Arizona republican., 1915-05-30

Seeing ourselves as others see us is
very nice, says the Salt River Valley
especially when these others are Wal
ter V. Woehlke's two eyes"
q. NJ. Lorimer. editor of the Satur-
day Evening Post, says that Mr..
Woehlke is the pest development writer
in the country: c. X. Field, editor of
the Sunset. says his Salt River Valley
story "The Land of the Painted Hills"
is one of the best things Mr.. Woehlke
has ever done.
Then the best work OF the best man
is The feature of the Arizona Number
of Sunset. just issued. Mr.. Woehlke's
article in this. the June issue is Illus
trated with photos a plenty, but the
brightest pictures in the whole book
are word pictures made the Woehlke-
Way
The man says to begin with, that
hereabouts farming and gambling used
to he twin brothers. before the dam was
built. 1t was this way. Earnest Hall
and John Meek had faith and five hun
dred: they were going to buy a quarter
section dry bitches and all
The day before the deal was to be
closed. Meek scratched his head.
Say, Ernie" he remarked dubious
ly. I'VE won't have a bean to run the
ranch with when we fork over five
hundred. Better let me have the
dough. I've got bunch that blacks
going to turn up
Meek took the money, drove over to
Phoenix. marched to his favorite rou-
lette table and put five dollars on the
block Red won. Meek put ten dol
lars on the black. Red Won again.
Meek doubled the stake. again on
black Red won again. Meek piled
five double eagles on the black. Red
won again. Meek scowled, played two
hundred dollars on the black Red
won Meek tried a fifty dollar bet on
the black Red won again. Setting his
pile on black. Red won.
AT the next turn of the wheel the
little BALI dropped into u black COM
partment-
The deal was not closed"
Mr.. Woehlke then goes on to tell how
Earnest Hall got there anyhow. spite
of bum start. And when he has fin
ished with that subject he turns the
spot light on the dam.
And Roosevelt Dam has spilled
over.
Reservoirs are built for the sole
purpose of filling up and running over
Everybody knows this fact. Why. then
did the people of the Salt River valley
in Arizona beat the tomtom, get out
The brass band, light the bonfires and
| wear an ear-to-ear grin when this very
simple phenomenon occurred in the
| middle of April why has the mere
| filling up of a reservoir any influence
upon the future prospects of first
class farmer like Hall?"
The answer to this Why" is the
| whole story of the valleys troubles be
| fore the dam was built. with enough on
| resources to show why the people stay
J ed here anyhow when nearly every
| thing they planted had dried up and
floated away in the wind. No more
| drouth though. says the story.
The filling Of the reservoir not only
| assured the fat valley of an abundant
| water supply for this summer and next.
1t meant more. Based upon the meas
| urements of the watersheds run off
| over a period of nearly three decades.
| the water now stored behind the great
| dam Is sufficient to make up any
shortage in the rivers flow during the
longest known period of deficient pre-
| cipitation.
'ffl tIlt lN.VUU dtItS 81 the eodll TN o.
| er project the ghost of the water short
age has been definitely laid.
| Follow the water from the reservoir
| down the picturesque canyon to the
| level valley to see its work Follow
! the nighttime canal along the slope Of
the painted hills. Above the canal the
| giant cactus rises out Of the sparse
| clumps Of mesquite scattered over the
naked soil. Below the canal deep green
| pomegranat hedges mark the end of
! the orchards. fat cattle wade belly
| deep through the alfalfa, ash, palm and
| cottonwood swing in long rows down
| the shady roads and bright roofs glist-
| en- among the trees.
| The grounds of one country club
| there are three or four of them in the
| valley--face the nighttime canal The
| buildings the automobiles. the young
| people on the tennis court. the heavy
| scented orange groves in full bloom
! might have been transplanted bodily
| from Pasadena or Riverside. A foot
| bridge leads across the canal to the
| golf links on the high unwatered
| ground Three giant cacti fifteen feet
| tail stand guard over the putting green
ana an ancient joshua tree in the mes
! quite of the unregenerated slope marks
the far end of the course
It's a far cry from roulette and faro,
| from Geronimo, cattle rustlers and
| pistol bullets to strictly non -intoxicant
| country clubs and golf balls. but the
| Transformation has taken place, and
water. ample quantities of plain water,
| brought it about"
Going ahead from the good that is
to the best that may be, Mr. Woehlke
| dreams of a utopia, in whic hthe bills
are all paid by the revenue from the
| farmers power plants. There'll be
money enough, says he to establish
| canneries condensories. cold storage
| warehouses, cheese factories. creamer-
les and what not all this to come out
| Of a little rubbing of the Aladdin 5
! lamp generators in the electric power
plants.
And that isn't all. To quote again:
| advance another step. Collective
| buying of supplies makes for economy
in production. but collective buying re-
quires capital The Salt River valley
| farmers have it. once their debts to