, 1907-10-05
BROOKS
SPEAKS At MEMPHIS


: plains. where the Indian still ,,rks an5
the yenturesome cowb,v hIinL, in tb.
sun and herds the steers
Follows Him Throuob II.
And. when down here on tho ,itt,a
farm in SUNNY Tennessee the how
grown to mans estate looks Ionginoiy
towards the setting sun and tall, n,
the mountain and nla:n ana largo,
opportunities. his good mother s,d1v
shakes her head and recalls the old
geographic of her with ;,s
sinister warning "Tbe Great American
Desert" We NAV in time live If down
but an error once accented az ~eosnel
is difficult to overcome
Well Watered State.
AS a matter of fact. wyoming is ono
of the best watered states in the west
having over fifteen large rivers with
innumerable tributaries and hundred of
good sized lakes Her yalleys and
plains are carpeted with rich and
nutricious grasses. Eight million
acres of timber cover the mountains.
and twenty million acres of coal lie
buried beneath the hills.
Earuin, ~, the Incre,es
Farming, both with and without r..
rigation. is increasing rapidly. Home.
stead filings this wear broke all pr,-
yious records. The man with tho ho,
has replaced he Indian and cowbov.
Valuable Illuminating and lubricatinp
oils have been found in great ouanti-
ties. Large ore bodies OF precious
minerals, especially copper. have been
recently uncovered. Asbestos rival.
ing the famous Canadian variety will
soon be exported. Ouarries of sand.
stone. granite anG Vermont marble are
there in sufficient quantities tn build
a dozen cities like Memphis.
Railroad Mileage GROWING.
Over fifteen hundred miles of rail.
road are in operation, and many ex.
tensions are under way. The whole
n~inetyseyen thousand so11are miles
of territory is replete with u~ndeyelop.
ed resources. Even now Wyoming is
quite an exporting state. and that
brings me to the con reason wny
We are interested in River Improve.
ment."
Tremendous Freiqht PAYMENTS,
We EXPORT annually over thirty mil
lion pounds of wool. most of which goes
to the Atlantic seaboard. The freight
by rail averages two cents a pouud,
a total of over $6OO. 600. This year
uzl l..
weston and there loaded on boats for
Boston. If we could load on boats at
some nearby lake or river point, the
competition would lower freighth rates.
The question of time doesn't material
" affect wool shipments for when
packed, the grease in the wool strength
ems the fibre and improves the quality,
so a water route is beneficial.
Coal bv Millions of Tons,
We export millions of tons of coal,
but at present many of our coal trains
face west instead of east. Our exports
of beef and mutton are very large, and
the movement for river improvement.
would widen our markets.
Will Steadily Increase.
We import some southern products.
fruits and vegetables, and as Wyoming
FORCES ahead, 10th imports and exposts
will steadily increase. Always the
lack of sufficient transportation faciii.
ties has been one of our most serious
drawbacks, sadly retarding our devel-
opment. The trans-continental rail
roads, crossing Wyoming, have been
SO contested with through freight that
but slight attention has been paid to
local traffic, and no great effort has
been made on their part to develop
local business. This has seriously re,
tarded in MANY sections.
HELPED by River Improvement.
If, by means of river improvement,
some trough freight could be diverted,
then the trans-continental roads would
naturally nav more attention to local