New-York tribune., 1910-05-24
LURE Of WESTERN FARMS.
Thousands Answering Call Find
Railroads Ready Helpers.
DEVELO LOPMENT OF WYOMING
Irrigation and Transportation
Causing Abundance of Settlers
to Spring Up.

leShanies. The inhabitant of the Western
States has adjusted himself to these dis
tances He thinks as little of travelling
five hundred miles as others not native to
the largeness here would think of travelling
fifty. Apply this to the moving of crops
and livestock, and the seeker after new
fields win understand why q farm in the
Western Empire IS potentially as near
to profitable markets as if in the congested
East
The very iargeness has about 1t an in
spring quality which makes for breadth of
view, enterprise consciousness of being a
part of the tremendous developing power
that is increasing the wealth of the coun-
try In blocks of thousands Of millions of
dollars.
Railroads need population. Population
needs the railroads. The latter, a great
system, have picked their way through the
most productive sections of the mountain
states. They aided the settlers in choosing.
farms. provided means for exploitation of
the advantages to be derived from settle
ment in their territory and worked hand
In hand with the thousands when they
came at the call OF the land. Now towns
dot the routes, every improvement peculiar
to an old civilization marks their steady
growth and the man from the cultivated
centres of the East finds in remote West
ern sections the same cultivation, refine
ment and enterprise that the general, I'M
travelled person believes is peculiar to the
century-old communities.
Farms Like Gold Mines.
II took long time for the ambitious
young man to realize that a farm may be
a gold mine. In the valleys of the North
and South Platte, In the foothills of Wyo-
ming, in Utah. Idaho. and the Coast states
Of Oregon and Washington are farms
within sight of old mining districts that
owner would envy.
There is none of the hardship, speculative
feverishness, alternate hope and despair
common to mining attached to the working
of farm in the districts opened by the
railroads The soil yields its equivalent of
gold surely as industry and intelligence
are applied in its cultivation. Small acre
age IN the Coast states planted in apples or
other fruits brings an income beyond the
needs of livelihood. Large acreage brings
large wealth. Livestock still makes of
Wyoming an ideal out-of-door state, for
there cattle In great herds roam as Of old,
and bring top-notch prices.
Sheep raising in Wyoming has assumed
an Importance little realized. In 1908 sheep
valued at $3.50, 041 were sent out of the
state. The wool production was sold for
s6,0C4,0s4 And this state, with a popula-
tion of only about 125,0o0, valued it's agri-
cultural products in 1908 at 81, ,CC0,G10. The
value of the livestock in its boundaries in
that year was sSS,o0s.0oo. And in mineral
wealth, the precious metals. coal and oil,
it is the scene of some of the greatest en-
terprises in the country.
Wide Range for Choice Of Land.
The population of Wyoming will give an
idea OF the sparseness of the settlement of
some of the great areas that have been
tapped more and more in recent years by
the railroads It means that farm lands
are still to be had at minimum figures with
a freedom of choice as to situation and eli
mate without let or hindrance There is an
area subject to entry under the United
States land laws of 100000 acres. The
area that can be irrigated is Sc 800 600.
Irrigation has been entered upon with
characteristic Western thoroughness and
enterprise. There have been issued 2033
permits for new bitches which will cover
an area of 1929 acres, and extend 3,628
miles If measured in straight line. The
cost under these permits will be s13, SIS, ,235.
The total cost Of irrigation works completed
and under way is s4s,Ooo0Oo
The foregoing is a specimen of the kind
Of enterprise that is met with throughout
the great region that a little over half
century ago was known as the Great
American Desert. And apart from this
great preparation for productive farming,
there is an industry that promises to rival
the region famous all over the world for
its supply Of fuel-Penfsylvan Wyoming
in 1908 mined 100000 tons of coal. worth
Se.30aOOO. As for oil, $4,000 worth was
taken out in 1908 but this was only q
moiety compared with the possibilities.
Vast Regions of Fertility.
Wyoming is at the crest of the continent.
To the east and southeast lie the great
stretches of Nebraska and Kansas. Irri-
cation is making the semi-arid places bios
som. On the plains where barrenness was
supreme are vast regions Of great fertility
and richness. yielding millions of dollars
in produce and cattle annually To the
south and southwest Colorado and Utah,
having within them potentialities beyond
computation, and to the west Idaho, and
beyond that state the wonderful Coast
country of Oregon and Washington.
There is land still TO be had. plenty of It.
in any one Of these states through which
the railroad winds, but the cry of the land
has caused 10 spring up ten settlers where
there used to be one or none. They are
coming in steady stream, from the Mid
die States, from the South, the Atlantic
Coast district, all heading for the free
dom of the great Far Western empire. The
irrigated lands are selling for more and
more as the tide of settlement increases.
In the old days there were the great emf
grant trains leaving Omaha and Nebraska
CITY In Nebraska, bound for the land of
gold It was the precious metal the set
tiers were seeking. Their prairie schoon-
ers, drawn by from three to eight yoke or
more of oxen, were picturesque. but hard
ship and danger marked every mile of the
tourney. and it was then a venture into
the comparatively unknown Now the
travel is luxurious Time is annihilated by
the great express trains
Information for the Settler.
To-day there is a seeking for gold, for
wealth also TO be found in the ground,
but 1t is the gold of commerce, in exchange
for the products Of the rich soils. In what
ever place the settler may elect to make
a STAY prior 10 the purchase of land he
will find the information ready TO his hand.
II is not the unveriied stuff OF the vender
of false wares. The farmers on the ground
are the witnesses called TO testify. Gov
ernment experts add their word. The state
agricultural bureaus have statistics that