The daily sentinel., 1909-05-19

This is an effort to sketch out the
more notable problems of the western
slope, as they appear to a sincere
friend and profound admirer who oc-
casionally goes to and fro in the land.
] make no claim to infallibility or to
expert knowledge; but merely write
down without prejudice what l see.
First let me mention two big prob
lens which the western slope has
come nearer solving than any other
section of the state: the problems of
water and frost.
The wildcat irrigation speculator
is not much in evidence on the west
ern slope. He does a little of his
dirty work there, but mainly in re-
tail way. slyly and under cover.
OF the frost il is needless to speak
at length The first agricultural re-
gion in the world to fight and win
general battle against the enemy of
cold was the Grand valley. What re
mains is to perfect the already splen-
did organization there. standardize
the methods of orchard heating and
provide a surplus of oil ready for an
emergency w r. Haines. one of
the pioneers in orchard heating, is
working out plan for the various
commercial bodies of the Grand val
ley to store 100, 900 gallons of oil for
frost would take the valley by sur
prise 1t would seem a logical and
necessary move in the warfare
against frost.
And now ! will try to set forth
some of the problems which the west
ern slope still faces; faces hopefully,
and with a full confidence N its abil-
ity to find the right answer in good
time.
The problem of freight rates is one
of the first things you hear of on the
western slope. just as is the case here.
But il can be narrowed considerably. |
The western slope has some just |
complaint to make of high freight |
rates INTO that region; but no COM
plant TO make on the rates OUT |
When apples can be shipped from |
Montrose or Grand Junction to Den |
yer for 20 cents per hundred pounds, |
as now. the thing for the orchardist |
10 do is not to curse the robber rail- |
roads, but to thank his lucky stars
for the railroad efficiency which |
makes such a low rate possible. On
most of the other produce of the |
slope, the rates out are correspond |
ingly low cannot pretend to have |
examined all the schedules
But. when 1t comes to shipping
things into the western slope, that is
1nOtner story. FOl example. II
costs $40 to ship car of household
goods from the Missouri river to Salt
Lake City, right through Grand
Junction. But If that car of house
hold goods stops off in Grand June
tion, the railroads send you a bill
for $3.50.
In other words, 1t costs about twice
as much per ton per mile to ship this
sort of goods from the Missouri riy
10 oil, 4 tl,.,,
straight through Grand Junction over
the same rails to farther point,
If there is any vestige of sense or
reason in that arrangement l should
uncommonly like to have II pointed
out. The effect of it is simply to
penalize emigration to Grand June
ton and the Grand valley generally.
and to reward emigration to Salt
Lake. 1t Is very strange il even our
feeble railroad commission cannot
find way to convince railroad man
ayers of the unwisdom of such pro-
ceedings.
They tell me that some of my good
Western friends are angry over my
criticism of Mesa county roads. l
am sorry for the anger. but the crit
icism stands. AT the present time
che western slope has abominable
roads. They may be no worse than
the roads in some older commune
ties: in fact, they are not SO bad,
But, please remember that the i'm
portance of good roads increases with
the density and activity of the agri-
cultural population.
In the Grand valley today ten or
fifteen acres make a very fair sized
farm. The owners of these tracts
are constantly in motion and are
handling the highest priced of all
agricultural products. It ought to be
plain that the road which will dc
very well in land of 600-acre farms
where the farmers go to town once
a month and drive in the produce
on the hoof, is an abomination in a
country like the Grand valley.
All over the United States, with a
Few smaller districts excepted. the
people pay higher tolls TO the mud
holes than they do to the railroads
The Grand valley is no exception
Its mudholes are not so. bad as those
of hundred places | could name;
but its population is more closely
knit. and the roads are much more
vital factor in its life. In the matter
of roads, the sin of Mesa county is nc
more heinous than that of Podunk-
hut it's a deal more Improbable. In
many parts of the western slope the
materials for making good roads are
ready to hand. l shall not soon for
get how Mr.. Sanborn walked the
splendid horse along road so rutty
as TO prohibit trot; when not a
hundred feet away was all the fine
gravel one could ask.
I believe the problem of pulling
together has been helped toward so
luton by the splendid fight against
frost couple of weeks ago. the
towns OF the western slope are Pc