--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Poulsen, Ezra J. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 22 number: 6 published: 1919-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Poulsen, Ezra J., "The West," *Improvement Era* 22, no. 6 (April 1919): 505.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2206unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2206unse start_page: 505 end_page: 505 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1919-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2206unse publication_year: 1919 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1919, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The West The West By Ezra J. Poulsen Here's to our mighty Westland, the summit of the earth, the crown of creation. Poets have sung its praises; artists have painted its beauty; and prophets have extolled its future; therefore let its citizens cherish its greatness. It is a land where the golden gates of opportunity stand ajar to welcome the weary and oppressed; the brave and the strong. Surrounded by the blue and purple heights of its majestic mountains, and painted by the crimson glory of the sunset, it is the great divide over which pass the sorrows of yesterday to become transformed into the hopes of to- morrow. The West is big, and strong, and magnificent. The spirit of freedom is in the breath of its bracing atmosphere; and over its peaceful valleys and rock-bound canyons, rests a halo,—the halo of righteous content- ment. Prosperity flourishes on its fertile soil, and man's perversity is being subdued by its sublime influences. It is a land chosen above all others, for into it God led the vanguard of his people. Garden City, Utah