OCR Text |
Show suitable for cultivation is, however, compensated by the prodigious productiveness of the soil, which, together with the climate, is peculiarly favorable to the growth of wheat, barley, oats, and all the cereal grains. I brought with me, for distribution, a portion of a crop of wheat, which had produced, upon three and one- half acres of ground, the enormous yield of one hundred and eighty bushels, from a single bushel of seed. In situations peculiarly favorable for watering, the average yield of all lands properly cultivated may be very safely estimated at forty bushels. Maize, or Indian corn, has not as yet proved so successful, owing to the early frosts occasioned by the vicinity of the mountains; but the beets, turnips, melons, and especially potatoes, exceed in increase even the most sanguine anticipations. The quality of the latter is fully equal, if not superior, to the best Nova Scotia varieties. On the eastern side of the Salt Lake Valley, the land susceptible of irrigation stretches along the western base of the Wasatch Mountains, from about eighty miles north of Salt Lake City to about sixty miles south of it, the latter portion embracing, toward its terminus, the fertile valley of Lake Utah. This is a beautiful sheet of pure fresh water, thirty miles in length, and about ten in breadth, surrounded on three sides by rugged mountains and lofty hills, with a broad grassy valley sloping to the water's edge, opening to the northward. Through this opening flows the river Jordan, by which its waters are discharged into the Great Salt Lake. The lake abounds in fine fish, principally speckled trout, of great size and exquisite flavour, which afford sustenance to numerous small bands of Utahs. Utah grew into a great state. The mines were opened in due time, and to- day, Utah is one of the richest states of the Union in the production of gold, silver and copper. Utah is a land of happy homes, beautiful farms, and lovely cities, and the state has a population of over five hundred and fifty thousand souls. There is to- day, however, a great problem before us as a people. While the Government has built for us reservoirs and canals, there is yet the problem of water. Utah needs water, and the people of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake are particularly confronted with this question; Where and how shall we obtain more water? Utah is fundamentally an agricultural state. Not that most of its wealth comes from the soil, but agriculture is the basic industrial activity that gives us stability and a true sense of values. In the State to- day, 178,218 people live by agriculture; of these many are supported by markets outside the State. That means that we sell much of our produce beyond our borders. It is quite natural that the home- market is more profitable to the producer, and it is he who is asking that the home- market be better developed, which can only be done at the present time by an increase of population. The question may be asked here as to what people - 5 |