IN MEMORIAM
SCARCELY had Judge Finis C. Farr finished his work
as editor of this history than death came
unheralded
to him with apoplexy.
He was a man whose character had
borne the tes-
timonial of public office alike in
Missouri, his native
state, and in Imperial County, where he had
been a
participant in public affairs from the
earliest of pioneer
days. At the time of his death he was
Register of the
United States Land Office at El Centro.
He was a charter member of the
Masonic Lodge
at Imperial and an active member of the
Imperial
County Bar Association, both of which
organizations
have been quick to spread upon their
records testi-
monials to his ability and his character.
In a sense, this book, representing
practically the
last of his many works for the public good,
will be a
monument to his memory, and in the years to
come
will be evidence of the high type of men
who consti-
tuted the pioneers of Imperial Valley, and
who under-
took to shape its development to the
lasting good of
humanity.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta
It is related of Lord Byron that when a boy in school
he, with his fellows, was required to write a paraphrase of the Biblical
account of the miracle of turning water into wine; within a few moments he
handed to his teacher this line: "The conscious water saw its God and
blushed." Nothing could have been added which would have strengthened or
added beauty to the matchless setting.
May we not, in humble imitation of that great genius,
say of Imperial Valley: Its fruitful soil was caressed by the wasting water
of an unregarded river and blossomed in perennial beauty? The magic touch
of the life-giving water was not an accident. It followed the most intense
and unremitting efforts of big brained, big souled men, who wrought under
such difficulties and discouragements as would have daunted smaller men.
What heroes they were, and how richly they deserve the crowns today so
grudgingly bestowed, but which the future will surely bestow upon them.
And the pioneers who located the first ranches and
planted the first crops - who can fitly write their heroic annals? Who
tell of their privations and sacrifices which resulted in making life within
the magic borders of Imperial Valley the priceless heritage of man?
Standing today by the grave of that infant civilization which blossomed,
amid such hardships, upon a desert, we would fain lift the veil and see the
unthought-of transformation which fifty years will bring. Even in infancy,
a colossus, a giant, what will the years bring to this wonder land? It
deserves a better, wiser, abler historian than any man alive today can
be. F. C. FARR.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta