The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-02-21
IN BEHALF or UTAh'S DIXIE

writing you came 20 me wh5s sGtte.' / read tho
HnrIfs InnrkfeJ qg2an1tions o! foodstun9 in last
ttah's Dixie they Secm almost prohlli-
i've for q family whose income is less
than few thousand dollars a year. and
vet Salt Lake Is less than 800 miles from
Jhc heart of thc Dixie country, where
| fruits and Vegetables are so plentiful that
they have practically no market value
If the business men Of salt Lake ap-
preciatcd the value OF railroad connec
iions between thcl city and Dixie, they
might bc lcss indifferent 10 the situation
w" have "a little garden in the mining
camp OF silver Reef, comprising only
| licicnt vegetables could be grown for
family OF sN or eight. Silver keet is
several hundred feet higher than the cu!-
uNdted sections .! ire Dixie country
Our litile garden was fairly wrestcd
irom Inc rocks. The ground is raw,
and yct with the application OF Il little
fertilizer We have Growg cabbage rluli-
flowers brussels sprouts, kalc. peppers.
cucumbcTs. tomatoes, peas. beans, water
| melons, caDteloupe, sweet potatoes. pea
nuts. squash, onions, radIsnes. lettuce,
| tGrnips and strawberries, From our patch
We have had stra wberries carry as
the middle Of April and as late US the
In the irrigated districts where the
soil Is moro fertile much more can be
grown on the same amount of ground,
In fact, things are grown with such ease
that the people have become careless
with their land. as we'll as With thclr
fruit trees. there being no market for
the surplus products. Tho following are
the prevailing prices Of food$tutfs IN the
Dixie settlement:
MIX, cents a quart: eggs. Is to 25
cents dozen. lard, L. cents a pound:
smoked hams, IL 10 10 cents beer, To
l23 cents; lamb. ~ TO 10 cents: fresh
pork, l23 cents; chickens, p TO 30 cents
best varieties of apriccts. = cents;
grapes Malaga and Muscatal. > cents.
wine grapes u cents: best scedless and
! Malaga raisins 10 TO l. cents; almonds,
! 10 cents. figs. = cents, tomatoes. 1 TO .
cents on the ground. Watcrmclous and
canteioupe In season are so plentiful that
| they really have no market value at all
Evidently the business men OF salt
| Lake do not begin To realize what
| treasure their city would have i'll Dixie
| II II were connected with railroad,
and since the Salt Lake line is now look
! Ing for route 10 avoid The Meadow
| Valley wash, IL may be OF some benefit
! write 10 The Tribune because it has.
! from time 10 time, printed more about
! the resources OF the Dixie country than
| all The other Salt AXE uaDcTs combined.
| There mas RECENTLY been much acits-
! ton about the high prices ot food. The
| railroads, as well other business or
sani@atlons: nave gwen as lhe reason Tor
! this condition that too great proper
| ton OF the people or the country are
| Jumped together in the cities ID other
words, they say that the increase in the
productions OF the country has not kept
| pace with the increase of consumption.
| There is at least some truth in this
proposition ana here is an opportunity
Tor the people of Salt Lake TO obtain
some relief
There is not another state in the
| union at any rate not north OF the gulf
states ard southern California. That has
| within It's borders section OF fertile
| land enjoying a scmi-tropical climate
| If such n situation were read about in
fiction il would seem ideal Yet here IT
| = "a rn.tll md thD ~ Salt | lsn
| have paid no more attention TO 1t than
| II il never existed
From souibs that have appeared in
The Tribune, the Salt Lake Route is now
| considering the ddvisability of rebuild
ing its line cast of the Mormon range. in
Nevada | hope this report will prove a
mistake, for il is hard TO conceive OF a
railroad building through an absolutely
barren section and ignore all the local
traffic that would soon accrue from the
Dixie country, In reality Dixie has not
been developed. The settlements are
small. and only such land has been cul-
! tivated as could be brought under canals
Gets are now contemplated that would
bring in the peishborhood Of 200 600 acres
Of the richest land in the country under
cultivation. Think OF what this would
mean TO Salt Lake if Dixie were CON
nectcd with a railroad, Salt Lake would
be the natural outlet for tho Dixie prod
| ucts and IL is a question whether Dixie
or Salt Lake would be the greater
beneficiary. Salt Lake. whether justly or
uujustly. has the reputation Tor higher
living expenses than any other city IN
the west. l know that the restaurant
rates are out OF all proportion with those
Of the coast cities. There can be out
one reason for this-it is too far from
any great center OF production what a
change there would be if the Salt Lake
Route were extended through The Dixie
country and the people OF this section
True, you could not hope TO purchase
Dixic's products at the prices have
quoted. II would greatly decrease your
present prices, however, and by the time
all the new land that is to be reclaimed
would commence to produce. the living
expenses in Salt Lake. instead OF being
any any OF its Competitors Under present
conditions and with the prices OF food
stufts constantly on rise. salt Lake
must soon reach the limit OF her growth
But the benefits that would accrue tc
Salt Lake would not end with the re-
duction of the prices of foodstuifs: Il
is not too much TO estimate that with 2
railroad the population Of Dixie would
increase by 1000 900 Think of what tina
would mean to the jobbers Of Salt Lake
Think. indeed what it would mean to the
railroad itself. for as IL would carry the
products OF Dixie north. the cars in tho
opposite direction would be loaded will
the things that the people Of this section
would hive TO import Then there would
be the immense passenger traffic, for il
| would no longer be necessary for mar
TO be a millionaire TO be able to sepo
his family to "A mild climate for n few
weeks during the ipclcment weather ir
the more northern latitudcs.
Much has been said about the traffic
in ore the Salt Lake Route would get
by going by way Of the Phoebe country
! know nothing about the mineral out
put of that section. but il is too much
10 assume that IL would exceed that OF
Dixie TO any great extent Dixie has sew
! eral properties that have been great pro-
ducers in the past but il has been inn
possible to touch the lowers grades OF
ore on account OF the difficulty OF trans
portation. In addition to the mines al
Silver Reef. Shem and the gerat iron de-
posits there is an ineXhaustible deposit
OF coal. TO say nothing OF the probabili-
ties that Dixie would become great oil
| producing country.