New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-31
THE DESERT THAT BLOOMS
Wonderful Fertility of LandOnCe
Thought To Be Arid.
UTAH'S GREAT PRIZE CROPS
Aid from Railroads and Govern
ment and Community of In
terest Help the Settler.

Salt Lake City, May so-There was
a time when this place was supposed to
spell Mormon and nothing else From
the first great trek to this state. then a
wilderness SO far as men knew, to the pres
ent there has been a development little
short of marvellous. Utah, bisected by the
great Wasatch Mountain range. seems on
the maps to be state of great elevations
with little land that could be cultivated
That is far from the truth. for the noun
famous condition enhances the productive
ness of this vast area which is as large
as the New England States, New Jersey
and Delaware
With all it's great area Utah is only a
small portion of what people used to
| look upon as the Great American Desert
To the west. are Nevada and California
to the north Idaho and Wyoming. to the
east Colorado and to the south Nevada.
each almost an empire in itself and each
as rich as the riches. country in the world
in agricultural, stock and mineral products.
Americans marvel that there should be
emigration to British America, and well
they may when they remember that there
is enough fertile land. traversed by finely
| equipped railroads. to enrich many millions
| of people in this vast country once looked
| upon as semi-arid
| Utah last year produced from its mines.
farms and manufactures marketable mate
rails valued at over s132, 600 COO The mines
| furnished of this s27. SCI 900. the farms in
produce SIS. $4,000 in cattle $50, $4,000 and
| in bi-products s5.750,000 and the factories
100000 That does not look very much
as if the state was a wilderness The re-
ports from the national Agricultural De-
partment give the farms a productiveness
an as great in some crops and greater
in others than any state in the Union
Prize Crop Yields.
| The story of this one-upon-a-tme Nor
mon state so far as its soil is concerned
and it's natural inducements to the set.
tiers, is the same as that of the other
great commemorative from the Missouri
River westward to the Pacific Growth
growth, and still more growth, with gov
eminent aid In the establishment of irriga-
ton plants to help out in the semi-rain-
less regions. Over twenty years ago
farmer near this city agricultural
prize for the largest yield Of wheat to the
acre.
! 1t might have been supposed that one Of
| the middle Western states would have. eX-
celled easily in wheat production. But none
could beat the yield of eighty-four bushels
and ten pounds to the acre. Another
| farmer recently raised an average of nine
ty-six bushels of oats to an acre on
twenty-acre tract. The yield in was
as remarkable on another farm, being sixty
bushels. The vegetables right along show
as prolific in production as do the cereals.
! In the midst of the mountains are towns
and cities that have every advantage of
the Far Eastern community. Along the
railroads in the plains sections the same
conditions prevail in the stations that have
sprung up as shipping centres The COM
munity spirit is of the best, and is strik-
ingly seen in the cooperation of the farm
ers in all the pursuits incident to their bust
| ness operations. The telephone, telegraph
and railroad communications-roads tapping
| every agricultural district-are as well con-
Quoted as in any state And there is plen-
tv of fine fertile land to be had in the most
desirable sections.
From Utah to Idaho. further west to Ore
gon and Washington, the fruits are run
1 ming close to the cereals and vegetables
| I'M value and exceed them in many in
stances so far as profits are concerned. In
| the Pacific Coast country the conditions
for fruit culture are ideal. The national
government is giving liberal aid in irriga-
ton works and the state governments are
helping The railroads are reaching out
wherever there is a call for transporta ton
facilities and in addition they have taken
the position of helper and guardian to the
settler
Increasing Railroad Facilities.
In the East it may be looked upon
| rather odd that the railroads should bother
| to extend their spurs into regions that look
on the maps as If they were notable only
| for barrenness and remoteness from all
! markets The men who are responsible for
railroad dividends must be farseeing and
acquainted with the climatic and soil con
ditions of every square mile of land within
their zone of operation. 1t may be taken
for granted at once that settlers will not
be piloted to reproductive regions when
they come to this particular Western coun-
try. Their prosperity is as much the in
| terest of the railroads and the older set
| tiers as is their own welfare.
Men who have come to the West to es-
tablish new homes have remarked upon a
condition with which they were totally I'M
familiar In almost every instance they
have come from the settled states. from the
| farms or cities. One man more or less
there never mattered The welfare of one
person concerned his neighbor not at all
in business sense. The difference here,
| throughout the rural districts especially Is
marked If there is any rivalry 1t is TO
| excel in the quality and quantity of pro-
duction The kindly community feeling is
never absent, however.
| IT is not that the natural friendliness of
the American for the American is neces-
ssrily more marked in the Western coun-
try than elsewhere, but the SparSeneSs of
population, the unity of interest, the knowl-
edge that a hanging together in all things
means an advantage impossible in any
other way brings cooperation. nearness of
relationship which may be said to be
! impossible condition where the population
| is dense and more diverse in interests. The
national and state governments. and rail
roads add to the general singleness of in
/ terest by their policy of helpfuness.
| The productiveneSs of the farms in Idaho
and Utah makes the cultivation of small
| acreage most profitable While intensive
| farming in it's scientific sense may be said
| to be confined 10 the market gardens near
| the large cities, there is tendency to
adopt the same principle in the rural dis
tricts of the newly developed Western re-
gions, no matter how large the acreage.
The intelligent new settler aims to raise
! on his farm at least one wealth producing
crop He gives of his best to il: then he
deyotes whatever time and ENERGY remain
| to raising stock. poultry and produce for
his own needs and also for the market.
II is OF course, fact that all farmers