, 1907-09-10
WYOMING WINS SWEEPSTAKES

Judge Carey has received word from
sacramento to the effect that the
the sweepstakes and that he is the
owner Of n $1,000 Hereford bull, the
prize offered.
Without any special effort at selec,
ton or arrangement, Judge Carey
sent this Wyoming exhibit TO the irri
cation congress. His chief desire was
to have Wyoming represented. The
result was a surprise, although Wyo-
ming is used to taking first prizes.
The Columbian exposition awarded
Wyoming grain some medals, the Lou.
isiana Purchase exposition did more
for the state, n Portland, Omaha
n other minor expositions nave &C.
corded us high honors.
These results NEAR more than our
people generally claim or are willing
to concede. A state that takes first
prizes at agricultural shows must have
first quality land and first quality con
ditions for the raising OF grain. 1t is
not chance that brings gold medals.
Two years ago the writer heard
Judge Carey say of a field of seventy
acres of oats on the Millbrook ranch
that it vas the finest seventy acres OF
oats he eve saw in all his life. There
was harvested from this field more
thar ninety bushels of oats per aero
mt four acres of measured land yield,
ed LOG bushels per acre by measure.
ment and 1874 bushels per acre by
weight. There was no particular
chance about the raising of that crop,
nor was there special labor performed
in its raising, Mr.. Bell stated that the
entire labor of irrigating and taking
care of 500 acres of grain that year
vas performed by three men.
During the past thirty days hundreds
of Iowa people have been driven over
the land in the vicinity of Pine Bluffs,
Laramie county, and have been shown
the crops in what is known as the
Swede settlement. near Salem. Re
p~eatedly these Iowans have been heard
to say that the crops being raised by
those Swedes are the equal if not
superior to the crops of Iowa, II OF
the greatest farming states in the un,
ion. This is not an exceptional year at
Salem. In fact there has beer a de-
iciency in rainfall. In June there was
more than an inch less rain than usual,
and yet the crops are good.
There is but one meaning to all this.
Wyoming is coming to the front as a
farming state. The successes of the
men raising grain along the Pioneer
canal and upon the irrigated lands
contiguous to the Little Laramie and
Rock creek will be duplicated upon
other lands. The lands owned by the
Riverside company and the Haley com,
pany and a dozen others are entirely
too valuable to use for grazing pur.
poses or for the raising of native hay.
There is water in this valley for more
thar one hundred thousand acres that
have not yet been cultivated. 1t can
be made to bring a return ten times
as great as at present. Already the
people of the great farming states are
looking to the reclamation of this
land. They are the people who must
a k hold of it. They are farmers and
know how to till the soil. The ranch.
men who have hitherto had control OF
the greater portion of these lands
know nothing of farming. The great
majority of them have devoted their
lives to the raising of live stock and
have not even raised enough garden
truck to supply their tables. They
have in many cases purchased butter
and eggs from the towns and have
used condensed milk on their tables.
They ahve given no more attention to
farming than have the bankers of the
state. They are not to be blamed for
this. Their work has been lighter and
their returns more profitable. But the
day of the free range and the large
grazing areas is rapidly passing. The
arabic lands of the state are becoming
too valuable for grazing purposes. The
stock of the state is yearly assuming
a higher grade. Where it takes twen-
ty acres to sustain a critter now, tire.
BILE the number will be sustained in
the years to come. Forage crops will
be raised and the beef will be sent to
market fit for the block.
The farming fever now upon the
state cannot be stayed and it will not
have run its course till all the val
leys Of Wyoming are teeming with
busy life.
HE SEES THE LIGHT.