White Pine news. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1920-1923, 1922-02-12
By THOMAS II. KING"
Irrigation Engineer of the Neyad
State Farm Bureau.

State Farm bureau.
A man will usually see the most
light in the direction in which his
own little lantern is shining; in other
words, opportunities will be seen
more often and more clearly along
the lines in which a man Is trained
10 work and to observe. l make this
statement not as an apology but as
an explanation for what follows,
which may sound to some OF you as
an overestimated value of engineer
ing in agricultural progress. Ny vo-
cation and avocation are happily con-
current i'll engineering. In the re-
marks which | am about to make do
not wish 10 convey the impression
that l am trying to belittle any of the
present lines of endeavor as followed
by the extension service and the farm
bureau. This work is now pursued
along definite lines, which through
long years OF experience have proved
themselves productive of wonderful
results. | merely want TO lay little
stress upon one phase of this line OF
work which has not received any
great amount of attention to date in
this state.
| will now make a statement which
Is no doubt subject to argument and
at the same time ] will express my
Willingness to argue after school with
any person so desiring-that the
basis of all permanent development
of any community. state or nation is
dependent upon agriculture. wish
TO accent the words permanent de-
velopment' as eontrasted with de
velopment. Our nation is dotted
with cities, towns. factories, etc.
which have had a miraculous growth
only 10 come 10 a standstill or slowly
die and revert To skeletons. when the
mineral. fish. timber or source OF
their being other than agriculture has
become exhausted. We have had in
our own state many towns, some with
many thousands of pepole in them at
one time. which we're built upon the
discovery OF precious metal. Where
are they today2 Our Pacipc coast Is
lined with the sites of once busy
towns supported by fish canneries.
Where are they today? Many of our
states can show you the remains OF
towns once bustling and prosperous
from the sawmills and pulp mills.
California. Texas, Oklahoma and 9TH
er states can show you where mush-
room cities sprang up over night with
the discovery of oil. only to decline
TO where the biggest gushers are now
being pumped a. small profit and
with many OF the wells entirely dry.
IL as a matter OF a short time only
until these town will have a distant
brother in the lone watehman of our
own abandoned mining camps. Look
for a moment at the nature and re-
suits of the marvellous growth OF such
communities as | have Just mention
ed. We have all heard the tales OF
he immense fortunes made over
aight in such places. but did YOU
ever stop 10 consider that for every
purse so filled there are hundred
yes. a thousand flattened by that
slow-going element called Time9
These are the ones who hold the
sack when the peak is past and wake
up only to find that their wealthy
neighbors are gone and the sack Is
empty Can you call to mind sim
gle one Of these towns which have
left the succeeding generations some
thing of permanence and value. such
as schools. colleges. Libraries rail-
roads and concrete highways Those
ihings of permanence. beauty and
value beyond the temporary must
come from agriculture. and that
alone. Since the days of the Com
stock. Nevada has existed largely by
virtue OF succession of mining camp
booms. which the Goddess OF Chance
has fortunately timed so that we have
always had at least half dozen peo-
pie within our generous borders.
These things of passing wealth are
worth the effort and l feel that they
should be promoted. but they do not
build for prosperity, which Nevada
as a state must do.
We have today in this state about
$4,000 people and, thank Providence,
a fair percentage of them are farm
ers. Are We going to wait at 10000
until some boom boosts us to a hun
dred thousand and then inconsi ID
erately drops us back to 5000? |
know the answer from the farmers.
merchants, bankers. professional and
working men will be a loud No.
There Is but one way to get above
that eighty thousand and to stay
above 1t, and that is TO devlop our
agriculture We have to put our
hand to the plow and scratch gravel
with all our might.
Assuming that we are to develop
our agriculture. what is to be the
method to pursue to accomplish this
end? Ii Is an indisputable fact that
we must have water to raise crops
of commercial value. and our state
has not been blessed with sufficient
water direct to the crops to make
farming without irrigation a success.
Nature has decreed that the men of
this state must work for their water
and bring II to the tillable lands by
dams. bitches, reservoirs and other
q - ii ine~ In 1i.s-
guise. for II takes a heman to make q
go OF such things and our state is
filled with more than its quota of
hemen, as the recent international
argument has demonstrated.
| will now call your attention to
tho fact that all the surface waters
sDelivered at the meeting OF the Ne
Vada State Farm Bureau at Reno