Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1919-02-21

| why, IL was only the RrOSSeSt lRDO'
e rance that gave to the desert the label
! of bad lands. The desert is a con
dition, not fact. Here you see the
! passing of the condition, the burial OF
: the superstition. Are you interested in
! irrigation?'
the degree of interest his profession
involved, for the stranger drew pain
full breath, and went on.
"Of course you are, If you are a
western man. You are, think?p
The engineer said he was, by choice.
Irrigation Is the creed of the West.
Gold brought people to this country I;
water, scientifically applied, will keep
them here. Look at Riverside. And
we are at the primer stage only. We
are way behind the ancients In infor-
nation on that subject. / learned at
school, so did you, that some of the
most glorious civilizations fiourished
In spite of the desert which surround
ed them. That was only half a truth.
They were great because of 1t Why
did the Incas choose the desert when
their strength gave them the choice of
the continent of South America? Why
did the Aztecs settle in the desert
when they might easily have pre-
empted the watered regions? Then
there are the Carthaginians, the Toll
tees. the Moors. And one never for
gets Egypt"
"For protection" Richard gave the
81 oh cd ftafn
milton. 'Was that not what we were
taught at school2 The forest held
foes. animal and human. Those ma
lions grew to their strength and
power in the desert by virtue of it's
isolation"
Superstition % retorted the man
with the tie. "We are babes at the
breast measured by the wisdom of the
men who settled Damascus, or COM
pared with the Toltecs. or those an
Client tribes who settled in northern
India. They recognized the value of
arldity. They knew its threefold |
worth"
IAN inherent value?" demanded the |
college-bred man. turning from the
window.
IAN inherent value" declared the |
exponent of aridity.
"Will you tell me just what you
meanY
mot In one session. Look yonder
That's Brawley. When I came through
here ten years ago 1 could have had
my pick of this land at 25 cents an
acre. They were working at this
scheme then-on paper. 1 was not
alive to the possibilities then; 1 had
not yet lived in Utahl"
The train was slowing up by brand
new yellow-painted station. There
were several dusty automobiles wait
ing by the track, few faded surveys
and the inevitable country hotel bus
The platform was swarming with
alert, vigorous faces, distinctly of the
American type.
The man in the seat beside him
asked Richard If he observed the gem
eral average of intelligence In the 1
faces of the crowd below. Richard ac-
that ne had been struck ]
by that, not only here but ut Imperial |
Junction, where he had waited for the ,
train. I
There Is a club in the valley, lately !
started. a university club which admits (
rs members those who have had at ,
east two years of college training. I
The list numbers three hundred al G
'eady. The first meeting was held last L
week in an empty new store in Impe L
'ial. If 1t had not been for the set 1
ing we might have been at Ann Arbor
IT Palo Alto. The costumes were a S
title motley. but the talk sounded like
lone. O
The dust blowing in through the car \
loors brought on another fit of stran- c
ling. Richard turned again TO the s
window. to the active scene which de- W
lied the presence of desert beyond. o
"The doctors say 1t will have to be o
he desert always for me-" The stran- II
er tapped his chest significantly. b
But 1t is exile no longer-not In an Ii
irrigated country. For the reason of lc
rrIgationi 1t is the progressive man. n
he man with ideas. or the man who Is
filling TO take them. who comes into h
his desert country. II he has not had f,
ducation 1t Is forced upon him. l saw b,
worked out In Utah. I was there to
everal years. Irrigation means CO.
peration. That Is. to me, the chief II
alue of aridIty." cl
The wind, though stlll blowing sy
trough the car and ruflllng the train tn
ust, was carrying less of grit and IN
md. To the nostrlls of Richard and fu
is new acquaintance it brought the tr
leasing suggestion of grassy mead gr
VS., of willow-lined streams and fra IN
rant fields. br
ut Is the accepted idea that this Ill
alley is attracting a superior class ri
men because of its temperance lo'
and. 1t is the other way round. The dc
alley stood for temperance because ar
the sort OF men who had settled err
ere, the men Of the irrigation type"
The engineers ear criticized "irriga- SIT