"New Country and Untried Climate"
Agriculture was the first and most important pursuit in Rich County. Despite the advances in mining, oil and gas exploration, and recreation, Rich County has remained predominantly agricultural during the entirety of its 130-year history. And although other areas colonized or settled by Mormons in Utah have since outgrown their agricultural roots, almost all were settled originally because of their agricultural potential. Brigham Young decreed early that his people should direct all of their energies to agricultural pursuits. It was Young's opinion, wrote natural historian Walter P. Cottam, that agriculture formed "the basis of a permanent society."' Young further noted: As you are located in a new country and untried climate . . . we recommend that you begin to plant and sow such seeds as soon as the snow is gone in the spring, so that we might know by experiments whether it is possible to ripen grain in the valley before the summer drouth shall demand the labor of irrigation.'
Mormons sought the most promising oases within the Great
