The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-03-21
ROSEATE PROSPECT
FOR AGRICULTURE

Inc pOOf man y pIODlcui HdS Dt-
come the rich mans game in Neva-
da, - is the way John G. Martin, pub
licity man for the Southern Pacific
land department, sums up the farm sit
uation in this state, for the Tonopah
Bonanza.
tThe possibilities for farm develop
ment surpasses the richest dreams of
avarice," continued Mr. Martin, "but
it should not be thought that any man
can venture into the arid sections of
this state and Immediately lay the
foundation for a bank account. If he
knows nothing about dry farming or
irrigation by pumping, then he better
remain at home, wherever he is, for he
is bound to make a failure. This has
been demonstrated repeatedly in Hum
boldt and Elko counties. But scientific
soil culture is beginning to be better
understood and the class of settlers
taking up lands is different from what
it was several years ago, when men
and women were obsessed by the idea
that all they had to do was to sow the
seed and harvest a crop few months
later. Nevertheless, strange as it may
appear, this is the system practiced
successfully on the bench lands of the
Promontory country, where shipments
of wheat last year ran into the hun
dreds of carloads. Two years before
the section was a wilderness of barrens
of the most forbidding character. Then
few farmers from Cache county,
Utah, thought they would take a
chance. They plowed and sowed and
then returned to their home ranches.
When they got through with their own
crops the following fall they took n
iaunt over into the Promontory conn
try where they were greeted by fields
of yellow tasseled wheat just begging
the reaper to come along. This was the
beginning and for the last three years
the Promontory district that has been
rendered famous for the development
of zinc, is one of the most reliable
shippers tributary to the Southern Pa
eife
'tBut, to return to the original sub
iect,' continued the speaker, "the dry
farm proposition is attracting men of
capital. men of means and experience,
who are accompanied by soil experts,
water chemists, hydraulic engineers
and civil engineers. who are engaged
for the purpose of securing the best
results. Close to Winnemucca there Is
group OF coionists whose pTogeBitGT
came from Iowa, after disposing of his
home lands for over quarter of a
million dollars. He and members of
his family have under cultivation over
| 600 acres and this year he is develop
| ing one 75-acre tract on strictly dry
| farming principles, in spite of the fact
that he has an eight-inch centrifugal
pump on the land with a flow that
shows no .diminution. He is embarking
in the business of growing alfalfa
seed and expects to clear 800 an acre.
| Remember. this is being done on $12
| land which discounts the best efforts
happy when they net $50 or $40 on
acre from land costing $1,000 to $4,000
an acre. Why, there is no comparison.
"In the next FIVE years Nevada will
score greater gains in farming popula-
tion and production of grains and hays
than any other state in the Union,
continued the Southern Pacific man
with enthusiasm. "What do you think
of farmers paying one dollar an ounce
| for alfalfa seed? They are the kind Of
new men and women coming in to res
cue Nevada from the stigma of being
unfit for farming. These men go
around with their heads filled with
knowledge and their cellars carrying
stock of bacteria for inoculating al
falfa that the roots may gather nitro
gen from the soil. Down at Tobar last
week / met a group of capitalist farm
ers from Minnesota, the advance guard
of a rich colony taking up thirty-fve
sections of railroad land. Do a httlee
| figuring and you will see that this
means the reclamation of $4,000 acres.
They came in special ears following a
costly equipment of drills, tractors,
pumps and engines. They are not theo-
rists or back to the land folk from the
cities, but practical farmers, who have
selected Nevada as the ground floor
state of the Union for wheat raising.
Gone of these men had sold out his
holdings in Minnesota for something
close to 100000 and he is putting the
entire realization into Nevada farm
lands. He has three sons, graduates of
the Minnesota agricultural college, and
all practical men who estimate they
will double their investment in the
next three years. Their coming is not
due to any land boomers, for the colony
has had a corps of experts here for
the past year conducting a most thor
ough investigation into the farm pos
sibilities of this state. At the first
crack out of the box they are breaking
ground for 1900 acres of wheat which
they are confident will yield 80 bushels
To the acre In the extreme eastern end
of the state one huge stock company
is putting in 1000 acres this year un-
der hay and grain for winter feeding
This company built two dams during
the winter that will back the water on
one end of their range for distance
of ten miles These dams have been
constructed at cost of $250,000, and
I venture to say that not one man in
ten thousand ever heard of the project
This is the sort of constructive genius
that is building up the new Nevada
and making rapid strides towards e-s
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