The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-02
MORMONS LEAD
 IN IRRIGATION

From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat
 Mormon agriculturists are given credit for being the pioneers in irriga- tion work. Irrigation had been prac- ticed in feeble way for centuries, pos sibly, by certain tribes of southwest ern Indians, and that some of the gar dens and fields surrounding the Span ish missions of the same region were watered artifically. But the missions were abandoned and falling into decay when the Anglo-SaXon appeared upon the scene and the example of the In dians had little or no influence. It was the Mormons who led the way, and they gave the first practical illus tration. outside of Utah, of the wonder land where irrigation has since reach ed the highest stage of perfection and achieved its most remarkable victories I-southern California.
 In the days of the missions, and until the coming of the Americans, southern California was pastoral rather than an agricultural country. There were some great haciendas, but they were devoted to cattle and sheep raising. "The land was a desert of sagebrush and cactus, in which few scattered mission gardens made charming oases," says William E. Smythe, the historian of arid America. Along moist river
 
 and gardens though not of the high est type. On the uplands light crops of wheat and barley were occasionally harvested if spring rains happened to | be fairly generous. But 1t was, ap- parently country which offered noth- l ing to the stranger save climate ana scenery" Even the mission gardens | to which Mr. Smythe refers had been | abandoned 10 years before the country was ceded to the United States. "To | this barren place" he says again, came irrigation and the Anglo-SaXon, | bringing a new era in their train. | And in the vanguard of the invasion | came the Mormons Less than four years after the Mormons had left Florence, | Neb., for the settlement of Salt Lake City Brigham Young conceived the idea of esta blishing a colony near the shores of | the Pacific which could serve as a rest ing place for the converts coming to | Utah by way of Panama or Cape Horn. From conception to action was brlef pe>>-d, and early in 1851 a strong party, | led by two of the highest officials Of | the church, set out from Salt Yake City | bound for a valley which Brigham Young | told them he had seen in vision, and
 which they would identify by great
 bare spot, shaped like an Indian arrow | head upon the side of lofty mountain | overlooking the valley
 | Across nearly 1000 miles of desert they 1 journeyed to the southwest, breaking a | trail through an unknown and most in- hospitable country and 1t was four weary and eventful months after their deps rture before they found their way
 thrcugh the Cajon pass of the Sierra Madres and saw before them the beauti- | full valley of San Vernardino and the arrowhead which is it's chief landmark.
 In this valley they established their col | ony, the first organized colony of Anglo | Saxon settlers in southern California, and put into immediate operation the agri- cultural methods which had already
 proven so successful in their Zion. They | founded the city of San Bernardino and
 around it put under cultivation many
 acres of fertile land watering it from
 the adjacent mountain streams. This was | the beginning of modern irrigation in | California, and from the heights over looking their settlement one may see to- 1 day it's fullest fruition in the golden orange groves which surround the rich | and lovely cities of Riverside and Red | lands.
 The Mormon occupation of the valley | was brought to an abrupt termlnatlor l by the recall of the colonists seven years later at the time of the so-called MOT | mon war, but they were there long
 enough to show the possibilities of irri' i gation, and the lesson was not lost. 1T | fact everywhere they went they proved the efficacy of their agricultural meth ods: everywhere they went they HisNi' | the desert to bloom.
 Thus the followers of a prescriped sec unconsciously laid firm the foundations o | western prosperity. ~