visible
silence and desolation reign A ST.
lence unbroken, save by the cricket
ceaseless chlrp, the roar of the noun
tain torrent, or the Whir ana twitter
OF the passing bird. A desolation OF
centuries, where earth seems heaven.
forsaken, where hermit nature, watch
ing, waiting, weeps and wOrshlps God
amid eternal solltudes,'
A WORTHLESS AREA.
The picture Is not overdrawn The
whole Of western America at that time
was regarded as vast worthless
area and especially that part OF II
surrounding the Inland Sea- comprised
In what was known as the Great Ba-
sin, or Great American Desert,
strstchlng east and west between the
snow-crowned walls of the Wasatch
and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In.
habited by wandering tribes Of Indians
Squalid and degraded roamed over by q
few adventurous white men, hunters
trappers and guides and Stunned by
the occasional overland emigrant on
his way to the sparsely settled Pacific
coast; II was reputedly and IN reality a
land OF desolati0n and death, coveted
by no one disparaged by all. One ot
those rugged mountaineers the famous
Colonel Bridger, who lives with his
squaw wife in y lonely log fort IN wha,
Il now southwestern Wyoming, snid tC
President Brigham Young. ihe Pioneer
leader, as he crossed the Rocky
Mountains: Mr., Young, ! would Civ,
n thousand dollars II | knew that an
ear OF corn would rlpen In Salt LAX,
valley" Others OF his INK also spoke
disparagingly OF the soil and climate
and advised the Pioneers not 10 plant a
colony In this region. Samuel Bran.
man, Mormon Elder who had sailed
from New York with a SHIPS company
Of Latterday Saints and landed az the
bay Of San Francisco, leaving his col
ony In California, came overland t.
meet tho Pioneers and urge them q
continue on 10 the green and nOwery
slopes Of the Pacific, But to these
forbidding arguments and to this Sc
ductiye plea President Young made
Out one answer; This Is the place,