East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-05-29
HON. WILL R. KING URGES
BETTER IRRIGATION CODE

won represents the conversion Of
barren wastes into fruitful fields and
happy homes, unaccompanled by the
evils, distress and misfortunes of for
mer systems Of warfare.
This new method Of warfare, these
peaceful conquests, mean progress.
1t assails the inanimate, not the liv-
ing; attacks the hill and mountain
sides, removes the rocks from It's
pathway, and tunnels the obstructions
which have for ages precluded the
parched soils from quenching their
thirst from the mountain streams BY
these great engineering feats rivers
are checked in their hithertofore ir-
resistable march to the seas, and
through ths immense trails, called
canals, created by these peaceful ar
mics in their steady marches, diverts
the bubbling waters to the once bar
rem wastes, making what had, for
long ages, been deemed the worthless
and unproductlve lands, put forth
with life and under the morning sun
BllSten WIFI Deduly'
Destruction Means Life.
This kind of destruction means
construction; it gives life, not death;
progression, not retrogression; peace,
industry and happiness, not exter-
mnation or distress. 1t signifies that
the future generations Will from
year to year, devote less and less
time to that inhumanity toward man, |
characteristic OF the conquests In the
historical past. and, in lieu of such !
wasted ambitions, devote their surplus
energy to the industrial contests so
essential to the general good of all, |
and the victories thus achieved shall |
take the foremost rank among the |
achievements of the nation, an object |
lesson of which we here have one
worthy of any country or nation.
When, but a half century ago, the |
emigrants passed down and near this |
valley, with their slow trains, moving |
at the rate of from one to two miles
an hour had they been told their !
would live TO see these plains |
covered with waving fields of grass
and grain school houses. churches
and other symbols of civilization. the
sanity Of the prophet would have been
seriously questioned.
And when Lewis and Clarke, with
their little band of explorers were
winding their way through the des-
ert, and along "where rolled the Ore
gon" toward the unexplored coast,
little could have been made to real
lie that within half a century from
that time the soil traversed by them
would become one OF the great states
Of the union. Far less, them would
il have been deemed within the range
Of possibilities that the many deserts
traversel would develop into prosper
Gus, long since formed, states.
Lewis and Clark Little Dreamed.
Again. it is doubtful II any of that
valiant party ever realized, or even
dreamed that their ventures would
be recorded in history as one of the
leading achievements of the century
In which they lived, or that as re-
suit of their efforts they were giving
TO the nation territory destined to
excel that from whence they came.
They "builded wiser than they knew"
4 Applying this example in carrying TO
such works as those here
begun.
The adoption of the reclamation
lct marked new era in our advance
nent: and they, who were instrument
al In its adoption, also "builded wiser
han they knew" Especially can this
be said of those from the humid
states, who gave the cause the bene-
II of the doubt, nsuring the passage
If the law from which these projects
spring.
BY their votes in congress, they 3,
gave to the west an additional vital
ty by which the already prosperous
md growing inland empire received
IN impetus, the beneficial outcome
II which can only be surmised. These
blessings come not alone to the So
'alled arid lands, but in time to all,
or II will be seen that even i'm the re-
;ions blessed with copious rains, ir,
igation during the hot summer
months will double the productive
less of their soil.
Wonderful Development Already.
In former times irrigation was, in
his part of the state, deemed imprac-
icabe. No soil above the valleys
vas thought productive. In the early
cvcntics, when / passed my boyhood
n this county (near Weston) over the
ILLS and prairies only the bunch
,rass, the Indians and their ponies,
he curlew and jack rabbits. could be
cen, where now we find the immense
for which this county has
ong been noted throughout the civ
lied world.
] am reminded of a story told OF
patrick Henry when on an outing in
he Alleghanys. While nearing their
ummit he was noticed to pause and
isten. A friend observing his medi-
ative attitude, inquired the cause.
1 am listening" said the great pat
lot, ito the footsteps of the millions
fho are soon to be the hosts that J