The irrigation of a desert: the prairie farm Rehabilitation Admiration (PFRA) Irrigation Farm at Outlook, Saskatchewan

In 1857, Captain John Palliser descrived the vast plains of what was to become southwestern Saskatchewan as "a desert." Settlers avoided the area like the plague. Frequent continuing droughts, particularly the massive ten-year onslaught of the 1930s confirmed its status as a worthless desert of real estate. Yet, men of vision viewed the untapped waters of the South Saskatchewan River as a wasted resource, flowing unheeded to an ocean reservoir. T...