Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 271, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 December 1917 — Millions of Acres of Land Worthless Because not Properly Utilized [ARTICLE]

Millions of Acres of Land Worthless Because not Properly Utilized

By DR. L. E. EVANS

Head of Colonization Department, Grand Trank Pacific Railrood

The thing we should consider at present should be: What can we do for the future? How are the people going to get out of the soil the greatest amount of value for the greatest length of time, and what the soil and different locations, according to the. topography of the country and the climatic conditions, are best suited for ? It-should be made easy for a man to know where to look for certain lands that are good for certain productions and be from an authoritative and reliable and not from a speculative standpoint only. Now, this should be taken up through organizations that make a special study of the topography and climatic and soil production validations of each separate district There is one industry that has been so sadly neglected, and is today becoming only .a remnant of the original greatness—that of stock raising—through ignorance of distribution of lands properly adapted to stock raising. There are today millions and rpillions of acres of upland, plateaus and hillsides for, summer and winter grazing that site good for nothing else, but worthless at the present time, simply because stock must have water in great abundance and sufficient agricultural land adjacent to it for the raising of a certain amount of yinter feed. But through careless legislation the watering places and the rich little valleys tributary and necessary to the perpetuation of the stock-raising proposition utilizing these beautiful upland summer and graz'ing fields have been allowed to be taken, promoted and sold for fruit and truck gardening purposes, while they are hundreds of miles away from the market of such commodities, and when there are thousands of acres already proven to be more valuable for such purposes and good for nothing else. And it seems a pity that these lands could not be in some way procured and again attached to the useful grazing lands to be used to produce winter feed and water places. .' o