Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1919-02-14

rails which connected and separated
him from the world outside. He was
"going in." Not in Mexico even had
he such feeling of ultimate remote
ness. The mountains, converging per-
spectively toward the throat of the
valley, looked elusive and unreal in
their gauze draperies of rose and vio-
let. The tender hour of day was cloth
ing them with mystery, softening their
sharp outlines. They curtained the
world beyond. Rickard felt the sus-
pense of the next act.
1t was a torpid Imagination, he
thought, which would not quicken over
this conquest of the desert. East of
the tract men and teams were prepar-
ing the newly furrowed ground for the
seed. The curved land knives were
breaking up the rich mold into ridges
of soft soil as uncohesive and feathery
as pufveriZed chocolate. 1t was the
4 dark color of the chocolate of COM
merce, this silt which had been pill
fered from the states through which
the vagrant river wandered. The smell
of the upturned earth, sweetly damp,
struck against his nostrils. Rickard
INDUCED a minute of whimsical fancy;
this was California territory over
which his train was passing, but the
soil, that dark earth those blades were
crumbling, was it not the tribute of
other states, of despoiling Wyoming,
of ravishing Colorado and Arizona?
To the west new squares were being
leveled and outlined. Shrubby rec
tangles were being cleared of their Gre
osote bush and tough mesquite. Com
pared with other countries, the prepa-
ration for planting was the simplest.
Horses were dragging over the ground
railroad rail bent into a V angle,
which pulled the bushes by the roots
and dragged them out of the way. Be
yond, farther west, could be seen the
untouched desert. The surface for
many miles was cracked by water
lines, broken and baked into irregular
sand cakes; the mark Ct sand which
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
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"
"YesT'
"Why is it good, you mean? That
pile of dark rock stands as monu-
ment to an effete superstition. 1t is
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 fact. Here you see the
passing of the condition, the burial of
the superstition. Are you interested in
irrigationT
Rickard was not given to explain
the degree of interest his profession
involved, for the stranger drew a pain
full breath, and went on.
"Of course you are, if you are a
western man. YOu are, think?'
The engineer said he was, by choice
Irrigation is the creed of the West
Gold brought people to this country
water, scientifically applied, will keeE
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. l learned al
school, SO did you. that some of the
most glorious civilizations flourisheC
in spite of the desert which surround
ed them. That was only half truth
They were great because of It'll Why
did the lncaS choose the desert wheI
their strength gave them the choice o1
the continent of South America? VIII
did the Aztecs settle in the deser
when they might easily have pre-
empted the watered regions? TheI
there are the Carthaginians, the Tol
tees, the Moors. And one never for
gets Egypt"
"For protection" Rickard gave tn
sighted question an interested recog
milton. WAS that not what we wer
taught at school? The forest hel,
foes, animal and human. Those ma
tions grew to their strength an,
power in the desert by virtue of it
isolation"
Superstition retorted the ma
with the tie. "We are babes at tn
breast measured by the wisdom of tn
\ men who settled Damascus, or con
pared with the Toltecs, or those ar
cient tribes who settled in norther
India. They recognized the value @
aridity. They knew it's threefol
WORTH"
"An inherent value?" demanded til
4 college-bred man, turning from tn
window.
"An inherent value" declared I'll
q exponent of aridity.
X 'WiIl you tell me just what 20
meanT
"NOt in one session! Look yonde
THAT'S Brawley. When / came throu2
here ten years ago could have ha
my pick of this land at 25 cents 9
acre. They were working at tn
scheme then-on paper. 1 was n,
:. alive to the possibilities then; he
:. not yet lived in Utah"
- The train was slowing up by braI
~ new yellow-painted station. The
~ were several dusty automobiles wal
b. ing by the track, few faded sure,
and the inevitable country hotel bU
The platform was swarming wi
alert, vigorous faces, distinctly of t
= American type.
:. The man in the seat beside hi
- asked Richard if he observed the ge
, eral average of intelligence in t
faces of the crowd below. Rickard 6
knowledged that he had been stru
by that, not only here but at Imperi
~ Junction, where he had waited for
iol train.
ns "There is q club in the valley, late