The Utah Experiment Stations in the Widtsoe Years

Experiment Station, Agricultural College of Utah, Logan. Widtsoe Collection, Utah State Historical Society.

The Utah Experiment Station in the Widtsoe Years

BY ALAN K. PARRISH

How UNLIKELY THAT A BOY WHO IN THE EYES OF HIS KINSFOLK was born to pilot the Norwegian king along the perilous coastline of the Norwegian sea would instead pilot scientists and toilers of the soil through some of the most significant advances in arid agriculture. The achievements of the Utah Experiment Station at the Agricultural College of Utah (ACU) during the years John A. Widtsoe was its chemist or director were landmark feats that established the station, the college, and the state as dominant forces in international agricultural studies In the early 1900s more of Utah's working force was involved in agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry than any other occupation.1 The station's achievements had a far-reaching impact on the work life of this large component of the labor force and on the economic well-being of the state.

John A. Widtsoe was an immigrant boy left fatherless at age six. He became an internationally known scientist and scholar, a distinguished educator, a college and university president, and an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A pioneer in arid farming and irrigation, he wrote acclaimed international texts on these subjects. He began his formal research while working in the Utah Experiment Station at the ACU.

Widtsoe's father was a schoolmaster in Norway and his mother the favorite student of that schoolmaster. They hoped young John would follow his father in education. At age six, upon his father's death, the boy vowed to pursue that high ideal.2 In the ensuing years widow Widtsoe discovered Mormonism Following her new faith she and her sons,John and Osborne, immigrated to America, settling in Logan, Utah. When John graduated from Brigham Young College, he was chosen as one of a small group to travel with their principal, J. M. Tanner, to attend Harvard, intending to return to advance Utah higher education. With a new mortgage on the family home and some notes obtained from friends, the Widtsoes sent John to further their dreams at Harvard He loved that marketplace of ideas and attended a wide assortment of classes there, but chemistry absorbed him most. He graduated summa cum laude in 1894.

Harvard, Brigham Young College, Brigham Young University, and the Agricultural College of Utah offered him positions. His mother had been "careful to hold before her boys the ideal of service as well as education. What was the value of learning if not used for human good?"3 For John, work at the Experiment Station at the ACU provided the best opportunity for service to Utah education What work could serve man more than agriculture? By living at home his expenses would be minimal and the family debt more easily repaid. A promising career of service and an income to allay education debts were valid reasons for choosing the ACU, but more compelling was his longing to be at home. He accepted the position of chemist at the Experiment Station and started working in September 1894 at the age of twenty-two The Logan newspaper reported:

Last week one of [Logan's] favored sons returned home from the greatest institution of learning on the western hemisphere, laden with honors for his scholarly attainments [At Harvard] he graduated at the head of aclass in chemistry of 250 students, and now he comes home to take a position as Station Chemist in the Agricultural College of Utah.

Byinquiry we learn that Mr. Widtsoe not only conquered the mysteries of chemical science, but that he has discovered a number of compounds before unknown in the domain of organic chemistry. In his new position at the A. C. his talentswill have a rare chance and his light will not be hid under a bushel, but will enlighten the way of the students under him.4

The ACU belonged to a land-grant college sisterhood that grew out of the Morrill bill signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. In 1888 Congress supplemented that bill by allowing an additional $15,000 for experiment stations. Utah took advantage of these measures by creating the ACU with the Utah Experiment Station The key appointment in the college was director of the Agricultural Experiment Station. Widtsoe became the station's chemist in its fourth year. "The joy of seeking truth was mine,"5 he wrote, and at the ACU he was led to ponder the place of knowledge in the everyday occupations of men: "It was in these years that I formulated the philosophy of education which was to guide me through life."6

When he read in the 1893-94 annual report that no independent investigation had been done by the chemical division,7 Widtsoe immediately initiated several lines of inquiry:

It was the experimental work that fascinated me. As chemist to the experiment station, a good part of my time was devoted to investigation. Some odds and ends left by my predecessor were soon out of the way. Meanwhile there were days of thinking Agriculture begins with the soil What is the nature of Utah soils? It had been held that all experimentation should be confined to the College farm With the consent of President J. H. Paul, who was sympathetic with my ideas, I broke that precedent and travelled over the State, made observations and took soil samples in many parts of the state. Some of the results, many of them unique in that day, were published in bulletin form or in chemical journals The great variety of the soils of the State, and the astonishing fertility of some of them, led to the formulation of suitable cropping systems.8

Widtsoe had been the first Mormon to enter the collegiate division of the ACU faculty. Because he felt so good about his faculty associations in the first few months, he was surprised when approached by a leading faculty member who informed him of a private meeting in which it had been decided that in order to avoid "Mormonizing" the college, he should be asked to resign Of this Widtsoe wrote: "My temper rose sharply, and I begged my visitor to take back my answer. T would not resign; and, moreover, I would remain with the College until every one who sent the request had left the institution.'"9 He did outlast all those who had sent the request, but he learned from the experience and was ever after a proponent of tolerance and an enemy of prejudice.

Widtsoe was determined to help the common man succeed and have an impact on world needs. He saw the Experiment Station as the best means of facilitating this ambition Declining an offer from BYU, he wrote its president, "the toilers of the world are making the world, but they need assistance. Under present social conditions they can do little else than toil; for that reason I feel a genuine happiness in applying, to the best of my ability, the results of modern science to the betterment of the lowly pursuits of life."10 To better understand farm toilers and their needs, Widtsoe and Joseph Jenson, a professor of engineering, traveled by team and buggy for more than six weeks, meeting with farmers in nearly every settlement between Provo and St. George.11

The "book farming" that Widtsoe and his colleagues represented met frequent opposition: "During these early years the first problem was to overcome the natural conservatism of the farmers— less in Utah than elsewhere if I have read other state reports aright."12 He did not let this opposition deter him, and soon the farmers looked forward to learning from the Experiment Station. Widtsoe investigated the things that would be most helpful to his farm constituents Since lucerne, or alfalfa hay, was Utah's chief forage crop, the chemical department undertook a three-year study of it and published their findings in two lengthy bulletins entitled "The Chemical Life History of Lucern."13 The research aimed at perfecting the crop and maximizing its yield to the farmer. E. W. Allen, assistant director of the Experiment Station, praised Widtsoe's work to the Board of Trustees, noting that these bulletins on alfalfa provided "a large part" of the government's knowledge of the subject Allen suggested cooperation with the government in research and experiments, particularly irrigation and forage plants.14 He called Widtsoe's bulletins on lucerne the best information ever issued. Franklin S. Harris, an agriculture scholar and subsequent president of the ACU, wrote of Widtsoe, "His studies of the chemical life history of lucern gave a scientific basis for handling that crop that has resulted in saving great sums of money not only to the farmers of Utah but also to those of the other parts of the world where lucern is raised."15

The sugar potential in Utah also became an active concern of Widtsoe and the station, and sugar beets became a successful crop across the state by the turn of the century. Widtsoe recalled:

The battle for a beet sugar industry wason There was some doubt as to whether sugar beets could be grown generally throughout the State Two years' test, in which small plots were planted to beets in practically every State location, and the resulting beets analyzed, we found that sugar beets could be grown successfully everywhere in the State.16

Persuading farmers to grow enough beets to supply sugar factories, though, was a serious problem that required frequent appeals.17 Through the scientific studies of the Experiment Station, farmers gradually learned how to grow better quality sugar beets and how to increase their production.

Prior to 1891 Utahns had to purchase their sugar from the East. By the turn of the century Utah sugar plants in Ogden and Lehi produced enough sugar to meet local needs. By 1902 factories were also operating in Logan and Garland, and it appeared that much of Utah's sugar production could be shipped to outside markets at substantial profit. In 1906 the state's total production reached 88 million pounds. Since Utah's consumption varied from 19 to 24 million pounds per year through the first decade of the twentieth century, a large surplus was available to market elsewhere

Though beets required large amounts of hand labor, they netted over $2.00 per ton or nearly $40.00 per acre. A government report stated it was "not probable that any standard crop would . . . yield better net returns . . . than beets."18 Sugar beets remained a big part of the local agricultural economy for a long time. In 1957 Utah distributed 676,987 hundred-pound bags of sugar. 19

Although the station made a major impact on lucerne and sugar beets, other research during Widtsoe's years as chemist also contributed to agricultural knowledge and success. A report summarizing the activities of the chemical department for a single year recorded numerous lucerne studies, 57 soil studies, 90 sugar beet studies, 75 studies of animal feed and digestion, 70 samples of milk, and 400 determinations of soil moisture in connection with tillage of corn It also reported extensive work for the other station departments and outside parties. In all, the agricultural scientists completed 3,000 studies or experiments.20 Attributing increased farm activity to the ACU and its Experiment Station, one historian noted, "A major revolution took place in agriculture in Utah after 1890. Between 1890 and 1900 the number of farms and the total number of acres of improved farm land doubled."21 For its contributions in the Widtsoe years the station became highly regarded both in and out of Utah.22

As Widtsoe delved more deeply into chemical research, he realized the value and the need of further training.

More and more chemistry of life fascinated me. There were processes within living plants, animals and humans which must be determined It seemed a field to which I could give my life So the decision was soon made to go forth again in search of knowledge—of discovered truth and methods of investigation—this time in Europe, for the foremost workers in what was known then as physiological chemistry were in European universities and laboratories Harvard generously appointed me to one of its four Parker traveling fellowships, with a substantial stipend. I borrowed more and was ready for a new adventure.23

Widtsoe and his new wife, Leah Dunford, left for Europe shortly after their marriage in June 1898. For two years he studied under some of the world's leading chemists at the University of Goettingen, Germany, where he received the degrees of master of arts and doctor of philosophy magna cum laude. He also studied at the Polytechnicum and other institutions in Europe. On his return a former professor at Harvard wrote of him, "owing to his recent study in Europe [he] is now as well qualified as anyone in the country for work in physiological chemistry, in fact I think there is no one in America so well equipped."24

While Widtsoe was still in Europe, his friend and tutor J. M. Tanner resigned as president of the ACU. Tanner convinced Widtsoe to apply for the presidency, which he did "halfheartedly."25 After losing by a single vote, he was elected director of the Experiment Station. He had also been offered the presidency of Brigham Young College (BYC) in Logan but declined in favor of the Experiment Station: "The main reason for my choice was this: Among our people [LDS] I think I am the only person who has so fitted himself for the kind of work required of the Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station that no serious criticism could be offered against him."26

As director and chemist, Widtsoe charted the course of both the chemical division and the Experiment Station. It was a challenge he obviously enjoyed: "The years that I served as director of the station was a period of almost complete absorption in service to the farmers of the State."27 Since his predecessor had concluded all previous research and publication, Widtsoe was free to determine new investigations to be undertaken. As always, he had a goal: "The Station, if it serves its purpose well, must discover something new that meets a distinct want in the State, and which can be applied by the farmers, so as to be of economic or other value."28 Following this course, he decided to "choose problems for investigation of first importance in Utah."29

Widtsoe did not rely on his training alone to determine the station's research agenda. He felt one must cleanse himself of the assumption that he understands everything known on a subject: "We must lay aside our preconceived notions, our prejudices and even our views of what may be the nature of the truth to be discovered in order that we may gather from nature all that she has in her keeping for us."30 Accordingly, he again sought insight on Utah's needs by boarding a buggy and visiting settlements from Logan to Kanab, over to St. George, and back to Logan. Not a single night was spent in a hotel nor a single meal taken in a restaurant. He lived right with the farmers and learned from them what their problems were. It took about four months, but he declared, "when I got back I knew what our experiment station should be working on."31

One thing Widtsoe came to understand was that "the future development of Utah will necessarily depend on the extension of the old irrigation systems and the creation of new ones."32 The irrigation work of the station brought the highest commendations of government officials and attracted the attention of irrigation experts. Cooperative efforts and substantial research contracts with the U.S. Department of Agriculture followed. Utah's work in irrigation became so well known that in 1903 the conference of the National Irrigation Congress was held in Ogden. A Logan newspaper reported:

The Agricultural Department at Washington is convinced that the methods adopted by Professor Widtsoe in this department are the best in the world, and were therefore willing to co-operate on the basis above mentioned Too much praise cannot be given Professor Widtsoe and his aidswho have brought this system of irrigation to such a state of perfection as to induce the officials of the Government to form a cooperation with our institution. This means a great deal when the number of experiment stations in the country are [sic] considered. The amount thus invested is aside from the general appropriation from the government.33

In 1903 only 1.15 percent (983 acres) of Utah's land area was under irrigation, yet the land was among the most fertile in the world and the conditions of sunshine and temperature were nearly ideal Insufficient rain and river water kept vast portions of land unimproved Land rich in plant foods but without water was worth between $1.50 and $2.50 per acre, while land with ample water and access to markets commanded between $100 and $300 per acre. For Widtsoe, "The conclusion is evident: The value of a farm in Utah does not reside largely in the land, but rather in the quantity of water under the control of the owner. The smaller the possible returns of the farm without irrigation, the greater the value of a water right for it."34 This realization spurred the elaborate irrigation experiments he supervised Some of the most notable experiments ran over a ten-year period (1902-11) and involved fourteen crops. From these he learned that yield increased rapidly with the increase of water to a certain point and then decreased with more water. At his "break in the curve," the amount of water used was called the consumptive use. 35

Because of the abundance of fertile land beyond the reach of irrigation, the station conducted numerous studies on the feasibility of raising crops without irrigation. Dry farming as a distinct branch of agriculture for the purpose of reclaiming unirrigable desert or semidesert lands was pioneered by Widtsoe. In his text on the subject he defined the challenges:

The fundamental problems of dry-farming are, then, the storage in the soil of a small annual rainfall; the retention in the soil of the moisture until it is needed by plants; the prevention of the direct evaporation of soil-moisture during the growing season; the regulation of the amount of water drawn from the soil by plants; the choice of crops suitable for growth under arid conditions; the application of suitable crop treatments, and the disposal of dry-farm products, based upon the superior composition of plants grown with small amounts of water.36

Utah is semi-arid country with large deserts of scanty vegetation where rainfall is far below that of sections in which modern agriculture has been developed. Moreover, only small portions of the desert can be irrigated under the most favorable conditions. The first need of agricultural Utah, as Widtsoe saw it, was to make the natural precipitation produce crops, with or without irrigation, to the highest degree A study of the relationship between plants and water, historically and experimentally, became the central thesis of the station. The goal was to conquer the desert by scientific study. Investigation of farming under arid and semi-arid conditions had long concerned Widtsoe. In his copy of an 1895 station bulletin he noted: "Calculate: the amount of materials furnished by the water and retained by the soil; then the amount of material removed from the soil by the crops This, to learn the rate of exhaustion—if any exist."37 A systematic study was made of the amount of water needed to irrigate specific crops, and at what point more water was unnecessary or even harmful This work eventually determined the exact amount of water needed for each specific crop. The findings were published in station bulletins and in newspapers across the state.38 For example,

It has been calculated that to produce twenty bushels of wheat to the acre would require an annual rainfall of 11.4 inches In the northern section of Utah, that is all that portion north of Provo there is an annual rainfall, including snow, of about 13.47 inches. This shows that the northern section receives an annual rainfall, which if properly conserved in the soil, should be sufficient to produce twenty bushels of wheat to the acre,without the artificial application of water , 39

The station, the first agency to investigate the possibilities of arid farming, published several major reports of its findings.40 Bulletin No.75, the first published treatise on arid farming, described dry farming techniques. Instructions covered when to plow, letting lands lie fallow, when to plant seed, and what kind and how much seed to use. It signalled the beginning of a great new area of research. Vast areas of Utah land could not be brought under irrigation for many years and many others would probably never be irrigated; nevertheless, "These lands in most cases would make splendid dry or arid farms."41

Some farmers remained skeptical, especially during low moisture cycles. A series of dry summers worked a great hardship on those who had purchased expensive machinery, anticipating returns from their farms. Where water could be taken to arid lands, even at great expense, it was considered wise to convert dry farms into irrigated land "Good land with water can be depended upon to produce a crop each year, and forty acres of it is worth more than one hundred and sixty acres of dry farm with no certainty of a crop year after year."42 Despite disbelief and hardship, the station continued its work. It received an appropriation from the legislature to establish six dry farms across the state to experiment with the methods of dry farming and to demonstrate its possibilities Of one of them Widtsoe wrote:

I met with the Juab County commissioners to secure county co-operation, which was readily given, though with some misgivings as to the outcome The chairman of the commission advised me to place the farm on the southern slope of the hill, since on the northern side we could only expect failure So challenged, of course, we located the farm on the northern slope We ourselves could only guess at the results Early the next spring, when only a few blades of wheat were showing, we were frankly more hopeful than certain. But in early July the farm was covered with bountiful yields of several dozen varieties of useful crops The farm looked like an oasis in the stretch of sage brush covering hill and valley At our invitation the people joined an excursion to the farm They were interested and at the end of the day convinced and jubilant They gave three cheers there for the College. As I was leaving, there stood at the farm gate a depressed looking man. I volunteered help if needed. "No," he answered, "I am just trying to figure out how those d fellows at the College could pick out the only forty acres on this hill where crops could be grown without irrigation." He also became a convert and the prosperous owner of a dry-farm on Levan hill.43

Levan Ridge and its surrounding country are some of the largest and most successful dry-farm areas in Utah.

Experimental farms were established in Iron, Juab, San Juan, Sevier, Tooele, and Washington counties. On these farms local agriculturalists could see demonstrations of growing crops without irrigation. The demonstrations enabled them to acquire an understanding of how the work was done and what results were obtained in a manner more productive than reading Scientific farming yielded splendid stalks of rye, wheat, barley, and oats on land that was commonly supposed to be valueless. The station received many accolades, but it remained difficult for the scientists to arouse sufficient interest in it among many of those who could gain the most from the findings.

Utah became known as the oldest of the dry-farming states, and national articles about dry-farming saluted Cache Valley residents as its inventor.44 Dry farming had one more test to pass—surviving a year of drought. Lewis A. Merrill answered that challenge by analyzing the harvest of 1910, a severe drought year. Returns from all sections of Utah and surrounding states confirmed the teachings promulgated by the Experiment Station. Widtsoe proved that it was possible to store two years' precipitation in the soil. Farmers who followed these practices "have this year reaped an ample harvest."45

Visitors came from other states and countries to see first hand the station's success. L. H. Bailey, the prestigious dean of Cornell's College of Agriculture, asked Widtsoe, who was a member of the Irrigation Congress and president of the Dry-Farm Congress, to write textbooks on irrigation and dry-farming.46 These texts were used in France, Africa, Spain, Hungary, Australia, and all of North and South America.47 For pioneering irrigation and dry farming Widtsoe was dubbed "the father of the system of Dry Farming in the West."48 During the 1890s the amount of land farmed in Utah increased fourfold; and in the early 1900s farming extended farther into the Uinta Basin, the west deserts, and SanJuan County.49 Dry farming alone increased Utah's crop land by one-fourth.50 As late as 1967, 37 percent of Utah's crop lands were without irrigation.51

The ACU and the station sent several exhibits to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. Competing with 64 agricultural colleges and 60 experiment stations, the Utah station's irrigation model won a silver medal.52 Cooperation was the key to the station's success, Widtsoe believed, for the cause of reclaiming a large portion of the earth's unoccupied surface was too great for personalities to injure the work.53 He wrote:

It is again a pleasure to mention the harmonious manner in which three departments, involving the labors of nearly twelve men, have worked together to carry out successfully the plans of the irrigation experiments It is believed that this series of experiments stands alone in the history of irrigation, when its comprehensive, thorough and strictly scientific treatment is considered.54

Irrigation and dry farming were the principal focus of the station, but scientists also continued work on soil surveys and reclaiming alkali lands They experimented on the feed value of Utah crops, analyzed sugar beets and sugar beet pulp, and considered the development of new crops suited to arid farming. Dwarf Essex rape, they discovered, provided excellent fall pasturage for sheep and hogs and was remarkably drought resistant, and the Soja (soy) bean was heralded for taking nitrogen from the air and storing it in the soil. Studies of evaporation in soils were frequent.55

During his time as the director of the Experiment Station, Widtsoe oversaw the research and publication of bulletins on an impressive variety of subjects helpful to Utah farmers Of twenty-three published bulletins, four dealt with the feeding of animals, three with irrigation, two with arid farming, two with dairying, one with poultry, three with scientific findings in the beet industry, and five with fruits and vegetables. Other bulletins addressed devastating problems such as a blight, wheat smuts, moths, and smelter smoke. One reported on new farm equipment, while another presented the findings of a general soil survey of Salt Lake Valley.

To Widtsoe, research and publication were not enough: "Carrying the principles of modern agriculture to the farmers always seemed important to me. Unused truth has little value."56 He felt that not one farmer in ten realized what was available to him as a result of experiments in the products that every farmer raised. He urged farmers to "at once put themselves in touch with information freely imparted through the bulletins of the A.C of U."57 He also devised ways of disseminating new truths discovered at the Experiment Station. Experimental farms in representative areas of the state proved to be effective learning centers for many. Additionally, the state set aside money for teachers from the ACU to travel throughout the state and hold institutes for farmers.58 At least one of these was to be held in each county each year. Widtsoe recalled that "As time permitted, with specialists from the Station staff, I travelled over the State discussing with groups of farmers their problems While we taught them something, they in turn set our faces towards problems to be solved."59 Institute work did not always produce success. Widtsoe reported that only two people attended the lecture in Springville. He and a fellow professor gave their talks anyway and asked for a response. One attendee was the janitor who had remained only to lock the building The other, stone deaf, had stayed for the company but had not heard a single word.60 Despite an occasional flop, institute work became very successful, farmer turnout was impressive, and enthusiasm echoed in the press. As the Logan newspaper proudly proclaimed, instruction at the institutes was "disseminated in the delightful manner that comes natural to the average professor at the big school on the hill."61

A successful farm operation required teamwork The farmer's wife—a homemaker, housekeeper, cook, and merchant—was a vital factor in its operation Widtsoe recognized the women's importance and included sessions for them as well as men in the programs of the institutes:

Since the farmer's wife must also work intelligently if the household is to be happy, from the beginning of this period women's institutes were held with great success. My wife, well trained, and enthusiastically in support of the work of the College and Station, conducted most of the early meetings throughout the State in which the problems of the home and household were discussed.62

With Lewis A Merrill and J Edward Taylor, Widtsoe founded a newspaper called the Deseret Farmer and served as the general manager. It enjoyed a wide circulation and a long life. The Deseret Farmer published articles about irrigation, dry-farming, livestock, horticulture, fruit growing, and all else having to do with farming in Utah. Widtsoe wrote articles encouraging farmers to take advantage of the opportunities modern science was yielding.63 The paper announced the farmer's institutes and reported the proceedings to those who could not attend Widtsoe wrote that it "has done much to help the tiller of the soil and the husbandman in the arid region."64

All of these efforts to reach farmers were very successful. More than eighty years later a historian wrote, "In no feature were good times more marked than in the application of science to agricultural practices and farm life. Irrigation passed from rule of thumb to technology. . . . Dry farming became first a field of research then a way of life."65

Any assessment of the Utah Experiment Station must consider the economic impact it had on the constituents it was designed to serve. The Logan newspaper believed it was impossible to estimate the financial value of the work of the station but that some computations indicated that "were the directions given in the station bulletins generally followed, there would be an annual gain to the state of hundreds of thousands of dollars.66 One significant statistic is the increase in average farm values from $2,619 in 1900 to $9,499 in 1920.67

Just prior to completing his service as station director, Widtsoe wrote an article estimating the economic impact of several research activities of the Experiment Station in 1905 He showed that the varieties of wheat used by farmers in the state, as a result of the station's research, resulted in a total increase of at least 189,235 bushels or $113,541. Station research on feeding horses netted a statewide savings of 20,000 tons of lucerne with a cash value of $80,000. Studies on the optimum time for cutting lucerne showed that the value could be increased by at least one tenth, or 58,132 tons, with a cash value of $275,000. By following station guidelines on when and in what quantities to irrigate wheat, statewide yield was increased by 378,470 bushels or $257,082. The increase in sugar beet yields resulting from station research represented a statewide gain of between $150,000 and $600,000 for that important cash crop Widtsoe's analysis continued:

Of still higher importance have been the results which indicate that by the more economical use of water the irrigation area may be increased at least one-fourth without the building of any new canals. There are now 620,120 acres of irrigated land in the State. To increase that area one-fourth would mean an increase of 157,280 acres, each of which would certainly yield $10, which would result in adding to the annual wealth of the State $1,562,800 The value of such results isa fact beyond estimations.

Our work showing the possibilities of arid lands will certainly result in adding materially to the wealth of the State There are at present 51,972,480 acres of land in the State which are not irrigated If only one percent of this land can be made to yield fifteen bushels per acre without irrigation, and it does not seem at all impossible, the State would gain annually 7,795,860 bushels of wheat, with a value of at least 50 cents per bushel, or $3,897,930. If only one acre in a thousand can thus be reclaimed, the annual value to the State would be nearly $400,000.

Calculations similar to these may be multiplied and the numerous experiments of the station can be connected with their financial value in such away as to show that the Utah agricultural experiment station has done work which may make or is making for the State millions of dollars As a money-making institution for the state the agricultural experiment station takes second rank to none, save it be to the public school system, which gives to men and women powers to use the results obtained by modern science.68

While benefitting farmers directly, agricultural advances also helped others. The Utah canning industry had begun in 1888. By 1914 there were thirty-two canning factories that produced 1,338,497 cases of fruits and vegetables that year These "factories employed 1,500 workers who received one-third of a million dollars in wages

By 1914 Utah ranked fifth in the canning industry among the United States. Utah canned products sold throughout the West and Midwest."69

These were happy and successful years for the Widtsoe family. Looking back over his years at the station, John wrote to a friend, "I do not know of any half decade in my life which I have enjoyed more thoroughly than my directorship of the Utah State Agricultural Experiment Station."70 The family enjoyed uncommon personal triumphs and endured common family tragedies. Though a towering figure in the college, Widtsoe became the martyr of an ugly statewide skirmish. Many citizens felt that Utah was too small to support both a university and an agricultural college. A move was afoot in the governor's office and the legislature to consolidate the two institutions by making the ACU a college in the University of Utah The controversy became particularly nasty at the ACU. The statewide impact of the Experiment Station, and Widtsoe's devotion to agricultural education, led William Jasper Kerr, president of the ACU, to label Widtsoe disloyal. As a result, Widtsoe was dismissed from the station and the college in 1905. The dismissal came as a severe shock to him and was without doubt the low point of his professional life. He deplored the insinuations of the dismissal and was keenly disappointed that he could not follow the projects begun under his tutelage to their conclusion. While the legislature resolved the consolidation controversy, Widtsoe went to BYU and founded its School of Agriculture. His two years at BYU were triumphant and highly acclaimed. They were also his last opportunity for significant research. In 1907 the consolidation controversy was resolved by the legislature and the policies of Kerr so condemned that he resigned his presidency. The Board of Trustees elected Widtsoe as his successor. 71 Administrative duties thereafter precluded significant experimental research

Widtsoe used his four years as chemist at the Experiment Station and his five years as its director to lay the foundation of a distinguished career. He became a world renown scholar, and his books, based on station findings, were translated into several languages. He steered the station along paths it would follow for many years and brought it to national and international prominence.

NOTES

Dr Parrish is associate professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University.

1 S. George Ellsworth, Utah's Heritage (Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, 1981), p. 374.

2 John A Widtsoe, In The Gospel Net: The Story ofAnna Karine Gaarden Widtsoe (Salt Lake City: The Improvement Era, 1941), pp 58-59.

3 Ibid., p 96.

4 "A Bright Young Man," LoganJournal, 1 September 1894, 8.

5 John A Widtsoe, In a Sunlit Land (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1952), p 42.

6 Ibid.

7 Utah Agricultural College Experiment Station, Fifth Annual Report, July 1, 1893, toJune 30, 1894 (Salt Lake City, 1894), p 26.

8 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, pp 47-48.

9 Ibid., p 47.

10 John Widtsoe to George Brimhall, September 20, 1904, Brimhall Presidential Papers, box 10, folder 6, letter #90, Brigham Young University Archives, Provo, Utah

11 Widtsoe to Lyman H Rich, undated, Widtsoe Family Collection, box 2, folder 11, Utah State Historical Society Library, Salt Lake City.

12 Ibid.

13 Agricultural College of Utah Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 48 and Bulletin No. 58. See also "Lucerne," Utah Church andFarm28 (July 1894): 30.

14 Board of Trustees Minutes, Utah State Agricultural College, vol. 1, pp. 541-42, Utah State University Archives, Logan.

15 Franklin S. Harris, "ApostleJohn Andreas Widtsoe," Young Woman'sJournal, June 1921, p. 321.

16 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p. 48.

17 Richard S Van Wagoner, "The Lehi Sugar Factory—100 Years in Retrospect," Utah Historical Quarterly 59 (1991): 195, 203.

18 Charles L Schmalz, "Sugar Beets in Cache Valley: An Amalgamation of Agriculture and Industry," Utah Historical Quarterly 57 (1989): 383.

19 Marketing Ability of the Beet Sugar Industry (Salt Lake City: Utah-Idaho Sugar Co., 1957), pp 6-7.

20 Utah Agricultural College Experiment Station, Eighth Annual Report, July 1, 1896, to June 30, 1897, pp 12-13.

21 Ellsworth, Utah's Heritage, p. 374.

22 "The Work of the Utah Experiment Station," LoganJournal, April 30, 1895, pp 5-7.

23 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p 53.

24 This was Charles LoringJackson, Erving Professor of Chemistry at Harvard. See Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p. 250.

25 Ibid., p. 70.

26 Widtsoe to Presiding Bishop W B Preston, undated, Widtsoe Family Collection, box 2, folder 4.

27 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p 81.

28 Utah Agricultural College Experiment Station, Twelfth Annual Report, July 1, 1900, to June 30, 1901, p vii.

29 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p 73.

30 Widtsoe to L. M. Winsor, June 10, 1910, Widtsoe Presidential Papers, box 31, folder 1, USU Archives.

31 From a transcript of an oral interview with Richard Welling Roskelley, November 14, 1979, in Special Collections at USU, ref file MS509.

32 "Of Interest to the Farmers Only," Logan Republican, March 13, 1903, p 1.

33 "Important Experiments," Logan Republican,Jure 29, 1904, p 1.

34 John A Widtsoe, 'The Right Way to Irrigate," Agricultural College of Utah, Bulletin No. 86, p 57.

35 Orson W Israelsen and Vaughn E Hansen, Irrigation Principles and Practices (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1962), pp 236-37.

36 John A Widtsoe, Dryjarming, a System ofAgriculturefor Countries under a Low Rainfall (New York: Macmillan Company, 1911), pp. 9-10.

37 Utah Agricultural College Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 39, p 9.

38 See Agricultural College of Utah Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 80; "Irrigation Is Harmful Unless It Is Done in the Proper Way," Logan Republican, April 30, 1904, p 1; Agricultural College of Utah Experiment Station, Circular No. 2.

39 "Of lnterest to the Farmers Only," Logan Republican, March 13, 1903, p 1.

40 Agricultural College of Utah Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 75, Bulletin No. 80, and Bulletin No. 94.

41 John A Widtsoe and Lewis A Merrill, Arid Farndng or Dry Farming, Bulletin No. 75 (Logan, Ut.: Experiment Station, Agricultural College of Utah, 1902), p 115.

42 "The Dry Farms," Logan Republican, July 15, 1903, p 6.

43 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p 80.

44 John T Burns to Widtsoe, September 12, 1911, Widtsoe Presidential Papers, box 32, folder 4; F H Perry to Widtsoe, October 15, 1907, ibid., box 7, folder 1.

45 Lewis A Merrill, "The Drouth of 1910," Deseret Farmer, August 13, 1910, pp 4, 5, 12.

46 Widtsoe, Dry Farming, See also Widtsoe's The Principles of Irrigation Practice (New York: MacMillan Company, 1914).

47 His book on dry farming was translated into Spanish and used in Spain and its colonies; the French version was used in France's African colonies For evidence of Hungarian, Australian, and also South African use see Widtsoe to Burns, September 7, 1911, Widtsoe Presidential Papers, box 32, folder 4, and Widtsoe to Charles Cristadoro,June 12, 1911, ibid., box 52, folder 1 He was extensively involved with both individuals and the Dry-farm Congress in Canada His letters show Mexican and Brazilian contact with him for help in dry farming: Widtsoe to Eugenio Dahne, December 10, 1910, ibid., box 52, folder 3, and Warren Longhurst to Widtsoe, November 6, 1908, ibid., box 34, folder 2, are but two examples.

48 J W Paxman to Widtsoe,July 11, 1912, ibid., box 27, folder 3.

49 Charles S Peterson, "Cholera, Blight, and Sparrows: A Look at Utah's First Agricultural Agents," Utah Historical Quarterly 57 (1989): 139.

50 Ellsworth, Utah's Heritage, pp 375-76.

51 Utah State Department of Agriculture, Utah Agricultural Statistics, 1984 (Salt Lake City, 1985), p. 11.

52 "A C of U Notes," Logan Republican, October 22, 1904, p 1 "A C at World's Fair," Logan Republican, July 30, 1904, p 1.

53 Widtsoe to Burns, September 9, 1911, Widtsoe Presidential Papers, box 32, folder 4.

54 Agricultural College of Utah Experiment Station, Thirteenth Annual Report, July 1, 1901, toJune 30, 1902, p. x.

55 See Utah Experiment Station Bulletins Nos. 51-100.

56 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p 78.

57 "Important Experiments," Logan Republican, June 29, 1904, p 1.

58 Utah Agricultural College Experiment Station. Seventh Annual Report, July 1, 1895, to June 30, 1896, pp 19-20.

59 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p 78.

60 "John A Widtsoe," Deseret News, January 28, 1922, p 1.

61 "Farmers Institutes," Logan Republican, November 11, 1903, p 1 The appreciation many farmers felt for the help of the college and the Experiment Station is expressed in a letter to the Deseret Farmer. "Professors J A Widtsoe and Robert S Northrop made us a very pleasant call yesterday as they were passing through our city on their way home from the Dixie capital, where they had been in the interests of the experiment farm that is located in that vicinity They were much pleased with the move that our people are making in arid farming, and assured us that it would be a paying proposition They expressed a willingness to do everything in their power to help us to make the move a success, and when we get the farm ready for seeding they will help in the selection of seed Deseret Farmer, April 13, 1905, p 4.

62 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p 78.

63 For a few examples see "Agricultural College of Utah," Deseret Farmer, September 15, 1904, p. 4; "Agricultural Education," Deseret Farmer, April 6, 1905, p 5.

64 Widtsoe, Sunlit Land, p 79.

65 Peterson, "Cholera, Blight, and Sparrows," pp. 139-40.

66 "Agricultural Experiment Station," Logan Republican, January 1, 1904, p 6.

67 Ellsworth, Utah's Heritage, p 374.

68 "Worth of the A.C. of U.," Logan Republican, January 4, 1905, p. 4.

69 Ellsworth, Utah's Heritage, p. 377.

70 Widtsoe to David A. Burgoyne, February 25, 1938, Widtsoe Papers, box 109, folder 20, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City.

71 For additional information see my "Crisis in Utah Higher Education: The Consolidation Controversy of 1905-7," Utah Historical Quarterly 62 (1994): 204-21.