Our national strength is in its citizens, and the place in which the best is bred is in the country. The threat of urban congestion, no longer remote, and the pressure of population, which even now is bearing heavily upon our resources, are unanswerable arguments for increasing and making permanent the nation’s virility, prosperity and growth by creating more country homes. It is an economic axiom that the stability of a nation is assured only when the bulk of its citizens reside in their own homes. The ideals and principles for which our forefathers fought cannot be preserved and maintained by a citizenry whose interest does not extend beyond mere wage earning. The American desert was won by war, treaty, discovery and purchase. Flying at one time the flags of four nations, its history is rich in thrilling incident and adventure. Its milestones are the bones of trappers, explorers, and pioneers. Its people are strong and courageous. To battle with the elemental forces of nature has become a passion. While the glamor of romance in years agone is dispelled, it is still romance-land, but with a new background. The romance of creation now pervades the once silent desert, and the dominant thought and impulse is to establish there the well ordered life of New England with all the highly organized facilities for making existence in the country attractive. American people cannot rightly claim to have measured up to their opportunity until the deserts of the West and the swamp lands of the South have been replaced by vistas of prosperous farmsteads. WRITTEN ESPECIALLY FOR THE MENTOR BY C. J. BLANCHARD ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 6, No. 17, SERIAL No. 165 COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. THE MENTOR · DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE SERIAL NUMBER 165 RECLAIMING THE DESERT By C. J. BLANCHARD _United States Reclamation Service_ With Illustrations from Photographs Supplied by the United States Reclamation Service. Entered as second-class matter March 10, 1913, at the postoffice at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1918, by The Mentor Association, Inc. _MENTOR GRAVURES_ A MIRACLE OF IRRIGATION, UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY, COLORADO HIGH LINE CANAL, UTAH VALLEY, UTAH GUNNISON TUNNEL, COLORADO _MENTOR GRAVURES_ ROOSEVELT DAM, ARIZONA ARROWROCK DAM, IDAHO SUBURB OF PHOENIX, ARIZONA [Illustration: MAKING FURROWS FOR IRRIGATION] “_It is a grander achievement to expand the domain of civilization by water than by blood._”