The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-12-29
~ he Big Urge
BY MRS. BYRD TREGO

| Ting ltB course through IL all 0nC
the other streams flowing out into
the great plains until exhausted. Their
again did nature put on it's great
mellowing program and in the op
erations that followed bequeather t.
us the great valley Of the Snake
In effect 1t said to man, Here Il
something ] have for you to develop. =
There is q way to reach this rich
deposit treasure of earth with water
and make It blossom as It never did
! before; to make 1t useful to the
home-loving human family where
only the animal kingdom occupied
1t before.
Truly, "Our feet are set in large
room" up here In the Snake river
valley and reclamation Is the big
urge that Is prompting ell this agi-
tation, this surveying and invostiga-
ton and speculation to know just
how and where we can get the neces.
sary water to create homes for the
thousands that need them, But we
are not contemplating the destruc-
ton Of our Yellowstone park won
ders. .
Some<20 years ago New York City
found that In the course Of progress
she was obliged to have a much
greater water supply, with the result
that surveys were conducted for
years, covering all available water
sheds in the New England states and
New York, but only the most favor
able one was appropriated, and by
the way, an area covering nine towns
and villages with thickly populated
surrounding country was demolished
for this big enterprise demanded by
progress. And the water in the res
ervoir lowers and leaves a muddy
rim sometimes, that the people see
as they drive over the beautiful
boulevard that skirts the waters.
Hough pictures wildly the necessity
Of small herd of elk going to other
feeding grounds; but what about the
uprooting Of ancestral homes that
had been handed down from one gen.
Grafton to another for two centuries
and over, to create place to store
water for the Ashokan reservoir?
l could continue long with this,
for the ancestral homes of my child
hood are only q memory, but pro-
gress demanded the sacrifice and now
for the same reasons results from
this big urge in reclamation are
demanded and conclusions will come
at the cost of some sacrifice. For
one thing the waters of the Snake
that are through most of the year
flowing so beautifully by to waste
into the waves of the ocean, will
have to be held back, and that, will
be accomplished through the sacrifice
of bottom lands that are the winter
feeding grounds of our Indians.
For this destruction l shall be
grieved, for the cause of our In
dams is dear to me, but progress
demands it. Progress always comes
at cost of sacrifice and energy.
The cultured society of Boston is
the result of generations of immi-
grant life following those Of the
Mayflower who came for religious
liberty and whose physical reason for
present occupation is manufacture.
The rich Knickerbocker 400 set of
New York is made up of layer on
layer of Holland Dutch and other
who came there for fin
ancial gain and whose physical reason
for continuing is commerce by land
and water. Is
The boosted aristocracy of Virginia
is only few generations removed
from immigrants composed of two
distinct classes of England who came
because they were compelled to, re-
NAMED because they liked itSand are
now there because of tobacco, corn
and agriculture.
The beautiful Creole ancestry i'm
to the southland in spirit
of adventure, was suited for and with
the mild climate and is still there
for the physical reason that cotton
and sugar cane grow abundantly.
The immigrant forty-niners who
focked to California for gold, were
adventurous men from all the states
Of the East, who found their treas
ure in abundance and whose physi-
cal reason for remaining was eli
mate.
All these different units of civili-
zation are meeting their destinies,
are melted with others into a big
silent co-partnership that forms our
union of states.
The population of our big valley
Is composed of slices of immigrant
life from other states, notably the
Middle West, who came for trap
ping, mineral, freighting and stock
raising. Their physical reason for
being here now is largely the hope
Of retaining the vast deserts. We
have perhaps better foundation for
advanced citizenship than other dis
tinctive localities mentioned, but If
we would fulfill our obligations of |
destiny, we must follow and en-
courage the big urge Of reclamation
until every available forty is dot
ted with comfortable home. We
;annot afford to experiment further |
In dry farming until greater as
,urance is proven by scientific expert !
ment conducted by the government,
Tor already too much Of our graz
ing lands have been cleared and
planted to no purpose, not to men
ion the waste of energy by men and |
women who have stayed on, year
lfter year, until finally necessity COM
)elled them to leave. until now
arge tract is dotted with deserted
ZONES amid q sea Of weeds.