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Show We have seen that Utah has reached her agricultural limit and that while there is lots of land there is no water for it. We have seen that the farmers cannot supply the needs of the industrial population required for the fabrication of cur copper, lead and zinc to say nothing of the iron, aluminum, magnesium and chemical products too numerous to mention* When this dike is completed we have been told that approximately 2- 1/ 2 million acre feet of fresh water will be available for industrial use. The fine thing about this industrial scheme is that industry cannot consume this water. It can use this water without diminishing it or losing it. It is a case where we can eat our pie and still have it. These 2- 1/ 2 million acre feet of water are ample to irrigate approximately 800,000 acres, should we be able to locate this amount of land within a reasonable farming distance of the lakeTs level. I wish to point out that we have thousands of acres of low lying land adjacent to the proposed fresh water lake on the east side that can be drained and reclaimed at relatively small expense. There is probably 250,000 to 300,000 acres in Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Box Elder, and Tooele Counties that can be drained and reclaimed at a cost not to exceed $ 40* 00 to £ 50.00 per acre. In Tooele County west of the Stansbury Range there is one block of ground of some 250,000 acres covered with sagebrush within 50 or 60 feet of the lake's level that can be put under cultivation provided water can be found to irrigate it. Please consider the feasibility of a pipe line along the Luc in Cutoff with a pumping station to supply water for this land. With power costs low this ground can all be put under cultivation and this land will be needed. to produce the food products to feed Utah's future industrial population. FARMSTEADS Coincident with the diking of Great Salt Lake and industrialization of Utah we must prepare to take care of increasing numbers of industrial workers so that in times of depression these same workers, when out of employment, will not be a burden on the rest of us. Industrial insurance has been proposed, and will have to come unless a better plan is worked out. A farmstead idea has been suggested as a solution both fcr the industrial and the State laborer. I will explain the idea and you can see what you think of it. Assume first that the dike is completed. Second, that one of these refineries or fabricating plants wants a location. We then find that it is planned to use 1000 workmen. Now suppose we set aside 2500 acres which is a plot of ground about two miles square, and require it to be divided into 1000 2- acre tracts each provided with a 4 room house, a barn for a cow, a chicken house for 25 chickens, and a pig pen for 2 pigs. Fruit trees can be planted for shade trees and serve a double purpose. All this can be provided including the price of the land for less than £ 2,000.00 for each two- acre tract. A charge of $ 25.00 per month over 10 years will pay interest and return the first cost. Such a homestead will provide all the food except flour, sugar, tea and coffee, so that during times of depression every workman will be provided for and his family will not have to be dependent on charity. The £ 25.00 monthly charge is no more than rent. The workman will have an equity. His contract can have an insurance clause so - 12 - |