The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1919-02-06

has been imprisoned by water and
branded by swift heat.
Close by men were putting in with
care the seed that was to quicken the
river silt. They were passing a square
where the green tips of the grain
were piercing the ground. Now they
were abreast of field of matured al
falfa over which the wind raced CRATE
fully. Desert and grain field; death
and life! The panorama embraced the
whole cycle.
They went back to their seats. After
a few minutes the other leaned over
his shoulder, his hand waving toward
the passing mountains. "Those are the
Superstition mountains you can see
over yonder. An unusually apt name"
"YeS?"
"Why is it good, you mean? That
pile of dark rock stands as q monu'
ment to an effete superstition. 1t is
the gravestone for gigantic mistake,
Why, it was only the grOsSeSt igno.
rance that gave to the desert the label
of bad lands The desert is a con-
dition, not a fact. Here you see the
passing of the condition, the burial OF
the superstition. Are you interested In
irrigation?'
Rickard was not given to explain
the degree of interest his profession
involved, for the stranger drew a pain
full treath, and went on.
"Of course you are, If you are
western man. You are, think?"
The engineer said he was, by choice
Irrigation is the creed of the West
Golf brought people to this country
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 al
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 truth
SThey were great because Of it! 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 TOl.
tees, the Moors. And one never for.
gets Egypt"
"For protection" Rickard gave the
sighted question an interested recog'
milton. "Was that not what we were
taught at school? The forest held
foes, animal and human. Those ma.
tionS grew to their strength anC
power IN the desert by virtue of its
isolation"
Superstition retorted the mar
with the tie. 1--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
cient tribes who settled in northern
india. They recognized the value Of
aridity. They knew its threefold
worth"
"An inherent value" demanded the
college-bred man, turning from the
window.
"An inherent value" declared the
exponent of aridity.
"Will you tell me just what you
mean"
"Not in one session! Look yonder.
That's Brawley. When came through
here ten years ago I could have had
my pick of this land at % cents an
acre. They were working at this
scheme then-on paper. l was not
alive to the possibilities then; I had
not yet lived in Utah"
The train was slowing up by brand
new yellow-painted station. There
were several dusty automobiles wait
ing by the track, q 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 Rickard If he observed the gen.
eral average Of intelligence in the
faces of the crowd below. Rickard ac-
knowledged that he had been struck
by that, not only here but at Imperial
Junction, where he had waited for the
train.
"There Is club in the valley, lately
started, university club which admits
as members those who have had at
least two years Of college training.
The list numbers three hundred al
ready. The first meeting was held last
week in an empty new store in Impe-
rial. If it had not been for the set
ting we might have been at Ann Arbor
or Palo Alto. The costumes were a
little motley, but the talk sounded like
home.
The dust blowing in through the car
doors brought on another fit of stran-
Cling. Rickard turned again to the
window, to the active scene which de-
MED the presence Of desert beyond.