A short time since we received a letter from Mr. Edgar S. Bradley of Omaha, thanking us for publishing extracts from one of a series of letters he has written to the Boston Herald, of which he is the special correspondent for that part of the West. These extracts, it will be remembered, related to the power of the West, especially in its future political, social, agricultural, and commercial aspects.

We are glad to publish so valuable a contribution from so able a pen as Mr. Bradley's, not only for the information given, but because of the necessity for awakening the people of the East to the rapidly increasing magnitude of the great West. It is high time such an awakening should take place. A more thoughtful study, by the people of the East, of the almost limitless possibilities of the vast region of country lying between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, will bring with it a revelation even more wonderful than that which followed the discovery of the American continent by Columbus; especially that part west of the Missouri River, which only of recent years has been, to any extent, developed.

This region of country is a vast empire, embracing within itself every needed element of material prosperity. Its agricultural resources, brought to their highest development, would furnish a net product almost equal to the world's present demands. Its mineral wealth of gold, silver, lead, copper, coal, petroleum, natural gas, iron, etc., is only just becoming known. The discoveries and output thus far are but suggestions of the vast treasure-vaults yet undiscovered. Its horticultural possibilities are astonishing even the oldest experimenters. Its grazing—cattle and sheep raising—facilities are vast beyond the conception of those unfamiliar therewith. A large part of this great region is arid, and can only be reclaimed to cultivation by means of irrigation, and this is being done, thereby adding, with annually increasing rapidity, to the settlement and population of a region which, in the past, has been believed to be uninhabitable.

In this connection a short extract from the "Personal Recollections of General Nelson A. Miles"—a most valuable book—is of interest. On pages 546, et seq., speaking of a section of California he says:—

"Within the memory of most readers it was a hopeless desert, with an oasis here and there around which all there was of the Spanish civilization had clustered. American ingenuity, tempted by a climate which has, perhaps, no parallel in the world, found new sources of water. The highest resources of modern engineering science were applied, and mechanical skill of the first order was brought to bear. Artesian wells were sunk where the existence of water beneath the surface had never before been suspected, and flowing wells, which surprise the eye and seem miraculous, water hundreds of the richest acres of the world. Tunnels have been bored into the mountains. Ditches were lined with cement to prevent the seepage which had wasted half the water in all old systems. Miles of piping have been laid. Mountain springs have been found and their waters carried long distances at vast expense. The results are now known to all the world as something marvelous in an age of marvels. The work has not yet come to an end, and the time may come when hardly an arable acre in all that wonderful region will be unwatered and idle.

"This is but an instance, though perhaps the foremost one, of the practical results of modern irrigation. Yet systems even still more colossal have been made, used, and have passed away, upon American soil. The most extensive of these remains are found in Arizona, a region then and now almost the heart of aridness, and yet one that was once occupied by choice by the unknown people of an unknown time, who lived and toiled in those valleys, which have not since their time been occupied, and which have long since reverted to the primeval desert."

"... The question of irrigation in the United States has in recent years become a topic of absorbing interest. The public lands which are arable and lie in the humid and sub-humid regions are practically all now occupied, and the process of spreading out and occupying has had its first check. Yet the soil of the arid region is very rich. There is every inducement to settlement if there were only a certainty of even a half supply of water. So recently has the emergency confronted us that no action has as yet been taken by the general government beyond the appointment of a commission to investigate general facts and establish boundaries, whose final report has never been acted upon. The various states and territories have locally interested themselves. The instances of successful irrigation in southern California have been mentioned, and exist elsewhere in localities far apart over a wide area. But they may be said truly hardly to affect the general situation, which is one of great magnitude and vast importance. These beginnings have led to investigation and imitation, and the following are some of the facts that now appear:—

"According to the census of 1890 Colorado had under irrigation 4,068.409 acres, or about 6,337 square miles, Arizona had 65,821 acres; New Mexico, 91,745 acres; Wyoming, 229.676 acres; Montana, 350,582 acres. California exceeds the largest of these figures, and there is a still smaller acreage in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. It will be seen how small a proportion of the area of these regions is at this date under the dominion of the plow."

These interesting data furnish a rough hint of the future of the area under consideration, and dimly prophesy of the inevitable course of empire in that direction.

But we cannot dwell upon this subject. It is well worth the serious study of people everywhere, and especially of New England, many of whose citizens, strange as it may seem, are much more familiar with England and the continent of Europe, than with the section of their own country here considered.

Mr. Bradley, then, in his valuable articles, is doing a good educational work along political lines.

Is there not a great educational work to be done along religious lines? What of the future of Christianity in the great West? In almost every part of the settled country west of the Missouri River Christian Science has found its way, and we daily hear of the increasing interest and rapid spread of this practical religion throughout these newer regions. Here alone is a vast world to be conquered, and as the demands increase they must, and will, be fairly met. Meantime let the earnest disciples on these new Galilean shores, continue to sow, patiently awaiting the mighty crop that will surely be reaped in the coming harvest time. East, west, north, and south—everywhere—will the Heaven-sustained workers in the Lord's illimitable vineyard, sooner or later, receive the "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, ... enter into the joy of thy Lord."