OCR Text |
Show having obtained a license to practice medicine in Utah because he did not wish to practice, Father always referred people to licensed physicians if they asked him for treatment except in emergencies. But when Mr. Price pleaded with him, since the nearest physician was far away over rough trails, Father gave the girl a brief examination. He was able to reassure Mr. and Mrs. Price that the sudden illness was not dangerous, but was to be associated with pregnancy. The husband was delighted and the wife also, although current illness moderated her pleasure. My parents did not make charges for accomodations for any of the visiting experts or those who accompanied them. This they were happy to do for professional services provided to help advance the so-called experimental work for the welfare of the valley. "So-called," I say, because our Experiment Farm yielded little for the Advancement of Agricultural Science. Prudent dry-farming methods for grain growing had already been established elsewhere under more favorable conditions. For irrigation, we could not do enough to offset the sandblasts that riddled what remnants of crops the "chiselers" of gophers left. Carrying buckets of water or diverting irrigation streams to their holes, we drowned out some rodents. We poisoned a few by dropping arsenic-treated wheat in their burrows. But they multiplied, feeding on our plantings. The well and pumping facilities on the Experiment Farm gave serious problems. We did not have access to good well-drilling equipment in those early days. So we dug a large sump because the first water-bearing layer was only 20 feet down. We imagined we had an inexhaustible "underground lake" at that level. |