On July 24th, 1847, Brigham Young with his band of
pioneers entered Great Salt Lake Valley, and on that day ground was
plowed, potatoes planted, and a tiny stream of water led from City
Creek to cover this first farm. The early endeavors of the Utah
pioneers were devoted almost wholly to the construction of
irrigation systems. The parched desert ground appeared so different
from the moist soils of Illinois and Iowa, which the pioneers had
cultivated, as to make it seem impossible to produce crops without
irrigation. Still, as time wore on, inquiring minds considered the
possibility of growing crops without irrigation; and occasionally
when a farmer was deprived of his supply of irrigation water through
the breaking of a canal or reservoir it was noticed by the community
that in spite of the intense heat the plants grew and produced small
yields.
Gradually the conviction grew upon the Utah pioneers that farming
without irrigation was not an impossibility; but the small
population were kept so busy with their small irrigated farms that
no serious attempts at dry-farming were made during the first seven
or eight years.
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