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<br />The extent of the commerce stimUlated by irri- <br /> <br /> <br />gation is illustrated by data from the latest CensuS of <br /> <br /> <br />Business. Scotts Bluff County, representing about half the <br /> <br /> <br />valley's business volume, reported retail sales of $41,905,000, <br /> <br /> <br />wholesale trade of $45,327,000, service business of $2,025,000, <br /> <br /> <br />and manufacturing that added $9,318,000 to the value of the <br /> <br /> <br />raw materials. <br /> <br /> <br />Today's growth of commerce and industry is tightly <br /> <br /> <br />knit, with agriculture. Fertilizer plarts, alfalfa processing <br /> <br /> <br />mills, and custom farm services are a part of the parade of <br /> <br /> <br />technological advances taking place in agriculture. Irrigation <br /> <br /> <br />farming is dynamic-it will continue to inspire new growth <br /> <br /> <br />and new opport-.'.Ilities wherever it is practiced. <br /> <br /> <br />Claude Wright, banker and livestock man of Mitchell, <br /> <br /> <br />Nebraska, first came to the valley in 1909 and aptly describes <br /> <br /> <br />the growth of business: "Prior to irrigation, farm income <br /> <br /> <br />came fran range livestcck. Irrigation brought intensive <br /> <br /> <br />agriculture. This in turn called for a large amount of labor. <br /> <br /> <br />Eight families u<lilt irrigated farms where before only one <br /> <br /> <br />dryland farm or ranch family had lived. As population grew <br /> <br /> <br />from the original 3 persons per square mile to about 20 or 24 <br /> <br /> <br />persons, business on our main streets increased every year. <br /> <br /> <br />As the years passed, farmers mechanized and thus created a <br /> <br /> <br />new market for farm equipment." <br /> <br />15 <br />