Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-06-14

of time, the sacrifice Of self and
pleasure, the encouragement, and the
! companionship that you have always
| SO freely granted us. You have lead
! us in all our activities and to you
and your inspiration we owe the es-
| Establishment Of the right ideals. May
| we ever be true to you and to them!
Farewell.
"Students of Oak Grove whom we
are leaving: With you we have en-
joyed the happiest of days; with
you we have worked and played in
loyal support of our school. To you
Oak Grove. knowing that they will
be ever safe and more beautiful
| while you continue the spirit we
| have tried to uphold. Farewell.
Dear classmates: After our happy
days together in the work and hap
| piness of our dear school, we are
leaving for different fields of work
and we may never meet together
again. The, time of parting is sad
because we have been the truest Of
friends. Yet let US be forever to-
gether in the spirit of Oak Grove,
| never ceasing to carry into each
I days work the noble ideals of our
| beloved Alma Mater"
Salutatory
Frank Kriegcr Of Argentina, South
America, class salutatorian, gave the
! following address, Reclamation" in
! part:
| The desert always has possessed a
lure for many and diverse human be-
| iEgS. There is Somcthi~~ in the vast
distances. in the pure and invigorat-
ing air, the dry and pellucid atmos-
phere. the ever blue sky. the stimu-
lating sunshine. the ineffable nights,
| the Incompatible stars, the glorious
! freedom, that appeals irrcsistibly to
certain types. To others it becomes
rs a place of despair, bringing up
pictures of the privations of early
day pioneers. of trappers. hunters,
gold seekers, the worlds restless row
crs who, long before the days of rail-
way trains, automobiles, aeroplanes,
tc!egraphs or telephones, started forth
to explore the wild and desOlate
! places of the earth. Wells, springs
and waterpock6ts were known only to
| the natives of those quiet eXpanSeS,
and save during the rainy season. the
! hardy explorers often suffered thirst.
and at times lost their lives for want
/ of the precious fluid, whose very eX-
| istencc the desert seemed to deny.
| Many Il sinister mound, unmarked by
| any stone, denotes the toll the desert
was wont to exact from those who
dared and defied it, yet ultimately be-
came its victims.
| To others again, the desert acts as
n mental stimulus, Il defiant chal-
| lcnGc, an incentive to conquer the
| virgin soil and space. to tame its
Eildness. to make it bring forth any
7 Ia 1N,,t 7 6, Il
Growths it has made it's own And
some men have been found daring
enough to accept the challenge. They
have made trails. constructed roads,
/ built railways over the waste areas.
bored for wells and conveyed streams
| across mountain ranges and foothills
to irrigatc the virgin soil and make it
! Weld to the yoke of man. But they
| have been feW,-the rare. unusual
ones. Now however. modern science
F, and mechanics have come to the aid
of man and the desert is rapidly sue
| cumbinG to the new conditions
Science and mechanical skill are
/ stripping all mystery, all horror, all
| dread from the face of the sphinx of
the past.
'In popular use in the United
states reclamation has come to be
almost synonymous with irrigation.
: This is largely because the work of
the national government in conncc-
ton with reclamation has been al
most wholly i'll the way of irrigatinS
the public or arid lands of the West
Incidental to such irrigation there
has been carried on q large amount of
drainage of the lands which at Ger
tain seasons of the year become over
flowed or too wet for cultivation, or
| through excessive use of irrigation
have become waterlogced or alkalied.
/ The lands which have been reclaimed
| by use of Federal funds were in their
natural state. waste and useless, be-
ing barren or partly coVe"oi with
So altered, thOrny and leafless shrubs
When water is applied to this appar-
entity sterile land. vegetation quickly
springs up, and under careful Guilt
walton the largest and best crops
adapted to the climate may be had
The making of farms and homes by
means of irrigation has been practic-
ed within the limits of the United
states from pre- historic times. In
mains of the systems built by the
ahorigincs before the coming of the
Spanlards. The efforts of European
or white settlers began notably with
the attempts of the Mormon cmi-
grants to make a home on the desert
lands of Utah when they gave up
their attempt TO reach California. In
dlviduals as well as companies of
settlers in the dry val'ovS of the West
quickly adopted or copied the system
OF irrigation of the Indian and MeXi-
can inhabitants of the Southwest and
improved upon these in their numer-
Gus settlements which extended far
to the North. The easily available
opportunities for reclamation by irri-
cation were quickly exhausted. how
ever, and in about 1900. those who
were acquainted with the conditions,
realized that any further considerable
development ~---'1 he made only with
the old of the Federal Government. as
the United States was and still is the
owner OF vast tracts OF arid land. Ac-
cordin"ly. largc'-- through the per-
sonal effort and incentive Of President
Roosevelt. Congress considered the
matter during the winter Of 1901
1902, end finally passed the Reclama-
ton Act signed by President Roose-
Welt on June 18th. 1902 The money
for this purpose was secured - set
ting aside the proceeds from the dis
posal of public lands. and it is to be
noted. that at no time has Congress
"lroctly appropriated n dollar for ir-
rigation.
Since then. the Government,
TIN ough the Reclamation Service las
been demonstrating the success from
the public standpoint of ,-.,-~',-~ king
works of this kind which are in one
sense beyond the means of private
capital Works of great MAGNITUDE
have been built, some of them necess-
arily monumental in character. In
| order to conserve the rainfall for the