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COLORADO 
 
 AS AN 
 
 AGRICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 ITS 
 
 FARMS, FIELDS, AND GARDEN LANDS. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM E. PABOE. 
 
 ASSOniATB BDITOB OP THB " COLO"BAJ>0 PABMEB," AXJTHOB OP " PEUIlT'SlH^u™^ 
 IN COLOKADO." ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTSATED. 
 
 NEW TOEK: 
 
 OEAISTGE JUDD COMPANY, 
 
 751 BEOADWAT. 
 1883. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, In tbe year 1882, by tbe 
 
 ORANGE JtlBD COMPANY, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
TO 
 
 HON. JOHN S. STANGEK, 
 
 OF DEHVEE, 
 
 BDITOB OF THE "COLORADO FAEMBB," 
 
 AMD 
 
 AN EAKKEST ADVOCATE OP *T,T. THINGS PEBTALNINQ TO THE 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OP THE AQKIOnLTUKAL 
 
 BESOUKOES OP COLOEADO, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS DEDICATED, WITH SINCEEE ESTEEM, 
 
 ET 
 
 HIS OO-LABOKEB AND PEIEND, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE, 
 
 In preparing this Tolume I have aimed to keep strictly 
 within the border line of facts. Twelve years of careful 
 observation, a personal acquaintance with nearly all the 
 valleys described herein, an earnest desire to make public 
 the agricultural resources of a State whose remarkable 
 growth has no parallel in American history, — these have 
 been impelling motives in the preparation of this truth- 
 ful account of the valleys, plains, and parks of Colorado. 
 
 William E. Pabok. 
 
 Shady Side, Argyle Park, near Denver, Dec., 1883. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 FAQE 
 
 Chapter I. 
 Introductory _ __ 9 
 
 Chapter II. 
 Historical and Geographical 19 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Colonization in Colorado . S7 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Irrigation — Measurement of Water 37 
 
 Chapter V. 
 Area Susceptible of Irrigation. 55 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 How Fanning Pays.. 60 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 Cache-la-Poudre Valley 75 
 
 Chapter VHI. 
 Big Thompson, Little Thompson, St. Vrain 87 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 Boulder and Clear Creek Valleys - 93 
 
 Chapter X. 
 South Platte Valley 99 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 Southern Colorado 110 
 
8 table of cohtteifts, 
 
 Chapter XIL 
 San Luis Park 130 
 
 Chapter SHI. 
 Southwestern Colorado. -. -143 
 
 Chapter XTV. 
 Artesian Wells — ^Reservoirs _ 150 
 
 Chapter XV. 
 Apiculture 157 
 
 Chapter XVI. 
 Fruit Growing 164 
 
 Chapter XVU. 
 Questions and Answers --- 173 
 
 Chapter XVIII. 
 Colorado Agricultural CoUege ..179 
 
 Chapter XIX. 
 Fanning Journals - 183 
 
 Chapter XX. 
 Cattle and Sheep 188 
 
 Chapter XXI. 
 The Railway System of the State 203 
 
 Chapter XXn. 
 Garden Culture by Irrigation ._307 
 
COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 CHAPTER I, 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 " Far in the West there lies a desert land, where the mountains 
 Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and luminous summits. 
 
 And to the South, from the Fontaine-qui-bouille and the Spanish Sierras, 
 Fretted with sands and roots, and swept by the wind of the desert. 
 Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, descend to the ocean, 
 Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and solemn vibrations. 
 Spreading between the streams are wondrous, beautiful prairies, 
 BUlowy bays of grass are rolling in shadow and sunshine; 
 Bright with the luxurious clusters of roses and purple amorphas. 
 Over them wander the buffalo herds, and the elk, and the roebuck; 
 Over them wander the wolves and herds of riderless horses; 
 Fires that blast and blight, and winds that are weary with travel. 
 Over them wander the scattered tribes cf Ishmael's children, 
 Staining the desert with blood, and above their terrible war-trail 
 Circles and sails afloat, on pinions majestic, the Vulture, 
 Like the Implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered in battle, . 
 By invisible stairs ascending and scaling the heavens. 
 Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these savage marauders; 
 Here and there rise groves from the margins of swift-running rivers, 
 And the grim, taciturn bear, the anchorite monk of the desert, 
 Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for roots by the brookside; 
 While over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline heaven, 
 Like the protecting hand of God inverted above them." 
 
 So wrote Henry W. Longfellow in years gone by. Then, 
 no doubt, the picture was as truthful as the poem is still 
 beautiful. The genius of the poet depicted in wild and 
 weird verse the desert as it was. But now — now, " the 
 clear and crystalline heaven" remains, but all else is 
 (9) 
 
10 COLOBADO AS AN AGKICULTUKAL STATE. ^ 
 
 changed, as by the hand of magic. Between Long's Peak, 
 sentinelling the northern border of Colorado, and the 
 Spanish Peaks,niarking its southern boundary, the changes 
 have been wondrous. " Billowy bays of grass " are still 
 to be seen, but the buffalo and the elk have disappeared; 
 wolves in countless multitudes, and riderless horses in 
 mighty droves no longer wander over untenanted prairies. 
 The Indian, " staining the desert with blood," ias been 
 driven further and further to the westward, until now he 
 no longer hides in the foot-hills, or even in the rock pal- 
 aces of the clifE dwellers in deep and dark mountain 
 gorges far away in the Toltec ranges of the Sierras. A 
 nation whose motto is civilization inhabits the land. The 
 valleys that once were desolate are now alive with hu- 
 manity, and each recurring summer sees them robed in 
 verdure, fresh from the hand of Ceres. In the hills, 
 where the bear, the lion, and the wolf once roamed, there 
 are cities, towns, and innumerable mining camps, where 
 thousands dig, and delve, and toil for gold that glitters, 
 and silver that shines. In the valleys, where streams 
 with limpid currents once ran unfettered to the plains on 
 their journey to the sea, there are towns, where industries 
 flourish, and hamlets, wherein center all the elements of 
 social existence. The water, won by skill and enterprise 
 from its accustomed channel, runs over fields and farms, 
 and becomes, in the divine alchemy of Nature, as precious 
 as were the words that dropped from the mouth of the 
 princess in the fairy tale, changing, in the dropping, to 
 priceless pearls. Seed-time and harvest, once suggested 
 as a possibility, have become a certainty in Colorado. The 
 system of soil-culture, old, almost, as the history of civili- 
 zation, common in the ancient lands of Asia and Africa, 
 where art has been brought to the aid of nature, and the 
 economies of earth-culture advanced to the highest per- 
 fection, is here revived on soil older, perhaps, than the 
 soil of Egypt. Mother Earth yields a bountiful return to 
 
INTEODUCTIO]<r. 11 
 
 all who approach her with open hands. These she fills, 
 in due season, out of her abundant store, and promises still 
 greater abundance, when wider experience and sounder 
 wisdom are brought to the aid of the soil-tiller, who is 
 also the bread-winner and the world-feeder. 
 
 The first question that will be asked by those who 
 think of settling in Colorado is this: "Is Colorado a 
 farming country ? " Supplementary to this comes the 
 query, " Does it pay to farm in Colorado ? " I propose 
 to consider these questions, and answer them from an ex- 
 perience of twelve years in the State, as well as to con- 
 sider other points that present themselves to the minds of 
 the dwellers by the rivers, lakes, and the sea, in the East- 
 ern States, to whom agriculture has been a life-long pur- 
 suit, and who, having become weary of its routine in the 
 East think of, and seek for, a new home in the broad and 
 boundless West, with their eyes more especially turned 
 toward Colorado. 
 
 As compared with Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, or 
 Kansas, Colorado is not a farming country. The breadth 
 of land suitable for cultivation is limited, and the condi- 
 tions of the climate peculiar. As, in the days when the 
 Boys in Blue met the Boys in Gray upon the battle-field, 
 there was a " dead line," passing which meant danger 
 and death, so in the agricultural field of Colorado, there 
 is a " water line," to go beyond which means disappoint- 
 ment and destruction to the stalwart sons of the soil who 
 seek to gain a livelihood from the bosom of Mother Earth. 
 Inside the line, certain conditions being complied with, 
 success is certain. 
 
 As a late writer upon the subject has tersely put it, 
 " Agriculture in Colorado is an entirely different pur- 
 suit from what it is in the Eastern States, and the farmer 
 who comes to the State and enters upon the cultivation 
 of the soil in the style he has been accustomed to, will 
 find that failure is more likely to result from his labors 
 
13 COLOBADO AS AK AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 than success. He lias so much to unlearn. It is better 
 to abandon all notions and begin anew. Dependent upon 
 irrigation for the growth of his crops, he must study the 
 methods and meet the requirements of the climate. With 
 a fixed purpose in his mind to overcome all the obstacles 
 that will daily present themselves to him, it will not be 
 long before the new order of things will be familiar to 
 him. Once understanding the method, he may rely upon 
 Nature for the rest. Bountiful harvests will crown his 
 efforts, and excellent prices will cheer his heart and fill 
 his pocket. Irrigation is dreaded, because it is not un- 
 derstood; yet the records of ancient history are full of it, 
 and to day, in India, China, Italy, Spain, France, and 
 other countries, long and expensively-maintained canals 
 are the reliance of millions, to whom a failure of the 
 water would literally mean starvation." 
 
 Colorado, then, is not a farming country, in the sense 
 that Kansas is. But farming can be done in Colorado, 
 and money made at it. The danger of an over-supply of 
 production, so far as the cereals, fruits, and vegetables are 
 concerned, is not among the possibilities of the future. 
 Yearly over ten million dollars' worth of agricultural 
 products are shipped into the State. The land that lies 
 where water can overrun it and permeate it, is valuable 
 land, and will at no far-distant day bring prices that 
 •would now seem wild and extravagant to name. 
 
 But those who come must not expect more from Colo- 
 rado than she can give. No doubt, hundreds of those 
 who enter its borders, return to the States disappointed 
 in their expectations, and lay heavy blame upon those 
 who have written about its agricultural resources, and in- 
 vited them to come. Those who reach Colorado with 
 certain ideas of society, soil, climate, and country, based 
 upon what they have left behind them, are likely to be 
 disappointed, as they would be were they to go to Alaska. 
 Those who come expecting to find fenced farms and 
 
INTEODUCTION. 13 
 
 plowed lands with fruit-bearing trees thereon, and irrigat- 
 ing canals intersecting every other rod of such lands, 
 upon which they have only to file a "preemption," or 
 "homestead" claim, and then settle down and enjoy all 
 the comforts of life, consequent upon an old social civili- 
 zation, will have only themselves to blame for their dis- 
 appointment. Such "soft spots" may be found, it is 
 true; but they must be bought and paid for at a price a 
 little higher, at least, than the Government asks for wild 
 lands. Just as those who now purchase in the Wyoming 
 Valley in Pennsylvania, or the Genesee Valley in New 
 York, buy and pay for land that was once an unbroken 
 forest, but from which hardy pioneers felled the trees, 
 dragged the stumps, and braved peril from wild beasts, 
 and from stUl wilder savages. It took one man many 
 years to clear a farm in Indiana, and in Colorado the con- 
 ditions of success vary only in peculiarity. One man 
 alone cannot build an irrigating canal many miles in 
 length, and so redeem broad prairie land from the curse 
 of sterility. Seldom can ten men do it, save where the 
 land lies close to the water's edge. It takes combined 
 energy, skill, and capital to construct them. Once built, 
 however, and the land cultivated, the harvest is sure for 
 the farmer who sows his seed, and, without watching the 
 clouds, provides his land with the moisture it needs dur- 
 ing the season of crop-growing. 
 
 Agriculture in Colorado and the valley lands being in- 
 separable, they must be taken together in considering the 
 amount of land available for cultivation, and locations 
 where land can yet be obtained. Later, in this volume, 
 I will describe these valleys in detail. In the present chap- 
 ter the principal ones will be briefly mentioned, in order 
 that the reader may have a general idea of the State as a 
 whole, before descending to particular localities. 
 
 Beginning, therefore, in the northern part of the State, 
 the first valley below the State line is the Cache-la-Pou- 
 
14 COLOEADO AS AK AGKICULTTIBAL STATE. 
 
 dre, one of the earliest settled and best farming yalleys 
 in the State. Here was located the Union Colony at 
 Greeley, and the Agricultural Colony at Fort Collins. 
 A number of large canals traverse a stretch of land about 
 thirty-flye miles long, having an average width of five 
 miles. These are mainly on the north side of the stream. 
 As this valley has had the benefit of new settlers for 
 many years, homestead locations are very scarce. Parties 
 having means, however, will find it easy to secure pleas- 
 ant farms, either in the neighborhood of Greeley, Eaton, 
 Wheatlands, or Fort Collins. About one-third of the 
 ■wheat at present raised in the State comes from this 
 valley. 
 
 Lying seventeen miles south is the Big Thompson Val- 
 ley, noted for its beauty, and the fertility of its soil; 
 though, indeed, it may be said that this last feature is 
 peculiar to all the valleys of Colorado. An occasional 
 homestead may be secured here, but as a rule, all the 
 available land has long been filed upon, occupied, and 
 patented. The Little Thompson, a tributary stream, 
 has a small valley with choice arable land on either side 
 fully occupied by settlers. 
 
 The St. Vrain Valley is thickly settled. It is orie of 
 the oldest districts in the State, :dating back to the time 
 when the country was only inhabited by trappers. If a 
 new comer desires a home among a community as pros- 
 perous as any in the State, he can find it here. It has 
 been said that there are more fenced, and consequently 
 properly improved farms here, than elsewhere. Proba- 
 bly fifty thousand acres are under fence; improvements 
 are of a good, permanent character. On both sides of 
 the stream, look where you will, you find evidence of an 
 intention to stay and make homes as well as farms. It 
 will be readily understood, from this fact, that Govern- 
 ment lands are not to be looked for here. But improved 
 farms can be had at prices running from fifteen dollars to 
 
INTEODUCTION. 15 
 
 fifty dollars per acre. Owing to the fact that the supply 
 of water from this stream is used to its utmost capacity, 
 not many new farms, if indeed any, can be opened up, 
 and these only under canals now in operation. 
 
 Boulder Valley is a famous wheat-growing section. 
 The stream affords a fair supply of water, which at pres- 
 ent is not all used for irrigating purposes. All the ara- 
 ble land, however, is held by private parties. About 
 twenty thousand acres are under fence. Considerable 
 hay is raised. 
 
 In Ealston, Bear, and Clear Creek Valleys, in the near 
 vicinity of the City of Denver, there is but little vacant 
 land. The supply of water, unless it may be from the 
 last named stream, is used to its utmost limit, and the 
 opportunities, therefore, are few, where vacant land in- 
 vites the new comer to establish a home upon it. 
 
 The South Platte Valley, for fifty miles from where it 
 debouches from the foot-hills, is occupied by farmers on 
 the lands lying contiguous to the stream. Until lately 
 the canals from it were small and suited, save in the 
 neighborhood of the towns of Littleton, Brighton, Platte- 
 viUe and Evans, to the needs of individual farmers along 
 its banks. But there is now in course of construction, a 
 canal whose proposed dimensions make it the largest en- 
 terprise of the kind in the State, which will bring many 
 thousand acres of land under cultivation within ten miles 
 of the largest city — Denver — in the State; and furnish 
 homes for thousands of farmers. An area, of probably 
 one hundred thousand acres can be put into cultivation, 
 a.nd the next few years will demonstrate the value of 
 every foot of land under this canal, of which a fuller ac- 
 count will be given in the chapter devoted to the South 
 Platte Valley. 
 
 On the Divide, as it is called, irrigation is not always 
 required to raise crops. Here is a section of country 
 eminently adapted to dairying. The altitude is from 
 
16 COLOKADO AS AN AGEICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 six thousand to seven thousand five hundred feet above 
 the level of the sea. Timber abounds. Springs give 
 clear, pure, cold water in abundance, while rain enough 
 falls, in ordinary seasons, to insure crops of grain and 
 potatoes. This belt of country in Central Colorado is 
 not so well known as some other sections, save for its 
 timber. It has been somewhat inaccessible, but a rail- 
 road crosses it on its western limit, and a second is now 
 traversing it on its eastern line. It has no large streams. 
 Its climate may be called peculiar. It is famous for the 
 sharpest lightning known in the State. But it has advan- 
 tages that may well attract the attention of new comers. 
 
 On the Fontaine-qui-Bouille but little unoccupied 
 land can be found. The supply of water available for 
 irrigation is not large ; probably ten thousand acres can 
 be cultivated. There are a good many farms between 
 Colorado Springs and Pueblo that lie idle, but should be 
 in the hands of enterprising men. There is no doubt 
 that lands can be purchased at reasonable figures and on 
 easy terms, and it will not be time lost for intending 
 settlers, as they journey southward, to look over these 
 neglected places. 
 
 In the Arkansas Valley lie vast stretches of arable 
 land, reaching from the foot-hills to the easternmost 
 limit of the State. Not one twentieth part has as yet 
 been put under cultivation. The Atchison, Topeka 
 and Santa Pe railroad runs through' nearly the en- 
 tire belt, thus making Eastern and Western markets 
 convenient of access. The soil is somewhat more 
 sandy than the soil in the northern part of the 
 State, and does not, therefore, hold the water as weU, 
 requiring more for the season's use. There are a num- 
 ber of streams tributary to the Arkansas, whose valleys 
 are more or less suitable for irrigation. In fact, taking 
 this stream and the tributaries, and calculating the irri- 
 gable area, upon the assumption that twelve cubic feet 
 
IlfTEODtrCTIOK. 17 
 
 of water per second will irrigate one square mile, or six 
 hundred and forty acres, there is in this valley and its 
 feeders at least half a million acres of land adapted to 
 cultivation, the greatest portion of which lies open to set- 
 tlement or purchase. In the early days of Colorado's his- 
 tory, the stream of emigration flowed up the valley of 
 the South Platte, and for many years Northern Colorado 
 received the benefit of settlement and Southern Colorado 
 was overlooked. A milder climate, a sandier soil, a lon- 
 ger growing season, these are points in favor of this sec- 
 tion of Colorado that may well invite the scrutiny of 
 those who expect to settle in the State. 
 
 Lying west of these tributaries of the Arkansas, and 
 beyond the Sangre de Christo range of mountains, is San 
 Luis Park, watered by the Eio Grande del Norte and its 
 feeders,' the Alamosa, Conejos, Trinchara, La Jara, 
 Culebra, Costilla, and other streams. Here there is an 
 immense body of land, nearly all susceptible of cultiva- 
 tion, and very little of it occupied. There are entire 
 townships of vacant agricultural lands open to homestead 
 or preemption, to lease or purchase from State, College 
 and School authorities. Here is a section of country — of 
 which I shall write more fully in a later chapter — fifty 
 miles wide and two hundred long, in close proximity to 
 mining regions where towns are rapidly springing up 
 and whose inhabitants all require to be fed. A market 
 that can never be overstocked here awaits the fortunate 
 farmers who seek from the soil the abundant harvest that 
 awaits those who sow the seed and who do not seek in vain. 
 "Heretofore," says a late writer, "the agricultural re- 
 sources of San Luis Park have been overlooked or neglected, 
 but its producing capacities are practically inexhaustible. 
 The arable lands are capable of supporting an immense 
 population . " I feel confident that the day is not far distant 
 when the San Luis Park will be as closely settled as is 
 the St. Vrain Valley now, with farmers as forehanded. 
 
18 COLORADO AS AST AGEICITLTUEAL STATE. 
 
 with farms as well improved, with homes as firmly estab- 
 lished. The Denver and Eio Grande railway system has 
 touched the heart of the Park ; moving southward, it 
 traverses Conejos Valley ; and, westward, the heart of 
 the great San Juan country. Hence transportation to 
 this desirable section of Colorado is easy and rapid. 
 
 Beyond the main range of mountains, and upon the 
 western slope, there are points where areas of arable land, 
 of varying size, are to be found. Especially in the section 
 until lately known as the Indian Eeservation, in South- 
 western Colorado, there are magnificent belts of land 
 suitable for cultivation, lately opened for settlement. 
 Especially is this true of the Uncompahgre, Gunnison 
 and Grand Valleys. On Bear, White, and Yampah rivers 
 are' localities yet to be occupied by thrifty farmers. 
 
 To the farmer who can reach Colorado with some 
 capital, and is therefore in a position to select his home, 
 there are abundant opportunities in Northern Colorado 
 for so doing. The days of pioneering are over in the val- 
 leys of the Cache-la-Poudre, the St. Vrain and the Boul- 
 der. Improved farms, cultivated homes abound. The 
 man who comes with money ean easily find the man who 
 is willing to sell his farm for money. To the farmer who 
 comes with but little money, there are occasional oppor- 
 tunities in Northern Colorado, and abundant ones in the 
 southern and western part of the State, to secure farms 
 partly improved. Time, patience, and earnest labor are 
 sure to bring about a state of affairs satisfactory to those 
 engaged in a profession as honorable as it is ancient. 
 
 The valley lands of Colorado are as valuable and as ex- 
 haustless in treasure as are its hills. In each sleeps the 
 princess awaiting the coming of the one whose touch 
 shall waken her to life and activity. In the hills, the 
 pick ; in the valleys, the plow. Whether in glittering 
 gold or in shimmering, shining grain, what matters it, 
 so that happiness waits upon her waking ? 
 
CHAPTER II, 
 
 HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 As early as 1530, Spanish adventurers in Mexico were 
 interested in the accounts occasionally received from the 
 north, of a land full of gold and precious stones. Their 
 cupidity being naturally excited, led to various partial 
 but unsatisfactory explorations, with a view to the estab- 
 lishment of the Catholic religion, and securing the untold 
 wealth supposed to be hidden in what was termed the 
 Buffalo country, or what is now known as Arizona, New 
 Mexico, and Colorado. 
 
 In the year 1540, Yasques Coronada, a Spanish ad- 
 venturer, fitted out, under the direction of the Viceroy 
 of the Spanish Crown at Sinaloa, in New Spain, an 
 expedition whose passage along the base of the Rocky 
 Mountains is the first upon record. He passed up the 
 canons leading to the source of the Gila River, crossed 
 the mountains, and reaching the Rio Grande del Norte, 
 followed up this stream until he entered San Luis Park. 
 Finding his way out of this magnificent valley through 
 the pass called Sangre de Christo, he turned his steps 
 northward and skirted the base of the mountains until 
 he reached Long's Peak, in the northern part of the 
 State. 
 
 Coronada sought for gold, but found it not. The 
 country of the Seven Cities of Cibola, of which so much 
 had been heard, was a disappointment to him wherever 
 he went, inasmuch as he found no evidence of wealth, 
 and only a few scattered settlements of Indians, where he 
 supposed were populous cities. But the ruins he met 
 with were remarkable, and to this day, the archaeologists 
 (19) 
 
20 COLOEADO AS AN A6EICFLTUKAL STATE. 
 
 are puzzled over the story they conceal. But Coronada 
 made no settlement, though he traversed the base of the 
 mountains, pierced the deep canons, and heard the wind 
 whistle among the trees on the mountain tops. He 
 sought for gold and found it not; yet probably passed 
 over the richest deposits of gold and silver in the world. 
 The wand of witch-hazel had lost its power, or, per- 
 chance, the hour had not yet struck when the veins of 
 the heart of the Continent were to be opened, yielding 
 such wonderful treasures to the world. Long years 
 passed before anything' more was known of the hidden 
 land. 
 
 In the seventeenth century, various bold explorers 
 visited the vast re^on of country lying north of the Kio 
 Grand del Norte. * Col. "Wood in 1654, Capt. Bolt in 
 1670, and M. de la Salle in 1683. During this period 
 the country was supposed to be under French rule, but 
 in 1769 it was ceded to Spain, under whose control it re- 
 mained thirty years, when it again passed into the hands 
 of the French. Three years later, the United States, 
 by purchase and by treaty, came into possession, and 
 from the opening of the nineteenth century, the story of 
 this vast region is part and parcel of American history. 
 
 Major Zebulon N, Pike's is the first expedition in date, 
 having been fitted out under the direction of the War 
 Department as early as 1805. His main object of search 
 was the source of the Arkansas. On the 15th of No- 
 vember, of that year, he came in sight of what had before 
 been called Mexican Mountain, now known as Pike's 
 Peak; on the 25th he camped at its base. One or two 
 efforts were made to ascend it, but failure ensued on ac- 
 count of the immense fields of snow upon its rugged sides. 
 Eetuming to the plains, he crossed the Divide between 
 the Arkansas and the South Platte, and traversed the 
 country until he came to what was supposed to be the 
 Eed River; but it is the opinion of Fremont and others 
 
HISTORICAL ASTB GEOGEAl'HICAL. 31 
 
 that the stream he reached was the Grand, in the west- 
 ern part of Colorado. 
 
 In 1819, Col. Long's expedition set out from Pitts- 
 burgh, and, striking the mountains near Fort St. Vrain, 
 on the stream of that name, he caught his first view of 
 the peak named in his honor. He traversed the base of 
 the mountains through the entire length of the territory, 
 and it was during this expedition that Dr. James ascend- 
 ed the Mexican Mountain, or Grand Peak, first seen 
 by Major Pike. Col. Long named it after the bold ex- 
 plorer who first scaled its rock-ribbed sides, but later it 
 was found that Pike's name had been fastened to it by 
 the settlers in a way that could not be shaken ofE. 
 
 Bonneville followed Long in 1832, and ten years later 
 Col. Fremont's expedition was sent out. Two years 
 later it returned, having passed up the South Platte, 
 crossed the Big Thompson, Oache-la-Poudre and Crow 
 creeks, thence along the base of the foot-hills to Fort 
 Laramie (then a part of the American Fur Company), 
 and so across the range to the Pacific Coast. After ex- 
 ploring north and south, he recrossed the range and 
 made his way through what is now known as South Park, 
 to the Arkansas Eiver. 
 
 The printed results of these three expeditions gave to 
 the American people but a faint conception of the mag- 
 nificent heritage they had fallen heir to. Up to this 
 time there were but few white settlers in the country. 
 The Pawnee and the Cheyenne, the Ute and the Arapahoe 
 roamed over the country and made war upon each other 
 for the possession of the valuable hunting grounds, and 
 the wings of the Eagle of Civilization were dipped, at their 
 western tips, in the sluggish waters of the Missouri Eiver. 
 All beyond, east of the Eocky range, was given over to a 
 few adventurous trappers in the employ of fur companies 
 and to the inhospitable savage. 
 
 In 1857, a party of Cherokee Indians on their way to 
 
22 COLORADO AS AK AGEICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 California, discovered gold in the sands of Ralston creek, 
 an afluent of the South Platte Eiver, and from this date 
 the history of Colorado may fairly commence. The news 
 spread -like wild-fire and thousands rushed to the new El 
 Dorado. By the year 1859, Pike's Peak was the objec- 
 tive point of the multitude of gold seekers, and the 
 territory soon became a bee-hive. Colorado City, 
 Denver, Black Hawk, Golden, and Georgetown were 
 founded, and a Convention was called to form a State 
 Constitution and to apply for admission into the Union. 
 Submitted to the people, the proposition was rejected by 
 a vote of two thousand one hundred to six hundred and 
 fifty. In 1861, Congress organized the Territory of 
 Colorado with its present boundaries. The population 
 at this time was about thirty thousand — one-sixth of 
 whom were females. In 1863, a second Convention met 
 in Denver, formed a Constitution and submitted it to the 
 people. This was also rejected, but the following year 
 another attempt was made, which succeeded. A State 
 organization was effected, a Governor, Legislature, Judic- 
 ial Officers, Senators, and a Eepresentative elected. The 
 bill for admission as a State passed Congress with but 
 little opposition, but President Johnson vetoed it. "For 
 ten years thereafter but little agitation of the State ques- 
 tion occurred ; but in 1875, an enabling act was again 
 brought before Congress, and the people were called upon 
 to choose members of a convention which was to draft a 
 Constitution to be submitted to the people for adoption. 
 This Convention met in December, 1875, closed its labors 
 in March, 1876, having perfected a Constitution which 
 was submitted to and adopted by the people, and the 
 Centennial Year witnessed the entrance into the family 
 of the Union, of Colorado, the Centennial State. 
 
 The geographical position of Colorado can be briefly 
 stated. It comprises all that portion of the National 
 domain within the thirty-seventh and forty-first parallels 
 
HISTORICAL AND GEOGEAPHIOAL. 33 
 
 of north latitude, and the one hundred and second and one 
 hundred and ninth meridian of west longitude. It is 
 nearly square, and contains one hundred and six thousand 
 four hundred and scTenty-five square miles, or nearly sixty- 
 eight millions of acres. Two- thirds of this vast region 
 is one continuous system of mountain ranges, within 
 whose gigantic arms lie enfolded valleys of unrivalled 
 beauty and parks of magnificent extent. Here is to be 
 found the most elevated region on the North American 
 Continent. Mount Lincoln — like Saul of old among his 
 brethren — ^towers three thousand feet above a score of 
 fellow peaks lying north and south of its eternal snow- 
 capped summit, and yet whose lowest altitude is twelve 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea. From its sum- 
 mit can be seen twenty-five peaks over fourteen thousand 
 feet high, and two hundred over twelve thousand, with 
 lesser peaks, ranging from eight to ten thousand, almost 
 innumerable. Professor Hayden fixed the position of 
 every leading peak within thirty thousand square miles, 
 in his survey, completed in 1873, and he characterized 
 the ground as "one of the most interesting areas on the 
 Continent, both in a geological and geographical point of 
 view, forming, as it does, the center of the greatest ele- 
 vation in the Eocky Mountain chain," In Central Colo- 
 rado this chain proper is about one hundred and twenty 
 miles broad, made up of three lofty parallel ranges, 
 flanked on the western slope by great plateaus and groups 
 , of peaks. The front, or Colorado range, rises abruptly 
 from the plains and can be seen in one grand pano- 
 rama one hundred and forty miles long. Between these 
 ranges lie the parks of Colorado, one of the most mag- 
 nificent as well as most interesting features within the 
 borders of the State. These parks are numerous, but 
 there are four worthy of distinct mention. North Park, 
 thirty miles in diameter, near the northern boundary, 
 out of which flows the North Platte river, whose waters. 
 
2i COLOEADO AS Alf AGBICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 follo-wing tortuous windings, reach the Missouri and 
 Mississippi rivers, and finally rest in the placid bosom 
 of the Gulf of Mexico. Middle Park, also a circular 
 basin, is fifty miles in diameter. Out of it flows that 
 Grand river which Pike reached and mis'took for the 
 Eed Eiver of the North, of which he was in search. 
 South Park, thirty miles wide and sixty miles long, is 
 one vast meadow through which the South Platte Eiver 
 courses. San Luis Park, most southerly of all, is drained 
 by the Eio Grande del Norte. With elevations varying 
 from six to eight thousand feet, well watered and abun- 
 dantly timbered, an unequalled climate, with mineral 
 springs and the precious metals in abundance, these parks 
 are to be the habitation of thousands, and the seat of num- 
 berless industries. They are now (except the last-named) 
 the paradise of the hunter, and for a few years to come 
 will be the yearly resort of the Nimrods of the woods. 
 
 From the foot-hills to the timber line, the vast moun- 
 tain chains traversing the State are one vast forest of 
 pine and cedar, from which the future lumber and fuel 
 of the inhabitants can be drawn for a century to come. 
 In the heart of the mountains lie countless mines of gold, 
 silver, iron, and coal, yet untouched. Mining is but in 
 its infancy, though the State has leaped to the front rank 
 of mineral-producing States. The seventy-five or hun- 
 dred millions that have thus far dropped through the 
 fingers of the miners, are but as a trifle to what shall 
 come hereafter, when capital shall stiffen into strength 
 and toughness, the hands that as yet grope feebly upon 
 the surface of the shining soil. Beneath the tread of the 
 sturdy prospector, lie minerals and precious stones with- 
 out number, moss agates, onyx, amethyst, jasper, chal- 
 cedony and garnet; these and others hide themselves in 
 the parks, beside the creeks, and in the foot-hills. 
 
 There was a time when the stones that lay scattered 
 over the undulating plains of Mesopotamia were eloquent 
 
HISTORICAL AKD GEOGEAPHICAL. 25 
 
 with the silence and the secrets of untold centuries. But 
 one day, says a writer, there came an interpreter and the 
 silence of the sands and the secret of the stones was a 
 secret no longer. Nineveh, in all the grandeur of its 
 desolation, stot)d revealed to the world to which it had 
 become almost a tradition. The stones told their story 
 as other stones have told theirs, from the time Jacob 
 used one for a pillow, down to these later days when 
 the geologist, with hammer in hand, goes about the 
 earth, opening up at his touch new pages in the Book of 
 Nature, recalling old truths from forgotten rolls of sci- 
 ence, advancing human knowledge to higher planes, 
 teaching new truths that brush away at once the cob- 
 webs that ignorance and superstition have gathered about 
 the ears, and eyes, and intellect of human kind. 
 
 So is it with the rocks and stones of Colorado. Already 
 they begin to tell wonderful stories of the uncounted 
 eons that stretch out into the limitless past of which we, 
 as yet, only catch faint glimpses. Here is a field for the 
 geologist, ever fresh and fair. The age is ripe for the 
 revelation the geologic translator can give. These river 
 beds, these parks where once swept inland seas, these 
 foot-hills, these plains, each yield up distinctive speci- 
 mens, marking the earth's wonderful progress from the 
 «A.zoic age down to our own day. 
 
 The foot-hills, as they are called, to distinguish them 
 from the higher ranges that tower west of them, are in 
 reality mountain chains, only of lesser magnitude. They 
 commence when the plains have reached an altitude of 
 between four and five thousand feet above the level of the 
 sea, and running parallel with the main ranges back of 
 them, lift their heads from three to five thousand feet 
 high. Here flourish the pine, cedar, aspen, and birch. 
 In the valleys, and small parks they inclose, vegetation is 
 very thrifty. The hay-producing qualities of the soil in 
 these parks is simply wonderful. In some of them the 
 2 
 
26 COLOEADO AS AN AGEICULTUBAL STATE, 
 
 tourist sinks knee deep in grass that has flourished and 
 faded, grown and perished, season after season, until the 
 surface, for miles, is one vast treacherous morass of de- 
 cayed vegetation, into which it is almost impossible to 
 venture with safety. 
 
 These, and there are thousands of such places scattered 
 through the mountain region of Colorado, are to be the 
 herdsmen's and daii^men's Eden of the future. Here, 
 sheltered from the storms and the winds of the hills, 
 that surround them, they can grow, without irrigation, 
 abundant harvests of barley and potatoes. Here their 
 sheep and cattle can have prolific pasturage, and the 
 towns springing up along the lines of new railroads, and 
 the mining interests that are so rapidly developing, will 
 demand from them, and from the farmers on the slopes 
 lying eastward toward the prairies, all that they can pro- 
 duce, paying a dividend that would startle the farmer, 
 sheepmen and dairymen of the East, into the belief that 
 Colorado and El Dorado were one. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 COLONIZATION IN COLORADO. 
 
 When Cecrops landed on the shores of Greece to found 
 his colony, did his followers receive^ favorable impres- 
 sions ? When the Mayflower bapd stood upon the 
 sterile Plymouth shores, did the' surroundings cheer 
 and encourage the pilgrims ? Ambitious hopes in the 
 one case, and religious zeal in the other, aided each to 
 bear up under the unfavorable and unpropitious circum- 
 stances, and to look beyond the hour, with its temporary 
 difficulties, dangers and disappointments, to the dawning 
 of a happier day. Through faith Cecrops beheld the 
 Athens of the future rising out of the sands that shone 
 upon the sea shore. Through like faith the little band 
 of Pilgrims beheld a happy, prosperous, exalted nation 
 rising in strength and grandeur within one hundred 
 years from the day their feet were wet with the salfspray 
 of the Atlantic Ocean. Could they have foreseen what 
 a still later one hundred years would accomplish, what 
 a glimpse of worldly glory and renown would have shone 
 like an aureole around their perplexed pathway. 
 
 And as it was in the ancient and modem time, so it is 
 now. First impressions are seldom favorable to a pion- 
 eer. The surroundings of the new place are so differ- 
 ent, that it is impossible, almost, to resist comparing the 
 present with the past ; and herein lies the chief cause of 
 failure with those who have returned from the West to 
 the East with such discouraging stories of the trials that 
 beset them. It is true, there are trials. It is true, there 
 are difficulties. It is true, there are times when even 
 the stout heart grows weak and the strong will becomes 
 yielding, and the floodgates of memory swing open, let' 
 (27) 
 
28 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 ting through a surging, sweeping tide of dear delights of 
 days gone by, to unnerve the man and the woman other- 
 wise brave and strong to struggle through the battle of 
 life. Yet the law of compensation rules here as else- 
 where ; in this as in other things. Though some shining 
 links in the chain have disappeared, others full as bright 
 and fair take their place, and the chain is stronger for the 
 change. " Something beautiful has vanished," the pion- 
 eer thinks, as, sitting under bare, brown rafters and 
 upon uncarpeted floors, he recalls the surroundings of the 
 home he left behind him. 
 
 The pioneer who, not many scores of years ago, sought 
 on the shores of the inland lakes, or along the majestic 
 Alleghanies, or amid the dark and bloody ground of 
 Kentucky for a new home, had in him all the elements 
 that made Cecrops a hero, or the name of Columbus one 
 of "the few immortal names that were not born to die." 
 For it needed a brave heart and a stout arm to drive 
 stakes beyond the frontier line — stakes that became an 
 instant challenge to the Indian and the wild beast for 
 the supremacy of the forest, and a sign that the waves of 
 civilization had advanced so many paces further into the 
 wilderness. Think you first impressions were favorable? 
 Nature in her solitude puts on her gloomiest mood. The 
 trees, even, hide the sunshine that might gladden the 
 hearts of young and old, could it but fall' lightly upon 
 their faces. The day brings toil and the night brings 
 pain. The season, perhaps, is short, and the work of 
 preparation for the inclemency of the coming winter 
 months is arduous. The burden is heavy and grievous 
 to be borne. Yet, what a grand lesson of self-reliance 
 this pioneering offers to the world. Given the time, an 
 acorn becomes an oak. So nations grow. Through such 
 influences as these our country has enlarged its borders 
 until the wings of its eagle dip, one in the turbulent, and 
 one in the placid waves of the two mighty oceans. 
 
COLOKIZATION IN COLOEADO. 
 
 29 
 
 But these latter days have wrought a change ; the 
 pioneer no longer goes forth to fight his battle alone. He 
 becomes a colonist and joins witii a score or an hundred 
 others. Tliey go forth witli strong arms and brave hearts 
 upon their mission to reclaim the waste lands, and to 
 render fruitful the barren bosom of the earth. Yet is 
 the work no less hard, the outlook at first no less dis- 
 couraging. The impressions made upon the mind at first 
 are unfavorable, from the very circumstances of the 
 
 AK EARLY SETTLEK'S KANOHE — 1870. 
 
 case, and because the human mind cannot resist the im- 
 pulse which leads it to compare the present with the 
 past — an impulse all the more strong because liere the 
 shadows of the present show in stronger light the sun- 
 shine of the past, and bring into broader relief and more 
 vivid outline — 
 
 " The tendei- grace of a day that is dead," 
 
 a grace that will never return. Never ? Is this true? 
 The rose that has bloomed can never again unfold its 
 blushing petals to the sunshine and the breeze ; but the 
 
30 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 bush from whence it bloomed, through whose sap it 
 drew the elements of beauty — is that dead? Nay, nay! 
 Next year, stronger, better fitted for its work, it repro- 
 duces the roses of the day that was dead, and fairer 
 blooms and tenderer graces come to take the place of the 
 old, the faded and the forgotten. 
 
 As I think it over, the memory of a dear old home far 
 away on the eastern coast comes into my mind. I see 
 the roses that bloomed by the porch, the morning glo- 
 ries and the hollyhocks that revelled in the bright sun- 
 shine, the stately trees that cast their refreshing shade 
 over the lawn on which violets hid their sweet blue faces. 
 I hear childish prattle, sweet womanly voices, honest 
 manly tones. The faces and the forms of those I loved 
 pass by as in a vision. 
 
 Years ago, De Tocqueville penned this sentence: "The 
 gradual but continuous progress of the races towards the 
 Eocky Mountains has all the solemnity of a Providential 
 event. It is like a deluge of men rising unabatedly and 
 moving onward by the hand of God." Within the last 
 few years, this progress has been more than gradual, now 
 that the method of settling the vacant lands in the West 
 through systematic colonization may be set down with 
 definite precision as the most rapid, while at the same 
 time the most healthy way. The little colony company, 
 having learned from the bees the lesson of swarming, 
 gather about their chosen leader, and at once, in what 
 was the heart of the wilderness, appear the signs of a 
 populous community. It is like the kiss of the Prince 
 upon the lips of the Princess, asleep for a hundred years 
 in the palace hidden in the woods. The hammer rings, 
 and the anvil clinks: the monotonous music of the saw 
 sounds on the air; the virgin sod, upturned to the sun- 
 light, is kissed by the sun as it was never kissed before, 
 and the full fruition of the farmer's hopes follows in due 
 season. Ere long the sound of the church bell invites 
 
COLONIZATION IN COLOEADO. 31 
 
 the people to prayer; the clatter of the mill wheel is 
 heard; the school house rears its stately proportions in 
 the air; the telegraph concentrates the arteries that com- 
 municate with the ends of the earth; the railway brings 
 the products of the four quarters of the globe to the 
 hearths of the people. Soon, where, one brief year pre- 
 ceding, solitude reigned supreme, a city stands in all the 
 fresh vigor of its youth. The people, prosperous in all 
 their undertakings, move through the streets. The age 
 has advanced by so much as these peoples have been got- 
 ten out of the old grooves of action, and, set into the new 
 ones, have moved forward on broader gauges, to a later 
 and more successful civilization. 
 
 Think you, dear reader, that my picture is overdrawn? 
 Let me take one instance out of three in my own 
 personal esperience of colonization in Colorado. 
 
 The town of Greeley, in Weld county, Colorado, was 
 settled in April, 1870, under the auspices of what was 
 called the Union Colony, called together through the 
 New York "Tribune." It is therefore a fair type of the 
 new civilization that is fast converting the vast domains 
 of the West into prosperous towns and thriving vil- 
 lages. I well remember the strange thrill of satisfaction 
 I experienced, when telegraphic announcement was made 
 that a site had been chosen, lands selected, a home 
 founded for those who had cast their lot together in the 
 well nigh Quixotic scheme of founding a town in the Far 
 West. For this was the pioneer of the new system of 
 settlement. Two thousand miles away. Why, the dis- 
 tance itself was a damper upon enthusiasm. Why not 
 in South America, Alaska, China, or the Islands of the 
 Sea? Why in Colorado? The name itself was an augury. 
 God's Country it has been, and still is, called. So we 
 came from the bays of Maine and the capes of Florida, 
 from the forests of Minnesota and the swamps of Louisi- 
 ana, from the shores of the great inland lakes and from 
 
32 COLOEADO AS AW AGKICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 the pavements of the multitude burdened cities; strangers 
 and yet friends; kindred through a common hope, a com- 
 mon faith, a common purpose. And we pitched our 
 tents in the bright day shine, and the soft, sweet star- 
 light of that eventful summer on the banks "of the fair 
 flowing river, by whose side we were to receive a blessing 
 or a ban. 
 
 The record of the times in which the faith of manhood 
 and the trust of womanhood were tried, has never fairly 
 been put upon paper, and never can be. Doubts chased 
 each other through our minds as the fleet antelope chased 
 its fellow across the broad prairies. Fears came with the 
 morning sunbeams, and were not dispelled when the 
 shadows of the night fell down upon us. But the hopes 
 that had cheered our hearts through the long journey 
 westward, never wholly died out. There were to be 
 gains as well as losses. There were to be pleasures as 
 well as pains. The tender bosom of Mother ' Earth 
 gave out suggestions of the mighty forces concealed 
 within, bidding us bend the witch-hazel rod of an in- 
 domitable will, and the hidden treasure should be 
 found. 
 
 Can the reader imagine the situation? The chosen 
 ground was unbroken for miles, and the winds of un- 
 numbered centuries had blown off the light soil, leaving 
 a coat of gravel over the surface not covered by grass, or 
 cactus. This grass was short and brown, and presented to 
 the eye no evidence of nutritive qualities, while the cac- 
 tus did not then wear the variegated blossoms that 
 make it attractive to the eye, while its prickly armor in 
 no way commended it to the touch. 
 
 There were days when from flfty to one hundred per- 
 sons arrived, hardly any bringing with them provisions, 
 tents, blankets, or any of the necessaries of life. They 
 could barely protect themselves from the cold winds, or 
 the still colder night air. IS^o canals had been dug, no 
 
COLONIZATION m COLORADO. 33 
 
 water was running, and in all the town there was but 
 one well. 
 
 Those were dark days for colonization in Colorado. 
 Some there were who seemed to forget that it was the 
 work of the colony to create a city, who expected to see 
 one already built, with houses and stores, mills and fac- 
 tories, schools and churches, — in fact, all the adjuncts of 
 a settled civilization. Disappointment set their teeth 
 upon edge, and kindled bitter feelings of animosity in 
 their hearts. Tongues wagged, not wisely or well. Men 
 had come to colonize, but not waiting to investigate, to 
 examine the location, to test the capabilities of the soil, 
 they remained to curse only so long as the next train east 
 delayed its going. Then, shaking the dust of Greeley 
 from their feet, they "went to their own place." 
 
 Time passed. A survey was soon completed. Loca- 
 tions were chosen by those who, having ventured so far, 
 had sufficient foresight to see that the experiment was 
 but at its begipning, and that success lay in the near fu- 
 ture. The top of the ladder was not to be reached by 
 one bound, even in Colorado. One by one the rungs 
 were to be trodden, and by feet made weary on the up- 
 ward way. 
 
 But soon an irrigating canal was completed, and the 
 water came dancing through the flumes like a minister- 
 ing angel (as indeed it was), scattering blessings all 
 along its path. It ran over the parched land, and blade 
 and blossom awoke to a new beauty. The birds sang 
 their welcome, early and late, to the new comers, whom 
 destiny had brought to these so lately desolate, but now 
 blooming prairie lands. Trees were planted. Active, 
 earnest, true-hearted men and women set themselves to 
 work with a spirit that deserved and achieved success. 
 The cloud passed away — ^the sunshine took its place, and 
 thenceforward cheered, warmed, and lighted the hearts 
 of aU. 
 
34 
 
 COLORADO AS AN" AGKICULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 Twelve years hare passed awa/. Not twelve years of 
 perfect success, for continually men find that tiiere are 
 obstacles and difficulties in their path, and that it is their 
 mission to conquer them. And lo ! after constructing a 
 canal twenty feet wide and thirty miles long, capable of 
 watering sixty thousand acres of land, the farmers found 
 that they had an enemy to contend with they little 
 exp^bted, when settlement was first made. The grass- 
 hoppers came down "like a wolf on the fold," and every 
 
 OOLOKADO PBAIKIE HOME. 
 
 green thing disappeared at their coming. Had the visita- 
 tion that came in 1873, come in 1870, where the town now 
 stands, a deserted village would have stood. But, once 
 settled, the battle once begun, it was wisest to fight stub- 
 bornly until victory was gained. There have been years 
 of failure, years of moderate, years of complete success. 
 To-day there is a town of two thousand inhabitants, a 
 large and prosperous farming community tributary to it, 
 and the wealth of the State increased by millions. All 
 the results of colonization. Three hundred thousand 
 bushels of wheat were grown there last year. 
 
COLONIZATION IN COLOEADO. 35 
 
 And what has heen done at Greeley, has been done else- 
 where, in a greater or less degree. In the years that fol- 
 lowed, appeared Colorado Springs, Evans, Fort Collins, 
 Longmont, Platteville, and other colony towns, and there 
 is room for a score more now that the narrow-gauge 
 railway, the Denver and Kio Grande, has pierced the for- 
 bidding mountain passes, and entered the hearts of the 
 great peaks and still greater valleys beyond the range. 
 Here are opportunities for new colonies, greater than 
 those in the past. Little clusters, or large companies of 
 families, can gather together the lares and penates of the 
 old home, and set them down on the altars of the new 
 home, under the shadow of the mighty mountains in 
 the gold and silver rock-ribbed heart of the Centennial 
 State. 
 
 The Valley of the Nile, for untold ages, supported 
 a population of nearly eight millions. From the heights 
 of Syene to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea it was 
 once renowned for its fertility. The staple commodity, 
 of course, was grain, the supply of which was so abund- 
 ant that Syria and Arabia drew their supplies from it. 
 The valley was cultivated, by irrigation, for three thou- 
 sand years, and is still capable of furnishing millions with 
 food. In Colorado there are hundreds of valleys equally 
 adapted by nature for the same cultivation as was given 
 by irrigation to the ancient valley, and millions of men 
 and women can be supported by the product of the soil. 
 Every square mile of land in Colorado is capable of pro- 
 ducing twelve thousand eight hundred bushels of wheat, 
 capable of supporting one hundred and seventy people on 
 the basis of four hundred and fifty pounds of food per 
 annum required for each adult. 
 
 The pioneer system has had its day. The colony sys- 
 tem takes its place. When the new and the old meet 
 face to face, the new conquers. It was so when Paul, 
 bearing in his ha"hd the budding branches of the new 
 
36 COLORADO AS AK AGKICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 Christianity, met Nero, the young-old Emperor (young in 
 years, old in yice), the fruit of the effete Koman civiliza- 
 tion, and by his earnest gaze and sincere speech, shivered 
 the scepter vrith which Kome had so long ruled the world. 
 It is so now when the new colonial civilization meets the 
 old pioneer system, and sweeps away, on the instant, the 
 long years of loneliness and solitary existence that were 
 wont to intervene before the wave of civilized life reached 
 the little community that had fastened its feeble life in 
 the loneliness of the woods, the silence of the prairies, 
 the solitary grandeur of the mountain ranges of the 
 West. 
 
CHAPTBK IV. 
 
 lERIGATION.— MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 
 
 To write about Colorado agriculture and say nothing 
 concerning irrigation, ■would be like enacting the play of 
 Hamlet, leaving out the principal character therein. 
 Yet the subject is one in which those principally inter- 
 ested have advanced only as far as the A B C of know- 
 ledge is concerned. Irrigation is as old, almost, as the 
 world itself. In an article contributed to a Southern 
 journal a year or two ago, Professor Whitney, of Florida, 
 after referring to the practice of irrigation in Egypt, and 
 to various scriptural allusions, showing that it was also 
 practised by the Israelites, says that from reliable pro- 
 fane writers we learn that this branch of agriculture was 
 practised by the Eomans long before the Christian Era. 
 Virgil refers to it in his celebrated work on husbandry, 
 the Georgics. The Chinese claim to have been familiar 
 with it before the flood. Even the aborigines of the 
 so-called New World were not ignorant of the system. 
 The skill and civilization of the Aztecs, as displayed in 
 their wondrously beautiful gardens, their immense reser- 
 voirs and extensive aqueducts, are noted by Prescott and 
 other historiographers of the Spanish Conquest. " These 
 relics of a long past age, found in every warm country, 
 are enduring monuments of a progressive civilization, 
 compared with which desolate fields and crumbling 
 cities, the sad mementoes of military renown, are as the 
 patient and useful animals of domestic economy to the 
 prowling beasts of prey, whose only province is to 
 destroy." 
 (37) 
 
38 COLOEADO AS AN aGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 As one reads of projected canals in Colorado, ■whose 
 lengths are to reach to fifty miles or more, we are apt to 
 think that their projectors are about to undertake some- 
 thing on an immense scale, which is to be the wonder of 
 the world. Yet these canals will be puny compared 
 with some that have been in operation for hundreds of 
 years in Italy and elsewhere. The Ganges Canal, of 
 India, is one thousand miles long, discharging eight 
 thousand cubic feet of water per second. It has re- 
 claimed from the desert eleven million acres, and put 
 them under successful cultivation. We are told that 
 "the great canal of the Ticino, in Italy, was constructed 
 in the twelfth century, and for more than six hundred 
 years has carried a folume of water equal to one thou- 
 sand eight hundred cubic feet per second. This large 
 mass of water is conducted through the country by 
 thousands of different channels, fertilizing and stimur 
 lating the soil to such a remarkable degree, as to render 
 the region through which it passes one of the most pro- 
 ductive and densely populated in the world." The 
 plains of Assyria and Babylon were once covered with 
 canals. The irrigated lands of Spain amount to five 
 hundred thousand acres. In France there are three hun- 
 di'ed thousand acres under this beneficent system. In 
 fact, the history of numberless nations, ancient and 
 modem, is full of facts connected with this interesting 
 topic. 
 
 In this new subject, then, which after all is so old, 
 GTery citizen, present and prospective, of Colorado, has a 
 deep and abiding interest. The future of agriculture 
 depends upon it, and therefore much of the welfare and 
 prosperity of the State hinges upon the establishment of 
 a correct system of the division of the waters, the eco- 
 nomic use of them, and their storage in reservoirs, natural 
 and constructed, when not wanted for present use. 
 
 There are so manv conflicting interests involved in 
 
IKEIGATION. — MBASUEEMElfT OF WATEB. 39 
 
 this complex question, that it seems as though the State 
 must eyentually assume the control of the canal system, 
 managing it for the best interests of all concerned, tax- 
 ing each district according to the volume of water that is 
 used, and for the expense of superintendence and repairs. 
 
 The exact number of canals belonging to corporate 
 companies and to individuals in Colorado is unknown. 
 The number will probably reach to one thousand, though 
 not more than fifty are of any great size. 
 
 The question as to the amount of water required per 
 acre, and if the land does not need less and less each year 
 after it has been subjected to irrigation, has elicited a 
 variety of opinions. It is said that land lying under the 
 first canal built in Colorado, twenty-two years ago, re- 
 quires as much water now as it did the first season. It 
 seems to be the experience of farmers in and around 
 Greeley, where they base their conclusions on twelve 
 years of observation, that this is a fact. Yet in Utah 
 the case seems to be established on the other side. 
 Bishop Musser, of that Territory, in an address before 
 the Irrigation Convention held in Denver in 1873, said: 
 "When Salt Lake City was first founded, the water ca- 
 pacity for irrigating purposes did not exceed eight hun- 
 dred or nine hundred acres. Kow, between four thou- 
 sand and five thousand acres are successfully irrigated. 
 At first the land was arid and thirsty. Subsequent irri- 
 gation saturated and settled the soil, and thus slaked 
 much of its early thirst. The increased rainfall — ^no 
 doubt superinduced by agriculture, occupation and cul- 
 tivation — and the numerous fruit and shade trees — like 
 so many mulching agencies neutralized the drying effects 
 of the sun's rays and of the prevailing winds — have very 
 largely conjaibwted-iftcool and moisten the soil, and to 
 lessen ife'e,rfeeessi6y' of^^SjH^nt and elaborate watering." 
 Dr. jf. E.' Edwards, late Pr^j^ent of the Colorado Agri- 
 cultural C(jllege£ in^an addr^s on the utility of trees, 
 
40 COLOKADO AS AK AGEIOULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 before a Farmers' Institute, held a year or two ago, in 
 Denver, cited some later facts from Utah, bearing out 
 the supposition that each year would require less water 
 for irrigation. But it would seem as though — in the 
 past ages — this important point was overlooked or not 
 recognized, since we find no mention made of it in pa- 
 pers bearing upon irrigation in ancient times. The soil 
 of Utah is not likely to be very different from that of 
 Colorado. There is on record a statement of the charac- 
 ter of the soil of over forty thousand acres under the 
 various canals devoted to the cereals, vegetables, fruits, 
 and in meadow, and the table stands as follows: 
 
 Black Loam 7,200 Acres. 
 
 Sandy Loam 3,800 " 
 
 Loam and Gravel 8,250 " 
 
 Loam and Clay 3,800 " 
 
 Loam and Alkali 1,200 " 
 
 Clay and Gravel 5,000 " 
 
 Clay and piaster ; . . .3,500 " 
 
 Alkali, Iron, and Sand 2,500 " 
 
 Sand Alkali and Volcanic 1,000 « 
 
 Thus all kinds of soil are covered. 
 
 It is probable that the upper or bench lands require 
 each year the same amount of water; but the lower 
 lands, especially those classed as "bottom lands," verg- 
 ing on the streams themselves, receive all the water they 
 need through percolation. In fact, thousands of acres of 
 what were once the finest hay lands in the valleys are 
 now nothing but swamp lands, the direct result of seep- 
 age from the large canals lying two or three miles above 
 them on the bench lands. In these cases a thorough 
 system of drainage, involving more or less of expense, 
 must eventually be adopted, or the lands will be ruined. 
 
 Touching the cost of irrigation, the figures vary from 
 the extremely low amount of ten cents per acre up to the 
 high rate of sixteen dollars. Water generally rents for 
 from one dollar to three dollars per acre annually, and. 
 
IKEIGATION. — MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 41 
 
 taking a fair average, may be set down at two dollars per 
 acre. Where canals have been built on the colony, or 
 cooperative plan, each land-holder having an interest' in 
 them, the cost per acre covers only superintendence and 
 repairs, and does not reach over twenty-five cents per 
 acre. But most of the canals are owned by corporations 
 who rent the water at a fixed rate, and, in such cases, there 
 is no lower rate than one dollar, while some charge three 
 dollars. One inch of water per acre is the general allow- 
 ance. Perpetual water rights under some canals, subject 
 to assessment for repairs and superintendence, now have a"" 
 valuation as high as one thousand two hundred and fifty 
 dollars. 
 
 Concerning the affinity of water and soil, the following 
 scientific explanation is from the pen of Dr. Parsons: 
 "Without irrigation, this country (Colorado) would be 
 comparatively worthless for agricultural purposes. Water 
 being a universal solvent, sets free certain qualities in the 
 earth which are taken up through it as a medium. The 
 vegetable kingdom, like the animal, imbibes water, the 
 former from within, the latter from without. The ap- 
 paratus of the plant is its roots, leaves, and branches, for 
 absorbing water, potassium, ammonia, and other chemical 
 substances, which go so largely toward building it up. A 
 plant, like a man, if it gets too much nutriment in the 
 shape of water, or anything else, is ruined. Com espec- 
 ially may very readily get too much water, and the result 
 is small ears and a light crop. For com and potatoes it 
 is better to let the water run some distance . from them, 
 and then allow the fluid to percolate gradually to the 
 growing substances. The quality of the soil in this con- 
 nection must also be considered. The vegetable feeds 
 upon the mineral. It has always been so. Formerly 
 there was more carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere than 
 now, and consequently plants developed rapidly. The 
 absorption of this gas by the earth deprived the atmos- 
 
42 COLOEADO AS AK AGEICFLTUEAL STATE. 
 
 phere of this excess of gas, and then came the era of 
 animal life. This is not an alluvial country, like that of 
 the Mississippi Valley. The soil is better than that. It 
 gives greater nutriment to the cereals, and they in turn 
 give more substance to people who consume the grain." 
 
 In considering the time for irrigation, it may be said, 
 as a general rule, that early in the morning, or late in 
 the afternoon and evening, are the best ' times. The 
 bright and powerful sun, when shining upon the young 
 and tender plants and growing grain, may have a dele- 
 terious influence when water is applied. This is not an 
 assured fact, but very many entertain such a belief. 
 When the grain is high enough to yield a shadow, then 
 it does not so much matter. One thing is certain, in 
 Egypt and India, the evening, the night, and the early 
 morning were chosen as the best time for the flowing of 
 water iipon the crops. On clay soil slight and frequent 
 irrigation is best. On sandy soil, the water can be run 
 broadcast until the field is thoroughly flooded. Water in 
 May germinates the seed, but does not act as a fertilizer 
 of the soil to the extent that it does later; in June and 
 July the sedimentary matter is running heavily, and the 
 streams and canals are laden with fertilizing material 
 which decreases as the streams lower in volume in the falL 
 The soil should not be kept in a continually moist condi- 
 tion on top, because its apparent dryness is no indication 
 that there is not sufBcient moisture below. 
 
 Mr. W. D. Arnett, one of the principal farmers on 
 Bear Creek, beyond Denver, once said at a Farmers' Club 
 meeting that farmers irrigated too little. If irrigation 
 was practised after the crops were gathered, and at all 
 times when convenient, it would only be providing crops 
 with a more bountiful repast. A farmer in the St. Vrain 
 Valley, writing to his home organ, also gives testimony 
 in favor of fall irrigation; he irrigated his ground as 
 thoroughly as though he had a crop growing upon it, and 
 
IKRIGATIOSr. — MEASUEEMENT OF WATER. 43 
 
 as soon as it became suflBciently dry, he started his plow, 
 and stopped only when freezing ground compelled him 
 to do so. It took but a short time to do tjiis in the fall, 
 and he regarded his gain as follows: First, plowing was 
 done with less wear on team, plow, and patience. Second, 
 earlier crops were put in, requiring less irrigation to ma- 
 ture them. Third, an earlier harvest, giving him the ad- 
 vantage of a high market. Fourth, fall irrigation in- 
 creased his crop by adding fertility to the soil when there 
 ■was no growing crop to absorb it. This last argument, 
 while all seem good, is a new one not advanced before; if 
 true, the knowledge is of inestimable value to farmers in 
 Colorado, so many of whom are croppers year after year, 
 returning nothing to the soil from which they take so 
 much. 
 
 Early in 1873 Mr. Henry T. West, of Greeley, in an 
 able communication to the "Tribune" of that place, call- 
 ed attention to this subject of fall plowing, advocating 
 thoroughly wetting the ground during the fall and win- 
 ter, and, if possible, plowing and wetting down again. 
 Ground thus treated, he argued, would nsed but little 
 water the following growing season. In proof of this he 
 referred to a crop of wheat raised on sod ground (which 
 generally requires more moisture than old land), that had 
 been treated in the manner referred to, and had yielded over 
 forty bushels of wheat to the acre, without irrigation dur- 
 ing the season of growth. He added, " The true economist 
 endeavors to make the most of what he has, and if our 
 people can be shown that by using water properly, they 
 can water thoroughly treble the number of acres they 
 now saturate partly, and so increase their yield of crops 
 from fifty to one hundred per cent, they ought, at least, 
 to test the matter." 
 
 This seems to be the custom in Utah, where fall irriga- 
 tion is practised to a great extent. There the flow is 
 especially for grain, sowing as early in the spring as pos- 
 
44 COLOEADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 sible, In studying the methods by 'whicli the greatest 
 amount of land can be brought under the water supply 
 of the State, this point is one to be takfen into con- 
 sideration. 
 
 An observant writer in one of the valley papers of the 
 State — the Sagauche " Chronicle" — ogives a few practical 
 hints worthy of being embodied in this chapter. 
 
 " In preparing the ground for planting, the aim should 
 be to have it in such condition that the crop, when 
 planted, will come up and make a good growth before 
 the first irrigation is resorted to. If the ground is to be 
 broken in the spring, and is not sufficiently moist to 
 germinate the seeds, it should be irrigated before plow- 
 ing, planting to follow as soon thereafter as possible. If 
 the ground is in proper condition it should be dragged 
 with a log, or rolled with a roller, after planting, to 
 smooth and level the surface. It has been found that 
 the ground dries out on such a surface to the depth of 
 an inch, and that incb forms a non-conductor of moisture 
 from below, and the soil thereby retains the moisture in 
 it for a long*time. 
 
 "As a rule, the longer the first applicatipn of water for 
 irrigation can be put off, the better it will be for the 
 crop. The evaporation of moisture from the soil is ac- 
 complished by capillary attraction. If the particles of 
 soil are packed closely together, the evaporation of mois- 
 ture is much more rapid than when the soil is loose. When 
 it is loose and moist, the tender rootlets have the best 
 opportunity for growth and expansion, and as the soil 
 dries they strike downward, getting so far below the sur- 
 face that the plant stands a drouth much better than one 
 whose roots remain near the surface. When the ground 
 has to be irrigated before the seed is up, the soil becomes 
 packed, and dries out rapidly, and irrigation is oftener 
 required. Once begun it must be kept up until the crop 
 is about ripening." 
 
lEEIGATIOIf. — MEASUEEMElirT OP WATEB. 45 
 
 There is more damage done to crops by too much irri- 
 gation than by too little. Much more water is used than 
 would be necessary if the ground was properly prepared 
 beforehand, and water applied intelligently afterwards. 
 Hundreds of fields of grain have suffered from too much 
 water early in the season where one has suffered from 
 drouth. 
 
 The experience of many farmers who have failed, dur- 
 ing a dry season, to get the water they contracted for, 
 has shown this to be a fact. 
 
 It is thought by many that irrigation is a very expen- 
 sive method; this belief, no doubt, keeps many farmers 
 from settling in Colorado. But it is not true. On the 
 contrary, it is rather an advantage to " hold the rain in 
 the hollow of one's hand." It may add a little to the 
 labor required to be performed upon an acre of land, but 
 the increased yield more than repays this extra toil. The 
 cultivation of crops being insured by the ability to apply 
 the moisture just when it is needed, drouth is defied, and 
 a harvest almost certain. The preparation of irrigating 
 canals will not, on an average, exceed the expense of 
 drainage required in rainy countries, while a dry country 
 means dry air, health, clear skies, and good roadways. 
 Wheat can be raised at an expense of fifty cents per 
 bushel, or ten dollars per acre, taking the low average of 
 twenty bushels as the yield, leaving a net profit of four- 
 teen dollars per acre. Oats can be raised at an expense 
 of ten dollars, and yield a profit not lower than wheat. 
 Com can be raised at a cost of seven dollars per acre, 
 and return a profit of fourteen dollars. Potatoes average in 
 expense twenty dollars, and in moderately good seasons re- 
 turn a profit of sixty dollars per acre. It will be seen that 
 a good margin of profit lies in these figures, and while 
 there may be seasons when excessive drouth, or untimely 
 frost, or grasshopper visitations may curtail the harvest, 
 yet these are less frequent than the storms, the drouth, 
 
46 COLORADO AS AS AGBICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 and the insects that periodically visit the fields in the 
 Eastern States. 
 
 The labor of irrigation is not so great as might be im- 
 agined. When once the laterals are built that conduct 
 the main currents of water over the farm, it is not diffi- 
 cult to follow them up, using a spade to cut the bank here 
 and there to allow the water to overflow into the growing 
 grain. Flooding is pursued for grain, and running in 
 furrows, where there are rows, as with com, cane, pota- 
 toes, and vegetables. To describe the methods of irrigar 
 tion would take up too much space. There are almost 
 as many ways as there are farms. The lay of the land 
 must be taken into consideration, and methods must be 
 devised to suit circumstances. Yet one man can easily 
 tend to the irrigation of eighty acres of wheat, or forty 
 acres of potatoes. Some fortunate farmers are able^ by a 
 thorough system of laterals, with suitable flood-gates, to let 
 the water into their fields toward night-fall, and go to bed 
 feeling assured that in the morning they will find a large 
 acreage well soaked with the precious fluid. But new 
 comers will probably puzzle their heads over the problem. 
 It is only by experience that an economical system of irriga- 
 tion can be established on each farm. The contour of 
 the land decides the cost. But, once arranged, with a 
 little care, the bugbear of irrigation becomes a work of 
 pleasure to those engaged in it. It is a study not easily 
 learned. Once mastered, the man is master of the situa- 
 tion for all seasons. 
 
 For grain, two irrigations, in June and July, are gen- 
 erally sufficient. In some years, one suffices. For garden 
 purposes, much more water is required, depending some- 
 what upon the character of the soil; if very sandy, more 
 is required than where loam or clay predominates. In 
 gardening it is not best to apply the water directly to the 
 growing plant. The method pursued in Homer's time 
 has come down to ns, and is accepted as the best. Water 
 
IKEIGATION. — MBASUEEMBNT OF WATBB. 47 
 
 is made to flow in furrows, reaching the roots by 
 seepage. 
 
 MEASUKEMENT OF WATEE. 
 
 The measurement of water is one of the important 
 questions that continually confront both the seller and 
 the buyer of water for irrigation. To secure its equit- 
 able distribution is a problem commanding the atten- 
 tion of hydraulic engineers elsewhere, as well as in 
 Colorado. In the report of the commissioners on the in- 
 TBstigation of the San Joaquin, and other valleys in Cali- 
 fornia, made to Congress a few years ago, we find it stated 
 that water should only be sold by measure, and that the 
 introduction of a system of selling water by the cubic 
 foot would make it to the interest of the cultivator to 
 use it economically. The difficulties attending this 
 measurement, under different and ever varying heads, 
 and through varying dimensions and shapes of outlets, 
 have been many. They have been met here in Colorado, 
 and there are few farmers who, using the inch measure 
 under pressure, know how much water they get or use, 
 though they know how much they pay for. The grade, 
 the size of the orifice through which the water flows, the 
 depth and breadth of the channel, all affect the result, 
 more or less. There is no one rule that governs all the 
 canals in Colorado. In Greeley one method prevails. 
 In Longmont another, and so on, in various parts of the 
 State. 
 
 In the early days when water was abundant, and canals 
 were few in number and small in size, there was no call 
 for any, specially defined plan. But now that canals are 
 multiplied, a.nd corporations invest immense sums in 
 their construction, with a view to their being a source of 
 income, the necessity for thorough investigation and cer- 
 tain conclusions becomes evident. The subject has already 
 
48 OOLOEADO AS ABT AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 secured tte attention of the most distinguished hydraulic 
 engineer resident in Colorado. Mr. E. S. Nettleton, 
 (together with Mr. James Duff, who is at the head of 
 two of the largest Irrigation Works in the State), has, of 
 late, carefully examined into the best modes of measur- 
 ing and also into the arerage unit of water for land in 
 various crops. It is probable that the Water Eight 
 established as the result of his investigations, will be 
 generally accepted as the Unit. Several canal companies 
 have already done so, and it will be an advantage to the 
 entire State when the one rule prevails everywhere. 
 
 The quantity of water which is of late called " The 
 English Company's Water Eight " — ^in use by the Larimer 
 and Weld Irrigation Company and the Northern Colorado 
 Irrigation Company — ^is the quantity of water fixed upon 
 by that company suflScient to irrigate eighty acres of land. 
 To determine what amount of water is on an average 
 required for this amount of land, compelled careful study 
 of the practices and requirements of irrigation in districts 
 within the State where it has been the most methodically 
 and successfully carried on during the past ten years. 
 
 The quantity given by this comptoy for a water right 
 is one and forty-four hundredths cubic feet per second, 
 which is measured by the simplest method possible, at 
 the same time with greater accuracy than can be done 
 when water is delivered under a pressure. 
 
 Eminent hydraulic engineers have spent a vast amount 
 of time and money in experiments in determining the 
 quantity of water flowing through openings of all descrip- 
 tions and conditions, and are united in calling the Weir 
 measurement the most accurate. 
 
 This method has been adopted as being not only simple 
 and accurate, but inexpensive, and adapted to a wide 
 range of uses, giving the quantity of water in the smallest 
 irrigation ditch or the largest canal, with equal accuracy. 
 
 The Weir method of measuring is simply to pass the 
 
lEKIGATION. — MEASUEEMENT OF WATER. 
 
 49 
 
 water through a notch or opening without pressure; it is 
 simply surface measurement; having the width of the 
 opening given and the height of the water ilowing over 
 the bottom of the oj)ening, the exact quantity in a second, 
 minute, or hour can be ascertained. 
 
 Heretofore the "inch" method of measuring water has 
 been used as a unit of measure in the selling and rental 
 
 WEIK DAM, FOE MEASUEEMENT OF WATER. 
 
 of water, which was a very good method in early days in 
 Colorado when a small amount of water was to be divided 
 among a few persons. But this system is not practicable 
 in the days of large canals, besides an inch of water may 
 be one quantity or another, diiJering in some cases nearly 
 one hundred per cent, according to circumstances. 
 
 The "Inch" as prescribed by the statutes of Colorado 
 and the apparatuses for measuring it is, theoretically 
 about forty-five cubic inches of water every second. 
 2 
 
50 COLORADO AS AN AGEIOULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 The following will give some idea of the quantity and 
 duty of the Water Eight above alluded to : 
 
 A water right=l"/,„„ cubic feet per second, 
 
 A water right=55 statute inches in equal time, 
 
 A water right=one acre of land, !*/,„ inches deep 
 per hour. 
 
 A water right=one acre one foot deep in 8'/, hours. 
 
 A water right=80 acres of land, 43 inches deep, in 
 100 days continually running. 
 
 The following are short rules for determining approxi- 
 mately the mean velocity in irrigating ditches : 
 
 Where v=velocity in feet per second. 
 
 Where s=sectional area in feet. 
 
 Where f =fall in feet per mile. 
 
 Where p=wet perimeter. 
 
 FORMULA. 
 
 " ' p 
 
 For actual velocity in irrigation ditches, with irregular 
 cross sections, curves and angles, reduce the velocity ob- 
 tained by the above rate from twenty to fifty per cent. 
 
 ANOTHEK EUIE. 
 
 z.=l/ 
 
 s X f X 15 
 PX9 
 
 For ditches with angles, curves and irregular and ill- 
 shaped cross-sections, reduce the velocity obtained by this 
 rule from fifteen to thirty-five per cent. 
 
 We give the followmg formula for finding the depth 
 of water to pass over a weir, to give a certain discharge in 
 cubic feet per second, when the length of the weir, in 
 feet, and the required discharge are given : 
 
lEEIGATIOX. — lIEASUEEME2SrT OP WATER. 51 
 
 Let li=hea(l in feet ou the crest of the weir. 
 Let q=cubic feet discharged per second. 
 Let l=length of weir in feet. 
 Then— 
 
 V 
 
 3. 33 X I; 
 HOW TO DIVIDE WATER. 
 
 The following method of dividing water is the inven- 
 tion of J. Max Clark, of Greeley, and is in use in the 
 canals there and at other points in the State. 
 
 It has been demonstrated by "time test" that this 
 flume will deliver (the proper conditions being fulfilled) 
 
 CLARK'S METHOD OF DIVIDINO WATEK. 
 
 a like quantity of water in a like time in any part of a 
 ditch, without regard to diiierent rate of flume in differ- 
 ent parts of the same canal. Three conditions are neces- 
 sary for its use to deliver water correctly : 
 
 1st. The flume must be level. 
 
 2d, There must be a free delivery below (that is the 
 water must not back up to the bottom of the measuring 
 gate). 
 
 3d. The water must be kept at an even height in the 
 flume by means of the regulating gate, which must be 
 carefully watched and changed to effect this object, as 
 the canal may fluctuate. 
 
52 COLQEADO AS AN ASKICULTUKAl, STATE. 
 
 The measuring gate must be a few inches aboTe the 
 bottom of the flume so as to check the water current — 
 six inches or more — ^as the head of water may permit, 
 and bring the water in all the flumes under the same 
 conditions. The measuring gate is generally about four- 
 teen inches wide and the width of the whole flume will 
 depend, of course, on the probable amount of water that 
 may ever be required to be delivered in each particular 
 instance; those in use at Greeley vary from one to six 
 feet in width. They are open at the top and are uni- 
 formly three feet deep, that having been found the 
 most convenient depth. 
 
 There is a scale represented both across the top of the 
 measuring operator and up and down the side of the 
 opening. Any depth of water can be delivered; the 
 same depth is maintained in all the flumes and the neces- 
 sary quantity regulated by closing or opening the measur- 
 ing gate. As for instance, if you adopt as your standard, 
 ten inches deep and you want to give one man fifty inches 
 of water, you would open the gate five inches; if you 
 want to give one hundred inches, you would open the 
 gate ten inches, and if the conditions here named have 
 been fulfilled, the last named will get exactly double the 
 amount of water delivered to the first, no matter at what 
 part of the canal they may be. 
 
 DIVIDING WATER IN LATBEAL DITCHES. 
 
 I also give a cut of a dividing flume — designed to 
 divide the water in a lateral ditch among the parties 
 using the same, giving each his proportion of all the 
 water in the lateral, whether the water in lateral be high 
 or low. 
 
 It is usually made about six feet long, from three to 
 six feet wide (according to the size of the ditch in which 
 
IKEIOATION. — ITEASUKESIENT OF WATER. 
 
 53 
 
 it is to be used), and deep enough to carry all the water 
 required of it. 
 
 The flume must be set level. It is made of an inch or 
 three-fourths stuff, with two by four stuff for ties and 
 standards, and a two by four check on top of the floor at 
 the up stream — C. At one side is attached the deliver- 
 ing flume B, uniform in depth with D, and of such size 
 as may be needful. 
 
 Within these is the movable gate or partition A F, 
 strengthened by the brace I, with arm F long enough to 
 
 DIVIDING WATEK IN LATERAL DITCHES. 
 
 lap on the side of delivery flume B, when A is moved 
 over to the side D. 
 
 The direction of the water is shown by arrows. The 
 up stream end of A should be sharpened like a wedge. 
 This gate must be of the same depth as the sides, and 
 will of course move under the top cross ties, on one of 
 which is a measuring scale, as shown in the cut. 
 
 Suppose there are eight men drawing water through the 
 same ditch. Now it makes no difference whether they 
 divide the water according to the number of acres iinder 
 cultivation, or by the shares owned by each in the ditch, 
 or by the number of inches belonging to each; or what- 
 ever be the basis of division, the first man on the ditch 
 nearest the head, will be entitled to a certain fractional 
 
54 COLORADO AS AN AGEIOULTTJEAL STATE. 
 
 part of all the water, as one-sixth, one-eighth, five- 
 eighths, or some easily ascertained fraction. Suppose he 
 is to have one-eighth. Set the movable gate A so that 
 one-eighth the width is on the side next to the delivery 
 flume, then seven-eighths must be on the other side. A 
 nail or pin through the top cross tie into A will hold 
 it in place. The next man below will be entitled in like 
 manner to a fractional part of what is still in the ditch, 
 and his gate must be set accordingly, and so on to the 
 eighth or last man, to whom belongs all that passes the 
 seventh. The first man has no interest in any division 
 but his own; the last man has an interest in all the divis- 
 ions, and a very vital interest it is, as all will agree who 
 have been thus situated. 
 
 This flume, like the first shown, was invented by Mr. 
 Clark, of Greeley, and has been in use in the laterals un- 
 der the Greeley canals for eight or ten years, and has given 
 entire satisfaction in all cases. Being easily adjusted it 
 is very convenient in case of an exchange of water among 
 parties drawing from the same lateral — a common prac- 
 tice in Colorado. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 AREA OP IRRIGATION IN COLORADO. 
 
 I give, in this chapter, the estimated amount of irriga- 
 ble lands in Colorado, as collated from the various re- 
 ports of Prof. Hayden and his geological and geographi- 
 cal surveys of Colorado and the adjacent territories. 
 These estimates may be too large; it is difficult to deter- 
 mine with accuracy upon a subject so little known, but 
 the data will be found interesting and perhaps valuable, 
 in connection with the questions that confront the people 
 on the subject of irrigation. Even if a discount of one- 
 third is allowed, it will be found that the area of irriga- 
 tion is larger than has been heretofore supposed. Fifty 
 million bushels of wheat grown annually in Colorado, is 
 one of the possibilities of the future, though at this time, 
 if such a prophecy was uttered, it would be laughed at. 
 
 IN NORTHERN COLORADO. 
 
 Square Miles. 
 
 The South Platte 933 
 
 Cache-a-larPoudre 174 
 
 Big Thompson 116 
 
 Little Thompson 44. 
 
 St. Vrain 87 
 
 Boulder 87 
 
 Clearand Ralston 234 
 
 Bear 58 
 
 Cherry and East Plum 44 
 
 West Plum 73 
 
 Total 1,849 
 
 This gives one million one hundred and eighty-three 
 thousand three hundred and sixty acres in the valley of 
 (55) 
 
56 COLOEADO AS AK AGBIOtTLTUEAL STATE. 
 
 the South Platte and the yalleys of the streams empty- 
 ing into it. 
 
 IN SOUTHERN COLOKADO. 
 
 Sqnare Miles. 
 
 Arkansas 1,979 
 
 Purgatoire 145 
 
 . Apishpa 87 
 
 Huerfano 85 
 
 CacharaB 145 
 
 St. Charles and Greenhorn 155 
 
 Fontaine qui Bouille 145 
 
 Turkey 30 
 
 Beaver 15 
 
 Chalk 30 
 
 Oil 45 
 
 Currant 15 
 
 Total 2,876 
 
 There is an area of land susceptible to irrigation lying 
 in Southern Colorado east of the range, of nearly two 
 million acres, about double the amount lying in Northern 
 Colorado along the same eastern slope. 
 
 IN SAN LUIS PARK. 
 
 Square Miles,' 
 
 Rio Grande 500 
 
 Alamosa and La Jara 100 
 
 Conejos 100 
 
 Trinchera li 
 
 Cnlebra 58 
 
 CoBtilla 29 
 
 Gata 15 
 
 Total '.: 874 
 
 In consequence of the sandy soil and the waste of 
 water, it becomes necessary to allow five cubic feet of 
 water, instead of three, to the square mile in this section 
 of Colorado. This gives an area of five hundred and 
 fifty seven thousand three hundred and sixty acres in 
 this park that can be irrigated. 
 
AEEA OF IKKIGATION IN COIOEADO. 57 
 
 In the San Juan country, the main stream is the San 
 Juan, which has a fine valley, one or two miles wide, and 
 about fifty long. In this there are three hundred and 
 ninety-two square miles capable of irrigation, making 
 two hundred and fifty thousand acres, distributed in 
 narrow belts in and near the mountains, at elevations 
 varying from three thousand three hundred feet to nine 
 thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight feet. 
 
 The Grand Eiver country is at present almost a " terra 
 incognita; " but all accounts that float eastward from it, 
 pronounce it one of the finest and most productive 
 portions of the State. This river, fed by the Un- 
 compahgre, Gunnison, and numerous small streams, 
 unites with the Green to make the great Eio Colorado of 
 the West, Using the language of Prof. Hayden " it con- 
 sists of Middle Park and the inner slopes of its mountain 
 barriers, a large part of the Park range, the western 
 slopes of the Sagauche range, the Elk Mountains, the 
 north and west slope of the San Juan Mountains, the 
 southern portion of the great White Eiver plateau, be- 
 sides an enormous area of the broken plateau country far- 
 ther westward." In setting down the arable land on 
 the Grand Eiver, the estimate does not cover the volume 
 of water carried by the stream, which is said to be as 
 much as six thousand cubic feet per second, but only the 
 level arable land contiguous to the stream. 
 
 Sgaare Miles. 
 
 Grand Eiver 320 
 
 Branches in the park 30 
 
 Egeria 30 
 
 Eagle 87 
 
 Roaring Fork 15 
 
 Gunnison and its branches 500 
 
 Uncompahgre 300 
 
 Dolores 145 
 
 Total 1,327 
 
 This gives an arable area of eight hundred and forty- 
 
58 COLOKADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 nine thousand two hundred and eighty acres, with elevar 
 tions ranging from three thousand nine hundred up to 
 nine thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine feet. 
 Grasses abound, and some grains can be easily raised at 
 this high altitude. The water supply of this section is 
 probably largely in excess of the lands that lie suitable 
 for cultivation. 
 
 The amount of land that can be irrigated on the White 
 Eiver and its branches amounts to one hundred and 
 seyenty-four square miles, or one hundred and eleven 
 thousand three hundred and sixty acres, an area by no 
 means sufficient to use up all the water carried by the 
 stream. The belt of cultivable land nowhere exceeds 
 a mile in width, except in Simpson's Park, where the 
 White Eiver Agency, which was the scene of the Meeker 
 Massacre, is located. 
 
 The only section now left to be considered is the Yam- 
 pah; the arable area is on the main stream and its 
 branches. Sage Creek, Williams and Little Snake Elvers. 
 The arable land amounts to three hundred and nineteen 
 square miles, or two hundred and four thousand one hun- 
 dred and sixty acres. In the month of November, at 
 the lowest stage of the water, the Yampah has been 
 found to carry three hundred and sixty-four cubic feet 
 per second, indicating an abundance of water in the irri- 
 gating season for all the land that can be reached for 
 cultivation. 
 
 It will be seen, from an examination of the figures 
 given, that there are nearly eight thousand square miles 
 of areas that can be irrigated in Colorado, amounting to 
 over five million acres. Prof. Cyrus Thomas estimates, 
 and Dr. Hayden agrees with him, that twenty-five per 
 cent, of this amount could be irrigated with water from 
 our present imperfect irrigating system. This gives one 
 and a quarter million acres of land fit for cultivation, 
 with only about one hundred thousand as yet in use. 
 
AKEA OF IRRIGATION IIT COLORADO. 59 
 
 Eleven-twelfths await settlement. So the possible value 
 of the farming lands of the future may be set down at 
 seventy-five millions dollars annually. 
 
 In the year 1873, an Irrigating, Convention was held 
 in Denver, at which were present the principal agricul- 
 turists and publicists of the State. Some of the speakers 
 " went upon the record " as to the amount of land Col- 
 orado had water supply for. One considered that there 
 was enough, without a reservoir system, to irrigate seven 
 hundred and fifty thousand acres of land. Another be- 
 lieved that ultimately three millions would be cultivated. 
 Still another — and an engineer at that — solemnly de- 
 clared that with canals properly constructed to tap the 
 mountain streams, thirty-five millions of acres could be 
 placed in cultivation. Another, an ex-Governor, thought 
 that Colorado had a water supply amply sufficient to 
 irrigate six million acres, an arable area which, in Egypt, 
 in the time of the Ptolemys, supplied food for eight 
 million people. 
 
 These points, gathered at random from notes taken at 
 the Conveation, I simply offer to show what a wide dif- 
 ference of opinion existed then, and does still, in regard 
 to the amount of land in Colorado that can be irrigated. 
 
CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 HOW FAEMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 
 
 Those who raised wheat in the early days of Colorado, 
 say in 1866, when they were paid fourteen cents per pound 
 for what little was grown in the country, if asked to day, 
 if wheat growing paid in Colorado, would probably shake 
 their heads and answer dubiously, " No times like the 
 old times, before the railroads struck the country, when 
 people came with no other object than to get rich quick 
 and then scud back to the States." So too, in regard to 
 potatoes. In the year 1863, there were so many raised in 
 the territory that farmers ofEered to give them away to 
 any who would take the trouble to dig them up. One 
 farmer declares that he raised one potato that year weigh- 
 ing eleven and a quarter pounds. Those who raised this 
 tuber in that year, probably came to the conclusion that, 
 as a whole, farming was a mighty uncertain and unprof- 
 itable pursuit. Again, take for instance, the man who 
 saw an army of grasshoppers settle upon his grain field, 
 and in a few hours destroy it utterly. He, too, looking 
 through glasses colored by circumstance, will declare that 
 the losses — one year with another — overbalance the 
 profits, and that "there is no money in farming in Col- 
 orado." 
 
 It was customary for journals and immigration 
 
 agents, in some quarters, a few years ago, to argue that 
 
 farming could not be profitable in Colorado, save under 
 
 exceptional circumstances, and with a high priced mar- 
 
 (60) 
 
HOW FABMIIJG US' COLORADO PATS. 61 
 
 ket. But, as a writer in the DeiiTer "Eoeky Mountain 
 News," as far back as 1873, said " there has been enough 
 of success at farming in Colorado to prove the contrary; 
 not only that farming can be successfully carried on 
 here, but that it can be followed with a larger and more 
 certain annual profit than in any other part of the 
 United States." 
 
 It is a safe assertion to make that four annual crops 
 out of five can be successfully raised in the State, and 
 this is as good an average as ought to be asked for, or is 
 had elsewhere. The area of arable land is not so large 
 as to induce ruinous competition at home, and the dis- 
 tance from the grain-producing districts of other States 
 and Territories is great enough, not to shut out compe- 
 tition, but to make the competing price a fair one for the 
 farmer. A constantly increasing mining interest is a 
 sure guarantee of an ever ready market for all that can 
 be produced. 
 
 At one of the Colorado Farmer's Institutes, held a year 
 or two ago, it was asserted that wheat could be raised for 
 fifty cents per bushel. This is a very low figure, and one 
 not reached by any calculation given in this chapter. Oth- 
 ers put the figure at sixty-five cents. 
 
 But few farmers keep accurate accounts by which they 
 can arrive at satisfactory conclusions as to the cost of the 
 crops they raise each year. A farmer's account book 
 should be considered a necessity on every farm. Then a 
 little care in making proper entries will give the data 
 from which he can decide as to future operations. The 
 profit in farming here, as in other places, lies concealed 
 in many little things of which no account is taken. In 
 the wastage of the farm vanishes many per cent, that 
 might be added to the general aggregate of profit. 
 
 Before giving tables prepared by farmers during the 
 last eight or nine years, I submit a general estimate of 
 the cost of raising wheat on old and new land: — 
 
62 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 Purchase price, new land. Cost of cultivation Cost of cultivation 
 
 $800 ; old land, $1,400 to $1,600. on new land. on old land. 
 
 Interest on coat @ 10 per cent $ 80.00 $160.00 
 
 Interest on Water Eight 40.00 40.00 
 
 Plowing 176.00 100.00 
 
 Harrowing 80.00 80.00 
 
 Seed 75.00 75.00 
 
 Labor of two Irrigations 80.00 80.00 
 
 Harvesting and Stacking 200.00 200.00 
 
 Threshing 15 busli'a on new, 25 on old laud. 128.00 192.00 
 
 Marketing. 48.00 72.00 
 
 Totals $907.00 $999.00 
 
 Estimated yield from new land ■. 1,200 bushels. 
 
 Estimated yield froni old land 2,000 bushels. 
 
 At 2 cents per lb., or $1.20 per bushel. ..$1,440.00 $2,400.00 
 
 Net profit 553.00 1,000.00 
 
 Peracre 6.67 13.50 
 
 Costperacre 11.46 12.48 
 
 Here is another estimate, based on a single acre, from 
 
 a farmer in the valley of the St. Vrain: 
 
 Interest on land $2.00 
 
 Plowing 1.50 
 
 Seeding and Harvesting 1.00 
 
 Seed 1.50 
 
 Irrigating 1.00 
 
 Cutting and Stacking 2.50 
 
 Threshing and Storing 2.00 
 
 Total $11.50 
 
 Average yield twenty-two bushels. Selling price one 
 dollar per bushel. Net profit ten dollars and a half per 
 acre. 
 
 In the year 1873, Mr. William Lee, a farmer in Clear 
 Creek Valley, ■within five miles of Denver, kept an ac- 
 count of his crop of wheat on his home farm of one hun- 
 dred and twenty acres. It ran as follows: — 
 
 Plowing, Seeding, and Feed $274.20 
 
 Harvesting and Stacking 243.30 
 
 Threshing 86.50 
 
 Two men, 7 months, @ $40 per month 560.00 
 
 Water, 100 inches, @ $1.50 150.00 
 
 Seed, 340 bushels @ $1.50 360.00 
 
 Total $1,674.00 
 
HOW FAEMIN'G IST COLOEADO PATS. 63 
 
 Received 1,800 bushels of wheat, being an average of 
 
 14i bushels per acre. Sold @ S1.38. Total $3,484.00 
 
 Net profit from 130 acres $810.00 
 
 Net profit per acre 6.75 
 
 It will be seen that the crop was very small per acre, 
 and the labor expense very high. Now labor only costs 
 twenty dollars to twenty-five dollars per month. The 
 " Colorado Farmer," from which this account is taken, 
 said of it "This having been an unfortunate year (the 
 grasshoppers paid a visit to the State that season) for 
 Colorado farmers, the profits realized are very small, yet 
 it gives a correct idea of the expense attending the cut- 
 ting of the crop mentioned, and reliable data as to what 
 the profits may be in a good year with a fair yield. 
 Looked at in this light it is not discouraging. Any one 
 can see that with a full yield and fair prices, the profits 
 would be remunerative, as everything above the yield set 
 down would be comparatively clear gain." Had Mr. Lee 
 got an average yield of twenty bushels, on which every 
 farmer can count, in ordinary seasons, his net profit would 
 have been at least double what it was. This table is given 
 to show what may be expected in an unfavorable season. 
 
 Two years later, J. Max Clark, of Greeley, printed in 
 the "Tribune "of that town, what he called "A nice 
 little story about myself, and my doings and beliefs in the 
 business of farming in Colorado." After preliminary 
 remarks that are more local than general in their nature, 
 and need not be quoted here, he gives his 
 FARM ACCOUNT FOE 1874. 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 One hand, 5 months @ $35 per month $135.00 
 
 Board for same @ $15 per month 75.00 
 
 Extra help Harvesting . '. 50.00 
 
 Extra help digging Potatoes 100.00 
 
 Wheat— 75 bushels for Seed and Family use 135.00 
 
 Seed Potatoes— 200 bushels 200.00 
 
 Hay and Corn for Team one year 150.00 
 
 Interest on farm land, team and tools, $2,000 @ 18 % . • 360.00 
 
 Wear and tear of Implements 25.00 
 
 Total $1,210.00 
 
64 COLORADO AS AST AQKICULTL'EAL STATE. 
 
 EBCEIPTS. 
 
 1,130 bushels of Wheat @ $1.50 per bushel $1,695.00 
 
 900 bushels of Potatoes @ $1.00 per bushel 900.00 
 
 Total $2,595.00 
 
 Net profit $1,385.00 
 
 Net profit per acre 17.31 
 
 Mr. Clark did not give the amount in wheat and pota- 
 toes, so the two could be shown separate. It shows how 
 mixed farming paid in 1874, even at one and one-half 
 per cent, a month interest. 
 
 FARM ACCOUNT FOR 1875. 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 Labor for 6 months $210.00 
 
 Extra help Harvesting 13.00 
 
 Extra help digging Potatoes 125.00 
 
 Extra help husking Com 50.00 
 
 Incidental help 20.00 ■ 
 
 Sixty-five bushels Seed Wheat 97.00 
 
 200 bushels Potatoes 200.00 
 
 Hay and Com for Team one year 150.00 
 
 Interest on Land, Team, and Tools 360.00 
 
 Wearof Tools 25.00 
 
 Total $1,249.00 
 
 EBCEIPTS. 
 
 1,050 bushels of Wheat $1,575.00 
 
 1,500 bushels of Potatoes 750.00 
 
 600 bushels of Shelled Corn 360.00 
 
 Total $2,685.00 
 
 Net profit $1,436.00 
 
 Net profit per acre 15.78 
 
 It will be seen that Mr. Clark's farming got a little 
 mixed, including com among his crops. But to make 
 •the result still better, he adds "I should say that the 
 past season, having bought more land, I cultivated ninety- 
 one acres instead of eighty, for the year previous. In 
 this account 1 have not included any returns from the 
 garden, nor of between seven or eight tons of beets raised 
 
HOW FAKMIJSa IK OOLOSADO PAYS. 6o 
 
 in the two years and fed to my cow. I have also omit- 
 ted the item of taxes, because they no more than fairly 
 offset the use of my house and garden. It will thus be 
 seen that the gross receipts from my farm in two years, 
 amounted to five thousand two hundred and eighty dol- 
 lars, and afforded a clear return for one man's labor, 
 over and above a liberal allowance for every item of ex- 
 pense of one thousand four hundred and five dollars per 
 annum." 
 
 Is it any wonder that, when such an intelligent farmer 
 is asked his opinion of Colorado as a farming country, 
 he should give it in such words as these ? "I answer 
 without hesitation that I consider it incomparably supe- 
 rior to any of the Eastern States. But when I say this, 
 I mean for the intelligent, systematic farmer, for I know 
 of no country in the world offering fewer inducements 
 for what I call numskull agriculturists, than this, and I 
 like it all the better for that. Here only the wise suc- 
 ceed, the fools all fail and go to the wall. He who, in 
 his ignorance presumes to tackle our soil in the ordinary, 
 unthinking, unskillful, bungling manner, is only answered 
 by an empty jeer. The finest discernment, the closest 
 observation and understanding, together with the most 
 perfect manipulation, are required to obtain satisfactory 
 results. Ifot every man who grows corn in Iowa and 
 Nebraska for ten cents a bushel, can succeed in produc- 
 ing wheat in Colorado for a dollar and a half a busliel, 
 and all that class of men of migratory habits, emigrating 
 from extreme Eastern or Southern States, who have 
 rented land in every State from the original roost west- 
 ward, and never succeeded in owning a foot of their own, 
 may as well pass us by on the other side. This is no 
 country for them. But to the farmer by profession, 
 skilled in his art and calling, we can offer such induce- 
 ments as can be offered by no other locality. Our soil, 
 properly and judiciously worked, is rich in returns, and 
 
66 COLORADO AS AN AGEICT7LTX7EAL STATE. 
 
 our peculiar position, the wide strip of arid plain be- 
 tween Colorado and the fertile limits of Kansas and Ne- 
 braska, the really insignificant portions of our land which 
 cannot, by any system of cultivation, become ayaUable 
 for agricultural purposes, and the resulting fact that the 
 farming interest can never more than equal the demands 
 of the other industries of the State, make the outlook for 
 our farmers, in the immediate future and for all time, in 
 every way desirable." 
 
 In 1879, George W. Buell, also a farmer of Greeley, 
 kept an account of the expense and profit of wheat cul- 
 ture on a patch of sixty-five acres. He says, under date 
 of February 13th, 1880, "Much has been said concermng 
 the cost of raising crops under irrigation, and especially 
 of wheat; and in order to satisfy myself upon this sub- 
 ject, I opened an account with each of my crops grown 
 last year, charging the crop for the actual labor put upon 
 it, at a fair price, also the cost of seed. My account 
 stands thus for my 
 
 WHEAT FARM OF SIXTT-FIVE ACRES. 
 
 Eighty bushels of seed wheat $ 80.00 
 
 Plowing, 13i days, @ |4 per day 54.00 
 
 Putting in 25 acres with cultivator 20.00 
 
 Use of drill for 23 acres 2.30 
 
 Titrioling seed wheat 3.00 
 
 21 days' drilling @$i 11.00 
 
 i day plowing ditches 2.00 
 
 Irrigating 65 acres @ 25e. per acre 16.25 
 
 Cutting and binding @ J2 per acre 130.00 
 
 Six days' shocking @ $1.50 per day 9.00 
 
 Seven days' stacking, 1 team, 2 men 38.50 
 
 Threshing bill, including hands 68.88 
 
 Cost of 1,096 bushels in bin $i34.93 
 
 Cost per acre $6.63 
 
 Cost per bushel 0.40 
 
 Yield per acre 16i bushels. 
 
 Mr. Buell at the time of making this statement had 
 
HOW PAEMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 
 
 67 
 
 not sold his crop, so lie gave no figures as to profits. But 
 presuming that he receiyed two cents per pound, or one 
 dollar and twenty cents per bushel, the net profit is 
 shown to be seven hundred and eighty dollars, or twelve 
 dollars per acre. 
 
 We give another table, from which it would seem as 
 though a fair case had been made out in favor of Col- 
 orado farming. This table, covering a period of five 
 years, from 1875 to 1879, is furnished by Mr. A. L. 
 Emigh, of Fort Collins, Larimer County, one of the most 
 intelligent and successful farmers in the State. 
 
 FIVE TEARS OF WHEAT CULTURE. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 JTo. busheli 
 per acre. 
 
 Meceipts 
 per acre. 
 
 Cost 
 per acre. 
 
 I'''-<'<='-^.'SeVar. 
 
 Lowest 
 price. 
 
 Average 
 price. 
 
 1875. 
 1876. 
 1877. 
 1878. 
 1879. 
 
 24i 
 
 26 
 
 26 
 
 Wi 
 
 26 
 
 S33.71 
 36.40 
 32.24 
 12.60 
 23.40 
 
 $14.50 
 
 12.00 
 
 11.00 
 
 9.00 
 
 9.40 
 
 $19.20 
 
 24.40 
 
 21.24 
 
 3.60 
 
 14.40 
 
 $1.56 
 1.80 
 1.50 
 1.00 
 1.20 
 
 $1.20 
 
 1.50 
 
 1.00 
 
 .54 
 
 .60 
 
 $1.38 
 
 1.46 
 
 1.25 
 
 .77 
 
 .90 
 
 Average 
 
 asVstiii. 
 
 $27.67 
 
 $11.18 
 
 $16.49 1 1 
 
 $1.14 
 
 The figures for the year 1878 differ so much from the 
 others that the reader will naturally desire to know the 
 reason why. Mr. Emigh accounts for it by saying that 
 the wheat was injured by smut to such an extent that he 
 deducted one-third of the actual yield on that account. 
 Of his experience for the years 1880 and 1881, Mr. Emigh 
 writes "the average of the last two years would be but 
 little different in results. My expenses for the seven sea- 
 sons just closed, have been carefully kept, and amount to 
 three thousand three hundred and fifty dollars on three 
 hundred acres in crops, three hundred and fifty dollars 
 worth being permanent improvements. The crop con- 
 sisted of two hundred acres in wheat, seventy acres in 
 oats, twenty-five acres hay, four and one-half acres in 
 corn, one-half acre in potatoes and garden stufE. The 
 entire crop brought eight thousand dollars cash, leaving 
 
68 COLORADO AS AN AGBICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 a profit of five thoiisand dollars. I estimate the profit 
 on wheat this year to be nearly nineteen dollars per acre." 
 
 Touching upon the difference of opinion existing 
 among farmers concerning the cost and profit of farming 
 in Colorado, he adds, " I think this difference is largely 
 due to the kind of land in cultivation. The cost of rais- 
 ing a crop of wheat is from ten to eleven dollars per 
 acre, or fifty cents per bushel. I have raised some for as 
 low as thirty cents, but more for seventy-five cents. I 
 think farming should pay, taking an average of years, at 
 least ten dollars per acre on most land, in a variety of crops. 
 A good farmer, on fair land, can do much better than 
 this, say from twelve dollars to fifteen dollars per acre." 
 
 Evidently farming pays in Colorado. 
 
 The opinion prevails throughout the Eastern States, 
 and in some measure is believed as well in Colorado, that 
 the State is not a corn country. The assertion is made, 
 over and over again, that Colorado is not a corn country. 
 True, to a certain extent. The altitude and the cool 
 nights are against the culture of this grain. Yet it wiU 
 surprise some to know that Colorado compares favorably 
 with some of the boasted corn States of the East, as re- 
 gards the profit, at least, of raising it. The figures to be 
 given in this connection will prove it. 
 
 In 1873, Mr. William Lee, of Clear Creek Valley (whose 
 experience in wheat culture that year has already been giv- 
 en), kept an account of the expense attending the growing 
 of eight acres of corn, which showed the following result: 
 
 EXPENSES. 
 
 Five days plowing, @ $4 dollars per day $20.00 
 
 Planting 6.00 
 
 Eighty-five pounds of seed @ 5 cts 4.25 
 
 Marking both ways 4.00 
 
 Working both ways in May and June 23.00 
 
 Hand weeding 7.50 
 
 Working li days with com plow 6 .00 
 
 Making irrigating furrows 2.50 
 
 Irrigating cost @ $2 per acre 16.00 
 
 Total .$89.25 
 
HOW SAEMING IN COLORADO PATS. 69 
 
 RECEIPTS. 
 
 184 bushels of corn, netting 1337.00 
 
 Yield per acre 23 bushels. 
 
 Cost of cultivation, per acre ." $11 .15 
 
 Profit on eight acres $147.75 
 
 Profit per acre $18.47 
 
 In the above there is no charge for gathering the com. 
 This is offset by Mr. Lee by the value of the fodder, 
 which is not taken into the account of receipts. This is 
 a very good showing for com in Colorado in a year when 
 all crops were below the average. 
 
 Six years later a farmer in Greeley gives his little com 
 story of the year as follows: — 
 
 EXPENSE. 
 
 Six days plowing @ $4 $24.00 
 
 One and a half day's working @ $2.50 3.75 
 
 Three days planting @ $1.50 4.50 
 
 Seed corn 1.00 
 
 One day dragging 4.00 
 
 Five days with cultivator @ $4 20.00 
 
 Four days cutting furrows 6.00 
 
 Five days Irrigating @ $1.50 7.50 
 
 Ten days cutting fodder @ 1.50 15.00 
 
 Twenty-five days husking @ $1.50 37.50 
 
 One day hauling fodder 5.00 
 
 Total $128 .25 
 
 KEOEIPTS. 
 
 600 bushels of corn @ 60 cts $360.00 
 
 5 loads of fodder @ $10 50.00 
 
 Total $410.00 
 
 Tield per acre — ^ 19 bushels. 
 
 Cost of cultivation peracre $ 6.75 
 
 Profit on 19 acres 281 .75 
 
 Profit per acre 14.83 
 
 Com, it will be seen, was cheap in the Greeley market 
 in the year 1879. The difference between the ruling 
 price of 1873 and 1879 is very remarkable. But the times 
 were changing. Big prices for produce as well as big 
 outlay for labor were among the things of the past. Still 
 
70 COLOEADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 the corn-grower was well pleased with the result. The- 
 proof was clear that corn could be grown in Colorado. 
 
 The next year a farmer in Jefferson County planted 
 one hundred acres. Here is his story from his book of 
 accounts: — 
 
 EXPENSE. 
 
 Interest on 100 acres $350.00 
 
 Interest on team and tools 80.00 
 
 Two men's work for 9months 450.00 
 
 One extra team for plowing 25.00 
 
 Feed for teams 135.00 
 
 Feed for men 300.00 
 
 Seed 25.00 
 
 Extra expenses 35.00 
 
 $1,180.00 
 
 KEOEIPIS. 
 
 3,500 bushels @ $1 $3,500.00 
 
 Com fodder 200.00 
 
 Total $2,700.00 
 
 Yield per acre 35 bushels. 
 
 Cost of cultivation per acre $11.80 
 
 Profit on 100 acres 1,530.00 
 
 Profit per acre 15.30 
 
 These three instances are cited, covering a period of 
 seven years, to prove that Colorado, after aU, is a pretty 
 good country for corn. It will pay farmers to disabuse 
 themselves of the notion they have that there is no money 
 in the crop, and give more attention to it in the future. 
 The fact that hundreds of thousands of dollars go out of 
 the State every year to benefit the corn growers of Illi- 
 nois, Kansas, Indiana, and other States, should waken 
 them up to their best interests. Colorado may not be 
 able to lead in the average of corn per acre, as she does in 
 wheat, where she stood in 1879 in the front rank with her 
 twenty-three and one-tenth bushels per acre, while In- 
 diana stood next best, showing twenty and three-tenths 
 
HOW FAKMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 71 
 
 bushels, and Illinois eighteen and seven-tenths bushels. 
 Still an average yield of twenty-four bushels is not bad. 
 It is far above that of every Southern State, and within 
 nine bushels of the average yield in Indiana, Kansas, and 
 New York. 
 
 Two years ago the publishers of a western journal 
 ofEered certain cash prizes for experimental acres in the 
 culture of corn. In looking over the reports upon the 
 two-acre tracts that carried ofE first and second premium, 
 and getting at the net profit, there is but little to boast 
 of over the profits of corn raising in Colorado with com- 
 mon field culture. The value of the corn taking first 
 premium was fifty-three dollars and ninety cents. The 
 cost of cultivation, thirty-four dollars. Leaving a net 
 profit of only nineteen dollars and ninety cents. The 
 second premium acre gave a net profit of only seventeen 
 dollars and seventy-five cents. In the one case the 
 corn was Blount's Prolific; in the other, Chester County 
 Mammoth. In both instances the soil was heavily 
 fertilized, and close, frequent cultivation was prac- 
 tised. If the interest on the land or its rental value 
 had been added to the expense, a reduction of from 
 three dollars to five dollars would have occurred, putting 
 the profit — even on a basis of a yield of over one hun- 
 dred bushels — below that realized in Colorado. As the 
 average yield in Indiana, as already stated, is but thirty- 
 three bushels — if it pays to raise corn there at thirty- 
 five cents per bushel, it surely will do so to raise it at one 
 dollar per bushel in Colorado. 
 
 Oats, as a staple, is a crop too much neglected in the 
 State. It is not clear why this is so, for the culture is 
 no more expensive, the yield is abundant, and the price 
 obtained excellent^ ruling the last season at two dollars 
 and ten cents per one hundred pounds. Mr. George "W. 
 Buell, of Greeley, gives his account of the expense of 
 raising six and a half acres of oats, as follows: 
 
73 COLOEADO AS AK AGRICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 EXPENSE. 
 
 Plowing, 2i days @ $4.00 $ 9.00 
 
 475 lbs. seed @ $1.70 per hundred 8.31 
 
 Use of driU 65 
 
 One day drilling 4.00 
 
 Irrigating 3.00 
 
 Cutting and binding @ $3.00 per acre 13.00 
 
 Shocking 1.00 
 
 Stacking. 5.50 
 
 Threshing bill, including hands 11.91 
 
 Sacks 6.00 
 
 Hauling two loads to market 3.00 
 
 Total $65.37 
 
 BEOEIFTS. 
 
 6.353 lbs. @ $1.70 per 100 lbs $108.00 
 
 1,880 lbs. retained for seed 37.60 
 
 Total $i45.60 
 
 Yield per acre 1,266 lbs. 
 
 Cost of cultivation per acre $10.00 
 
 Profit on 6i acres 80.33 
 
 Profit per acre 13.34 
 
 This is not a bad showing, and should incite to a greater 
 breadth of seeding to such a sure and profitable crop. 
 
 Having shown how farming pays in Colorado, as far as 
 the cereals are concerned, it may not be' without interest 
 to give some figures in reference to the potato and its 
 culture, showing what money there is in this article of 
 general consumption, of which the State does not grow 
 one-fifth part of the demand for home use. It would 
 seem as though only certain strips of country are adapted 
 to the successful growth of the potato. In San Luis 
 Park they never fail. On the Divide, a crop is generally 
 certain. In the foot-hills, they are counted on as sure. 
 But in most of the valleys they fail, year after year. In 
 the Oache-la-Poudre Valley, this does not hold good. 
 The Greeley potato is a synonym for excellence of quality 
 and size. Experiments are being made at the Agricul- 
 tural College to discover, if possible, the cause of failure 
 in this important crop, but as yet nothing of practical 
 benefit has resulted therefrom. 
 
HOW FAKMING IN COLOKADO PAYS. 73 
 
 The following is an exact account of the expenses and 
 receipts attending a crop of forty acres, raised on up- 
 land soil, just north of the town of Greeley. It is as 
 accurate a^ figures can make it: 
 
 EXPENSE. 
 
 300 bushels of seed @ 30 cents $ 90.00 
 
 Nine days' plowing, 4 horses, 1 man, $6.00 per day 54.00 
 
 Seven days' planting, 3 horses and 2 men @ $6.00 per day 42.00 
 Two days' harrowing, 4 horses, 1 man @ $6.00 per day . . 12.00 
 Twenty days' cultivating, 3 horses, 1 man @ $4.50 per 
 
 day 90.00 
 
 Sixteen days' irrigating, 1 man @ $1.25 per day 20.00 
 
 150 days' digging, at $1.37i per day 205.50 
 
 Hauling to market, 80 loads @ $1.50 120.00 
 
 Cost of sacks 153.45 
 
 Interest on land and water, $1,000 @ 13 per cent 120.00 
 
 Interest on teams and tools 50.00 
 
 Total $956.95 
 
 KECEIFTS. 
 
 By sales made $2,985.31 
 
 By 400 bushels on hand, at 90 cents 360.00 
 
 Total $3,345.31 
 
 Balance in clear profit $8,388.36 
 
 The above is an extraordinary yield, and is not to be 
 accepted as occurring every year. Another instance may 
 be cited, occurring last year. The figures are given by 
 Mr. Geo. W. Buell, whose accounts of wheat and potato 
 raising have already been given. He is a gentleman of 
 unimpeachable veracity, and his statements can be ac- 
 cepted as accurate: 
 
 Six days' plowing @ $4.00 per day $ 24.00 
 
 Three and a half days' planting @ $5.50 per day 19.25 
 
 One hundred bushels of seed @ 30 cents 30.00 
 
 Five days cutting seed @ $1.50 7.50 
 
 Five days cultivating @ $3.00 15.00 
 
 Six days cutting weeds with hoe @ $1.50 9.00 
 
 Five days irrigating @ $1..50 7.50 
 
 Eighty days digging @ $1.50 120.00 
 
 Forty loads, hauling, @ $1.50 60.00 
 
 Sacks and twine 110.00 
 
 Total $403.35 
 
 4 
 
74: COLOEADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 BECEIPTS. 
 
 2,456 bushels @ 70 @ 75 cents $1,766.16 
 
 250 bushels In store, valued @ $1.00 250.00 
 
 Total $2,016.16 
 
 Cost of cultivation per acre $20.11 
 
 Profit per acre 80.69 
 
 In the line of general garden stuff, only one case will 
 be cited, this chapter being longer than was intended; 
 but the facts crowd in upon the author, and the figures 
 are so favorable that the question of profit seems settled. 
 
 The "Times," published at Buena Vista, in Chaffee 
 County, gives some interesting facts connected with the 
 culture of ten acres of ground near that flourishing lit- 
 tle town, that go to prove how prolific the soil of Colo- 
 rado is for root culture. 
 
 On ten acres of ground, Mr. George Leonhardy har- 
 vested, in the season of 1881, eighty-seven thousand six 
 hundred and forty pounds of potatoes, for which he ob- 
 tained three cents a pound. On two acres he raised 
 thirty-two thousand pounds of rata bagas, worth six 
 hundred and forty dollars. On half an acre of ground 
 he raised carrots, beets, parsnips, etc., valued at two 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 With these statements, the case is submitted to the 
 general court of the people, as having been proven that 
 
 PaBMING pats IK COLOEADO, 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 CACHE-LA-POUDRE VALLEY. 
 
 The stream above named is the most northernly in the 
 State, and one of the principal feeders of the South 
 Platte River. It is taken, therefore, as the starting point 
 for a descriptive account of the various farming sections 
 of the State. There is a fork called the North Fork, 
 emptying into the main stream above Fort Collins. The 
 waters of this branch, as yet, are utilized only when they 
 reach the channel of the main stream; but there is a fine 
 breadth of agricultural land lying north of the town men- 
 tioned, and stretching from this fork of the Poudre east- 
 ward to Box Elder creek and beyond, reaching to the 
 line of the Denver Pacific branch of the Kansas Pacific 
 railway. The supply of water from this fork is not equal 
 to the irrigation of any very great part of this land; but 
 a system of reservoirs, connected with a canal, is in con- 
 templation; when built, some very desirable railroad and 
 Government land will be brought under cultivation; 
 the former belonging to the Denver Pacific and the 
 Union Pacific railway companies. The Colorado Central 
 branch of the latter railway runs through a portion of 
 this tract, so that communication with the Cheyenne (on 
 the Union Pacific) market on the north and Denver on 
 the south, is direct. It is claimed that over one hun- 
 dred thousand acres can be covered and watered by such 
 a canal, when constructed, but this estimate is too large. 
 Thirty thousand acres, perhaps, can be utilized from what 
 is now but a cattle range and turned to agricultural uses. 
 
 From La Porte to its junction with the South Platte, 
 (75) 
 
76 COLOEADO AS AK AGKICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 thirty miles below, the Poudre Valley is one Tast net- 
 work of irrigating canals, mainly taken out upon the 
 north side of the stream. It was in this yalley, in 1871, 
 that the completion of an irrigating canal of the Gree- 
 ley Colony, and its successful working, gave the first 
 impetus to farming in Colorado, and demonstrated the 
 value of the valley lands, opening up the vast pos- 
 sibilities of a country hitherto supposed to be destitute 
 of one of the most important industries of a State. 
 Before it was built, a few small ditches skirted the lower 
 edges of the bluffs, and watered the hay-lands of the first 
 bottom, as the lands adjoining the stream are called. 
 During the summer season the river ran bank full, and 
 filled these ditches without the requirement of dams or 
 any of the methods now employed in connection with 
 larger artificial water courses. 
 
 It is found, now, that so many large canals have been 
 built, drawing such an immense volume of water from the 
 stream, that these small ditches are comparatively worth- 
 less for practical purposes, and it is one of the many 
 questions connected with irrigation, yet to be settled 
 by the courts, as to the right of large corporations to 
 deprive the many owners of small ditches of the equities 
 they possessed in the flow of water at the time they con- 
 structed their ditches. 
 
 Nearly a score of large canals, varying in length from 
 ten to thirty miles, utilize the water from this stream, 
 and others are in course of construction. These canals 
 cover over one hundred and fifty thousand acres of arable 
 land, while those now building will add perhaps seventy- 
 five thousand more. This amount of land is not all in 
 cultivation, or likely to be. During the season of 1881 
 not more than thirty thousand acres were under plow. 
 
 In 1871 the Greeley canal was built, covering some 
 twenty-five thousand acres, stretching from its head, 
 about twelve miles west of the town, to a point east of 
 
CACHE-LA-POUDKB VALLEY. 77 
 
 the Denver Pacific railway, a length of twenty-seven 
 miles for the canal proper, with innumerable laterals 
 traversing the breadth of land between it and the stream, 
 a varying width from two to four miles. The canal is 
 thirty feet wide, four and a-half feet deep, with a sec- 
 tional area of one hundred and three feet, running at 
 a velocity of a little over four feet per second, and de- 
 livering five hundred and eighty-five cubic feet of water 
 per second. The land under this canal is enclosed in 
 a common fence, protected by an Act of the State Leg- 
 islature, cared for by a tax on all the land protected by 
 it. The canal itself, built originally by the Union Col- 
 ony founded by Meeker, Greeley, and others, in 1870, 
 is now owned by the farmers themselves. A fixed num- 
 ber of water rights have been issued, and these are sub- 
 ject to assessment for superintendence and repairs, an- 
 nually amounting to sixteen dollars per water right for 
 eighty acres, or twenty cents per acre. For this, forty 
 inches of running water, under a fixed pressure, are given 
 each year. The canal is considered to be one of the 
 best constructed in the State, having been built under 
 the direction of the ahlest Civil Engineer residing in 
 Colorado, Mr. E. S. Nettleton, whose name is thus in- 
 delibly identified with the development of the agricul- 
 tural resources of the State. 
 
 A small canal, taken out of the south side of the 
 stream, about four miles west of the town of Greeley, 
 waters the garden lands about the town and makes per- 
 haps three thousand acres tillable. The waters flow 
 through the streets of Greeley, furnishing the inhabitants 
 with water for household purposes as well as for the 
 irrigation of trees that line each street, and the flowers 
 that bloom so profusely about the houses. Greeley has 
 been termed the Garden Town of Colorado because of 
 the multitude of gardens within its limits, and the 
 Forest City on account of the trees that abound in it. 
 
78 COLOBADO AS AN AGEICULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 Either name is appropriate, but it will live in history as 
 an enduring memento of the two men who conceived 
 and fostered it — Horace Greeley and Nathan C. Meeker. 
 
 Half-way between Greeley and Port Collins — distant 
 twenty-five miles — is the dividing line between Weld 
 and Larimer counties. At this point there is a settle- 
 ment and post-ofiSce known as Wheatlands. After pass- 
 ing the colony fence the lands become tributary to Fort 
 Collins, the county seat of Larimer county. It is notice- 
 able, here, that the lands on both sides of the stream are 
 in cultivation, and this point iS the center of a large and 
 steadily increasing farming population. The canals are 
 large and numerous, carrying a volume of water that 
 would lead one to suppose but little would be left in the 
 stream to supply the canals below, watering the farming 
 lands about Greeley, and no doubt some apprehension is 
 already felt, on the part of the latter, about the future. 
 The water question becomes a serious one when there is 
 a short supply. 
 
 Brief mention is made of some of the main canals in 
 this neighborhood, as follows: 
 
 The Lake Canal, projected in 1872, is twelve feet wide 
 and fifteen miles long. Its first cost was seven thousand 
 dollars. It covers eight thousand acres, of which three- 
 fourths are in cultivation. Water rights under this canal 
 give sixty-five inches of water for the season. Land un- 
 der this canal — unimproved, but carrying the right to 
 water— ranges from twenty dollars to thirty dollars per 
 acre. 
 
 The Box Elder Canal has one of the oldest charters in 
 existence, dating back to 1863. It heads three miles 
 above La Porte, is now seven miles in length, but is be- 
 mg extended to cover several thousand acres of choice 
 land lying along the creek that gives its name to the 
 canal. 
 
 The Cache-la-Poudre Canal, also on the north side of 
 
CACHE-LA-POTJDKB VALLEY. 79 
 
 the river, is eight miles long, covering four thousand 
 acres, every foot of which is under cultivation. Here 
 are some of the oldest and best farms in the valley. It 
 was built in 1866, and does not extend far on the up- 
 lands, but covers second bottom lands mainly. 
 
 The Mercer Ditch, originally chartered in 1863, was 
 re-chartered in 1873, and enlarged. It is now twelve feet 
 wide and thirteen miles long. Ten thousand acres are 
 under it, one half at present cropped. Water rights 
 give from sixty to eighty inches per season, with yearly 
 taxation for superintendence and repairs. 
 
 Canal Number Two, was projected by the Port Collins 
 Agricultural Colony in 1873, and built at an expense of 
 fifteen thousand dollars. It is twelve feet wide and 
 eleven miles long, covering in the neighborhood of ten 
 thousand acres, three-fourths being yearly cropped. A 
 large area is being watered for hay farms under this canal. 
 The land is on the south side of the river. 
 
 Pleasant Valley Canal was chartered three years ago. 
 It heads in the mouth of the canon and runs to a point 
 called Fossil Creek, a distance of sixteen miles. Eight 
 thousand acres are fenced and cultivated. The water is 
 only sold to those who hold stock in the company. 
 Shares are valued at one hundred dollars each; as the 
 canal runs four thousand inches of water, it would seem 
 as though a share entitled the owner to only sixteen inches 
 of water, and the owner of eighty acres would need to 
 own at least four shares to furnish him with the amount 
 of water he would need for his land. 
 
 The Larimer County Canal, on the south side, and the 
 North Poudre Canal from the north fork of the river are 
 in course of construction. The first is expected to water 
 from ten to fifteen thousand acres; the last from fifty to 
 one hundred thousand. 
 
 Besides the foregoing, there are other corporate canals 
 and numerous private canals, or ditches, as the smaller 
 
80 COLOKADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 irrigating channels are termed, owned by individuals, 
 and lying mainly in the bottoms. These were among 
 the first constructed, before capital came and corpora- 
 tions were created to control vast areas of land. 
 
 The most important irrigation works of all in the 
 Valley, still remain to be noticed. The Larimer and 
 "Weld County Canal, the property of the Colorado Mort- 
 gage and Investment Company of London (Limited), an 
 English corporation, is the second largest in the State. 
 Two years ago it was distinctively "the grandest irrigat- 
 ing enterprise of the age in the Eocky Mountains." It 
 covers sixty thousand acres of very fertile soil, lying con- 
 tiguous to three lines of railroads, reaching Cheyenne and 
 the Union Pacific railway on the north, the Burling- 
 ton and Missouri railway on the east, and the Kansas 
 Pacific, the Denver and Eio Grande and the South Park 
 railways on the south, thus giving immediate com- 
 munication with all the markets of the State, and with 
 Chicago, Kansas City, and Santa Pe. Over twenty 
 thousand acres of this choice land have been secured 
 by the company constructing the canal, and is being 
 placed on the market for settlement upon easy terms, cov- 
 ering a period of five years for both land and water, which 
 last can be purchased in perpetuity at reasonable rates, en- 
 suring a water right. These excellent farming lands lie 
 along an undulating slope of country, stretching between 
 Port Collins and Greeley, a distance of twenty-five miles, 
 . on the upper side of the river, and above the lands cov- 
 ered by the Lake Canal of Fort Collins and the Farm- 
 ers' Canal of Greeley. Ample irrigating privileges are 
 provided for — even in seasons that are likely to occur in 
 Colorado, when a mild, open winter has prevented the 
 usual amount of snow from falling upon the ranges, to 
 be melted and flow down when the warm weather sets in 
 — ^by a system of lakes or reservoirs upon the main line of 
 the canal, where an abundant quantity of water can be 
 
CACHB-LA-POUDEB VALLEY. 81 
 
 held in reserve for the day when an imperative need for 
 a supply from a source other than the stream itself is 
 required. 
 
 This canal is the largest in operation in Colorado. It 
 will lose this distinctive title when the High Line Irri- 
 gating Canal of the Platte Land Co., taking water from 
 the South Platte to irrigate the lands in the vicinity of 
 Denver, is constructed. The dimensions are as follows : 
 average width on the bottom from the head to the first 
 large reservoir, distance fourteen miles, thirty feet; thence 
 to Coal Creek, fourteen miles, twenty-five feet; thence to 
 Lone Tree Valley, distant fifteen miles, twenty feet; from 
 this point to the extreme end, the width is gradually de- 
 creased to fifteen feet and less. The banks, which are 
 five and a half feet high, are constructed so as to carry a 
 volume of water five feet deep for the first fourteen miles, 
 decreasing gradually to the end. The embankments on 
 the lower side, where the canal crosses an incline, are so 
 substantially constructed that they are as permanent and 
 endurable as the natural, undisturbed earth. The reser- 
 voirs are basins or depressions. It has been found that 
 in similar lakes, when once filled with water, very little 
 is lost during the winter, even when no inlet is allowed 
 to remain open; therefore, when they are once filled^ the 
 supply is assured. The fact that the current of the main 
 canal passes directly through these reservoirs, thus chang- 
 ing and keeping pure the main volume, will make of 
 these lakes the finest fishing grounds imaginable. There 
 are three of these reservoirs, containing respectively, one 
 hundred, one hundred and twenty, and one hundred and 
 eighty acres, ranging in depth from fifteen to twenty-five 
 feet. 
 
 The history of the settlement of Greeley, Evans, Long- 
 mont. Fort Collins, and other towns, by a system of col- 
 onization, has been written elsewhere in this volume. The 
 question naturally arises, in this connection, can new 
 
82 COLOBADO AS AN AGEICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 colonies be established, upon the same plan, with the 
 same assurance of success? Given a fortunate selection 
 of site, a company of intelligent farmers -with means sufiS- 
 cient to construct an expensive canal, and to live com- 
 fortably until a crop is raised, an affirmative answer can 
 readily be given. Gradually the land changes from barren 
 plain to cultivated fields. Comfortable homes, schools, 
 churches, lyceums, newspapers, — indeed, all the auxiliar- 
 ies of a settled and civilized community, take root, grow, 
 and flourish. The disafiEected and the indolent — ^for such 
 exist in every community — shake the dust ofE their feet 
 and depart; but the enterprising, the thrifty, the earnest, 
 remain, and the valley begins to smile with bloom and 
 verdure, opening up the bright possibilities of the future 
 to those who had the patience to wait, the energy to work, 
 and the will to conquer all the diflBculties that might pre- 
 sent themselves. 
 
 Such has been the case in the past, such may be the 
 case in the future. It is possible that no such colony as 
 the Union Colony of Colorado, called together by the 
 magic of the New York " Tribune " and its founder, 
 can again be organized. But the ideas so successfully 
 carried out by them have been, can be, and are being 
 crystalized, as it were, through corporate companies, 
 formed for the purpose of incurring the great ex- 
 pense of constructing canals; making them a legitimate 
 source of revenue, yet conferring an inestimable privilege 
 upon those who have not the capital to put into the in- 
 vestment. So it happens that, in these days, one man, or 
 ten men, or an hundred men, can come to Colorado with 
 their families and find the maximum of agricultural ad- 
 vantages ready for them at a minimum average of ex- 
 pense. As an illustration of what has been done and is 
 being done by such corporate bodies to aid in extending 
 the area of arable land in Colorado, and enable settlers 
 to obtain, occupy, and eventually own farms, the action 
 
CACHE-LA-POUDKE VALLEY. 83 
 
 of the projectors and owners of this great canal may be 
 cited here. 
 
 In order to give my readers a clear idea of the plan 
 pursued, and to show how favorable it is to those who 
 are not in a position to pay down the price of a farm, let 
 us assume that the intending settler contracts to become 
 the purchaser of eighty acres of land, with water enough 
 for irrigating purposes. Here is the story of the first 
 and second year: 
 
 Eighty acres of land, water for the same $1,800 
 
 One-fifth payment down being required amouDts to. . $360 
 
 Cost of home of two or three rooms 100 
 
 $460 
 His expenses for the first year may be about as follows: 
 
 Mules or horses, harness and wagon $300 
 
 Cow and poultry 45 
 
 Seven months' feed for team 75 
 
 Furniture, bedding, fuel, light 75 
 
 Farm and garden implements 50 
 
 Seed — wheat, oats, com, and potatoes for 40 acres 100 
 
 Cost of harvesting crop 75 
 
 Living expenses, taxes, interest. Incidentals 115 $835 
 
 Total expenses for the first season $1,295 
 
 From this must be deducted, for what may be held as 
 
 realty or lands, building, stock, furniture, etc 800 
 
 Leaving the actual outlay of expenditure $495 
 
 The proceeds of the first season's crop, provided the season has 
 been favorable, and the harvest a fair one, will be: 
 
 Wheat, 35 acres, 15 bushels to the acre, 375@$1 $375 
 
 Oats, 15 acres, 30 bushels to acre, 300@50c 150 
 
 Corn, 10 acres, 15 bushels to acre, 150@60e 90 
 
 Potatoes, 5 acres, 60 bushels to acre, 300@$1 30C 
 
 Total «915 
 
 The actual outlay for expenses being only four hundred 
 and ninety-five dollars, a balance of four hundred and 
 twenty dollars in favor of the first year is left, or one- 
 half of the amount expended in land, water, buildings, 
 and stock. 
 The second year's exhibit will be still more favorable to 
 
84 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 the hopeful husbandman, inasmuch as the sod ground is 
 now in better condition, and will yield at least one-fourth 
 greater crops than the first year. At the end of the 
 season, with sixty acres in crops, and including the pur- 
 chase of a reaping machine, he will be a poor farmer who 
 does not find a surplus, after paying all expenses, and 
 making the second annual payment upon land and water, 
 of at least five hundred dollars in his pocket, nearly 
 enough to clear ofE the payments that cover three suc- 
 ceeding years, and so have a deed for his farm, and a 
 home henceforth for himself and family, from which he 
 can make a handsome living. 
 
 It will be seen from this, that any settler, coming to 
 Colorado with one thousand dollars can easily, at the 
 close of two favorable seasons, find himself the owner, in 
 fee, of eighty acres of land and a good home, all made 
 out of the soil. Those coming with one-half that amount 
 would find it more difficult to manage, yet need not be 
 discouraged to make the attempt. They have these ad- 
 vantages in their favor: a healthy climate, a fertile soil, 
 a guarantee of water, a tapidly settling country, an as- 
 sured market, and bright prospects for the future. The 
 feeling of isolation which rests upon the lone home- 
 steader in a new country with such depressing weight, 
 does not rest upon him here. In this lies the great ad- 
 vantage of settlement upon lands where capital has al- 
 ready extended its beneficent influence, and paved the 
 ■way for an immediate return to the farmer for what he 
 invests. There is no delay. The time required to con- 
 struct a small canal in some valley far away from railroad 
 facilities, or social privileges, is saved him, while the cost, 
 spread over five years, is easily borne. The first season, 
 even, is not lost, provided he enters upon his land early 
 enough to plow it and sow his seed. Ere six months 
 have passed, his venture has returned to harbor, laden 
 with a rich return. 
 
CACHE-LA-1'OUDEE VALLEY. 85 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that there are certain ad- 
 vantages accruing from this method of securing farms 
 that are worthy of consideration by those who expect to 
 build up a new home in a new land. Special facilities 
 for transportation can be secured, and it can be so ar- 
 ranged, sometimes, that families coming from one neigh- 
 borhood can select lands lying contiguous, and the social 
 intercourse so long and pleasantly maintained in the East, 
 be continued in the West, under the broad, benignant 
 shadows of the Eocky Mountains. 
 
 The foregoing is presented, not for the purpose of in- 
 ducing farmers'to especially select this valley for a home, 
 but simply to show what can be secured here, now that 
 the era of colonization by cooperation has passed away, 
 in Northern Colorado, by reason of the occupancy of all 
 the available lands. The construction of this canal may 
 be considered a work of wonderful enterprise, and a 
 notable instance where the wealth of a few is turned into 
 a channel that results in incalculable benefit to every one 
 who settles upon such land, and to the State within 
 whose borders each new comer is made welcome. 
 
 About one thousand acres of the lands lying under 
 this canal are in Larimer County, where the State Agri- 
 cultural College is located. The remainder lies in Weld 
 County, mainly tributary to Greeley, though a town 
 named Eaton (in honor of Hon. B. H. Eaton, who held 
 the contract for the construction of the canal), has been 
 laid out on the line of the Denver Pacific railway, eight 
 miles north of Greeley. The canal is now finished to 
 Lone Tree Valley, a distance of about fifty miles. Al- 
 ready a large number of farms have been opened up. 
 Water rights are sold at one thousand dollars per eighty 
 acres, entitling the holder to fifty-four inches of water. 
 
 Wheat is a main crop in the Cache-la- Poudre Valley, 
 though quite a large acreage is in hay and alfalfa. Po- 
 tatoes are also made a specialty, particularly in the neigh- 
 
86 COLOEADO AS AN AGBICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 borhood of Greeley. About one-third of a million bush- 
 els of wheat — nearly one-quarter of the entire crop of the 
 State — were raised in 1881. The average yield was 
 twenty-five bushels to the acre, and the ruling price one 
 dollar and twenty-five cents per bushel. The question 
 whether it pays to raise wheat at this figure has been dis- 
 cussed in a separate chapter. 
 
 Heretofore the Valley of the Cache-la-Poudre has been 
 without railroad facilities, save at the two points, Fort 
 Collins and Greeley, where branches of the Union Pacific 
 system tap the valley in crossing. But a road is now in 
 course of construction, following up the entire course of 
 the Cache-la-Poudre Valley into North Park. 
 
CHAPTBE VIII. 
 
 BIG THOMPSON— LITTLE THOMPSON— ST. VEAIN. 
 
 Three years ago, the tourist over bhe Colorado Central 
 branch of the Union Pacific railway, traversing the place 
 now occupied by the town of Loveland, in Larimer 
 County, saw little else than an uncultivated plain. Now 
 — as by the hand of magic — the scene has changed; a 
 thriving town has been established, broad, fertile fields 
 and pleasant looking homesteads dot the distance for 
 miles around, and, save for a narrow strip of land far 
 above any canal likely to be taken out of the stream, the 
 entire district gives evidence of a prosperous and perma- 
 nent agricultural section. 
 
 The Valley of the Big Thompson is one of the prettiest 
 in the State, as well as being one of the most fertile. Until 
 lately only the bottom lands were in cultivation. The Big 
 Thompson irrigating ditch, the Rist ditch and a number 
 of other small irrigating channels were the only water 
 courses supplying the lands bordering upon the stream. 
 The Rist ditch is especially noticeable from the fact that 
 it is about the largest ditch owned by one individual on 
 the stream, or indeed in the State, covering a farm of 
 nearly three thousand acres in extent, the ownership of 
 which is centered in Mr. George Rist, whose farming op- 
 erations have been, thus far, more extensive than those 
 of any other one person in Colorado. He has had one 
 thousand acres of wheat in at one time. 
 
 The Big Thompson irrigating ditch was built in 1864, 
 covering about one thousand five hundred acres of bottom 
 (87) 
 
88 COLOKADO AS AN AGKICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 lands. It is six miles long, and some of the choicest hay 
 lands of the valley lie under it. 
 
 Later canal enterprises are putting under water all the 
 lands upon the uplands on both sides of the stream. 
 The Handy Canal is to coTer twenty-fiye thousand acres; 
 has a width of twelye feet, and a length of twenty miles. 
 The water is to be rented at the rate of one dollar and 
 a quarter per inch for the season. The Loudon Canal is 
 an enterprise about completed, which is expected to water 
 ten thousand acres. 
 
 Another canal, to become an important factor in the 
 derelopment of the resources of this yalley, is the Love- 
 land and Greeley Irrigating Canal, coming out of the 
 stream above Loveland and watering the lands lying on 
 the northern slope of the valley to the amount of thirty 
 thousand acres; then, crossing the Divide between the 
 Big Thompson and the Cache-la-Poudre, running back 
 in a westerly direction, covering at least ten thousand 
 acres on the south side of the last-named stream. It is 
 twenty feet wide on the bottom, and cost forty thousand 
 dollars for a length of thirty-five miles. Work was be- 
 gun on this in 1881 and water ran in it during the spring 
 of 1882. A large quantity of railroad land under this 
 proposed canal has been secured by contract, and is to be 
 sold to actual settlers upon payments covering a term of 
 years. Water rights are sold at a fixed valuation. There 
 is not likely to be any Government land open for settle- 
 ment; as soon as a canal is surveyed, there are those 
 waiting to enter claims upon every quarter section likely 
 to be covered by it. While the agricultural development 
 of the lands under it is the main object of the company, 
 it is intended to give a water supply to the towns of Gree- 
 ley and Evans. Eeservoirs one hundred feet above the 
 grade of either town can be formed and a permanent 
 supply of water for household purposes thus secured. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing canals, there are eight or 
 
BIG THOMPSOlSr — LITTLE THOMPSON" — ST. VKAIN". 89 
 
 ten others, with a capacity for irrigating from three hun- 
 dred to three thousand acres, so that m all, about one 
 hundred thousand acres are under canals built or pro- 
 jected. That there is a suificiency of water in the Big 
 Thompson for all this land is not certain, unless a system 
 of reservoirs is established. There is no doubt that the 
 water is all appropriated, and no more canals are likely to 
 be built. Those who select this valley for farms should 
 examine the water supply carefully. But indeed this ad- 
 vice applies everywhere in Colorado. Land is in plenty. 
 The water is the main point for consideration. 
 
 The Little Thompson is a branch of the main stream. 
 Previous to the year 1879 this charming little valley had 
 about a score of farmers holding small farms, with ditches 
 of short length, suited to individual wants. About three 
 thousand acres were thus held on fee, of which not over 
 one-third was cropped. But the onward tread of the 
 genius of agricultural development has reached even the 
 borders of this pleasant valley, and though the land to be 
 brought tinder cultivation is to be watered from the 
 channel of the Big Thompson, it will no less cause pros- 
 perity to rest upon the sunny southern slopes. Under 
 the Handy Canal a large acreage has been fenced, and the 
 next few years will effect a wonderful change for the bet- 
 ter in the neighborhood of Berthoud, which is the rail- 
 road station on the Colorado Central branch of the Union 
 Pacific, and the distributing point for the neighborhood. 
 
 The St. Vrain Valley, until lately, has been set down 
 as yielding a larger amount of grain than any valley in 
 Colorado. But it must now yield the honor to its north- 
 ern neighbor, the Cache-la-Poudre. Still, some fifty 
 thousand acres of fenced farms, on which between two 
 and three hundred farmers are living in neat and com- 
 fortable homes, is the pride of Boulder County in par- 
 ticular, and the State at large. The amount of water in 
 the St, Vrain is less than in the Cache-la-Poudre, and a 
 
90 COLOKADO AS AK AGEIUCLTUKAL STATE. 
 
 large number of the small ditches used in former years, 
 by those who resided upon the bottom lands, now get but 
 little water at a time when it is most needed. The limit 
 of cultivable land in the Talley has been reached, and it 
 is safe to say that no new canals of any size will hereafter 
 be constructed. Those already built, except in very 
 favorable seasons, cannot supply the demand, and the 
 new comer into this valley is cautioned to be sure that 
 there is a certainty of a water supply for land he may 
 purchase, before he closes the bargain for it. 
 
 The four largest canals conveying water covering the 
 northern slope of the valley, are the Highland, Supply, 
 Eough and Eeady, and Oligarchy, but there are nearly a 
 score of other incorporated canals, covering from six 
 hundred to three thousand acres. The amount of water 
 " claimed " in this valley amounts to seventy thousand 
 inches, to water the same amount, in acres, of land; but 
 the supply in the stream, during its season of greatest 
 volume, is scarcely two-thirds of this amount. The 
 Highland is the largest, flowing eleven thousand inches 
 , of water, and covering lands in Weld County as well as 
 the county wherein it heads. The Highland Lake district 
 — a few years ago wild prairie land — is now one of the 
 best cultivated and best watered districts of the State. 
 There are about four thousand acres of arable land in this 
 vicinity, which can hardly be said to belong to the St. 
 Vrain Valley, but which for convenience are grouped with it. 
 The lake from which the district takes its name is an im- 
 portant factor in its prosperity, as in dry seasons a large 
 supply of water can be drawn from this convenient and 
 useful reservoir, so wisely selected and utilized by 
 Messrs. L. 0. Mead and C. A. Pound, when, in the year 
 1872, they became the first settlers upon what was lone 
 prairie land, seven miles from the new colony town of 
 Longmont. But of late years they have had an abundant 
 reward for their foresight, their patience, and their faith. 
 
BIG THOMPSOK— LITTLE THOMPSON — ST. VEAIN. 91 
 
 In the St. Vrain Valley there are more than twenty 
 owners of farms oyer four hundred acres in extent, about 
 twenty-fiye owning over three hundred acres, and seyenty 
 or eighty whose holdings run from one hundred to two 
 hundred and forty. The remainder of the land is held in 
 eighty-acre tracts, but very few farms as small as forty 
 acres in extent being found in the yalley. In ordinary 
 seasons the wheat crop of the yalley district is three hun- 
 dred thousand bushels; corn, fifty thousand; barley, ten 
 thousand; while the hay crop reaches five thousand tons. 
 Amber cane is a specialty. More attention has been paid 
 to its cultivation here than elsewhere in the State. In 
 amber cane the farmers of the future will find a profita- 
 ble industry. 
 
 It is doubtful if many more new farms can be opened 
 here, but those that are taken can be cultivated to a 
 greater extent, and by a more thorough system of farm- 
 ing, be made to yield more valuable returns. The day 
 for loose, heedless farming in Colorado has passed away. 
 A higher cultivation, a closer attention to details, the 
 preservation of material that heretofore has gone to 
 waste, rotation of crops, manuring the soil — these are a 
 few of the subjects that now press their importance upon 
 the minds of farmers for early attention. 
 
 Improved farms are held at high figures, especially in 
 the immediate vicinity of Longmont. They command 
 from thirty dollars to fifty dollars per acre, according to 
 the character of the improvements. Therefore only 
 farmers with means are advised to visit this section when 
 looking for a home. There is not an acre of Government 
 or railroad land to be obtained. Under some of the canals 
 no water is' supplied, except to those who hold stock in 
 the company. The incorporated canals charge a rental 
 of from one dollar to two dollars per acre each year. 
 
 Left Hand Valley lies south of Longmont, about four 
 miles distant, and is cultivated from the point where the 
 
93 COLOKADO AS AJf AGRICULTURAL STAIE. 
 
 stream, which is very small, issues from the canon, to 
 where it empties into the St. Vrain. The soil is very 
 fertile. Those who have settled here are as forehanded 
 as any in the State, and their farms are models of thrift 
 and thorough cultivation. Between thirty and forty 
 farms are opened up, covering in the neighborhood of 
 seven thousand acres of land, of which one-third, per- 
 haps, is cropped to wheat, oats, corn, and potatoes. 
 Considerable barley is grown, while vegetables in large 
 quantities are raised, for which a market is found in the 
 mining districts of Boulder County. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BOULDER AND CLEAR CREEK VALLEYS. 
 
 Boulder Valley, including the section of the country 
 watered by the South Boulder, is an extremely fertile 
 agricultural district, containing, in addition to the arable 
 lands, some of the finest hay meadows in the State. It 
 is well settled, some of the bottom lands having been 
 taken up at a very early period. The Wellman farm, 
 about two miles from the town of Boulder, is said to. be 
 the oldest one in the State. The land, all the way 
 down to where the stream empties into the St. Vrain, is 
 fenced and farmed. During the year 1881 at least forty 
 thousand acres were in crops, yielding in the neighborhood 
 of sixty thousand bushels of wheat, in addition to a fair 
 amount of corn, oats, and barley. 
 
 Several canals, covering quite a large area of territory, 
 are taken out of Boulder Creek. The Farmer's was one 
 of the first, having been built in 1863. It heads half a 
 mile inside the canon, is seven miles long, and waters 
 from twelve to fifteen hundred acres of fine farming 
 land. The company is a stock one, but it is all owned 
 by those holding and cultivating land under it, and the 
 water is distributed according to the number of shares 
 held, of which there are only one hundred in all. The 
 Beasly Canal is ten feet wide and twelve miles long, is 
 taken out of the stream just east of the town of Boulder, 
 and was built in 1875. It waters some of the land lying 
 on the south side of the St. Vrain, as well as lands in 
 Boulder Valley proper, carrying about two thousand five 
 (93) 
 
94 COLORADO AS AN AGBICDLTUEAL STATE. 
 
 hundred inches of water. The Chambers Canal is about 
 the same size as the Beasly, and waters nearly as many 
 acres. In addition to the foregoing there are a number 
 of small ditches, not incorporated, taken out in the ear- 
 lier years of settlement, and covering from one to five 
 hundred acres of choice lands, mainly in hay. 
 
 In the upper and lower valleys there are at least fifteen 
 thousand acres under fence. Some few farms are being 
 opened at the extreme eastern end, but it may be said 
 that new comers are not likely to find any lands open to 
 settlement under Government regulations that are likely 
 to be watered. Improved lands are held, if hay lands, 
 at from thirty dollars to fifty dollars per acre, and up- 
 land farms for from fifteen dollars to thirty dollars, ac- 
 cording to the improvements. There are several large 
 land holders, one at least, who counts his acres by the 
 thousand, and is constantly adding to the area. His 
 farming operations are extensive, cropping under his 
 own management, and by lease to renters. 
 
 The hay crop yields quite an income here. There are 
 but few occupying the bottom lands who cut less than a 
 hundred tons annually, and the amount, in the aggre- 
 gate, is not far from ten thousand tons. 
 
 Among the new settlements made in this valley, of 
 late, I may mention a colony of Swedes, numbering, 
 young and old, about five hundred persons, who are farm- 
 ing lands lying north-east of the town of Boulder. These 
 thrifty and energetic people are creating wonderful 
 changes over a large section of country, and their farms 
 are steadily adding to the material wealth of the county 
 they are located in. 
 
 There are fewer canals taken out of Boulder Creek, 
 considering its volume of water and the choice lands that 
 lie on either side of the main stream and its south branch, 
 than one would suppose, comparing them with the other 
 streams to the north. As a consequence, a scarcity of 
 
BOULDEE AND CLEAE OEBEK VALLEYS. 95 
 
 water is something wholly unknown at present, and may 
 never occur. The soil, however, is equal in fertility to 
 any in the State, and capable of yielding the maximum 
 of crops. 
 
 On the South Boulder there are five thousand acres of 
 fenced lands, divided among a score or so of farmers, the 
 largest farm being six hundred acres in extent. Barley, 
 potatoes, amber cane, wheat, corn, oats, and vegetables 
 are raised, findmg a ready market in the mountains near 
 at hand. The hay crop is large. 
 
 On Coal Creek some twenty farmers are settled, using 
 water mainly taken out of the South Boulder. The 
 Davidson Canal is one of the principal water courses, is 
 twelve miles long, and carries two thousand inches of 
 water. South Boulder and Eock Creek Canal covers 
 quite a strip of country, though its capacity is small, car- 
 rying not over two thousand inches of water. 
 
 Clear Creek Valley is in JefEerson County. Quite a 
 number of small canals are taken out of the stream, 
 which at one season of its history might have justified 
 the name it bears, but does so no longer, many stamp 
 mills on its banks at the upper end using and fouling 
 the water. 
 
 On the north side the Arapahoe Canal covers fifteen 
 thousand acres. The Church Canal, running above this, 
 is sixteen miles long, and waters a like number of acres. 
 The Eeno and Jackson Canal is eight miles long, is 
 owned mainly by farmers using the water, and covers 
 land in the neighborhood of Arvada, midway between 
 Golden and Denver. 
 
 On the south side, the Agricultural Canal runs on the 
 Divide between Bear and Clear Creeks, covering both 
 slopes, and watering at least fifteen thousand acres of 
 choice land. Table Mountain Canal is one of the oldest 
 in the State. The line of this canal runs east from Table 
 Mountain to the county line, and then crossing it, covers 
 
96 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 a large section of Arapahoe County. It is twenty-five 
 miles long,, and from eight to fifteen feet wide, and will 
 water ten thousand acres of land, though only about 
 fire thousand inches are annually sold. The " inch " of 
 this company is a generous one, giving more water than 
 is measured out by other canal companies. 
 
 In all these, except the one watering the Arvada dis- 
 trict, the water is sold to those who use it at from one 
 dollar and a half to two dollars per inch, it being under- 
 stood that an inch, in ordinary seasons, is equal to the 
 needs of an acre of land. 
 
 Some of the oldest settled farms in Colorado are in 
 this valley. The meadow lands yield abundantly of ex- 
 cellent hay. Until the last year or two there was but 
 •little uncultivated land under the canals, but their ex- 
 tension has opened to cultivation a large section of what 
 was prairie land, and of but little value. 
 
 Out of Bear Creek, an affiuent of Clear Creek, two 
 canals of considerable size are taken, one on each side. 
 The Lewis and Arnett is a chartered company, covering 
 bottom lands. A strip of country about seven miles 
 long is under water. These are mainly hay lands. On 
 the south side of the stream the Harriman Canal runs 
 into a large lake, and, issuing from it, flows toward Lit- 
 tleton, watering a fine area of land. Prom the mouth 
 of the Platte Canon, running down on the west line of 
 Jefferson County, there are several thousand acres of ag- 
 ricultural land, lying north-west of Acequia, on the Den- 
 ver and Eio Grande railway. 
 
 These farming, meadow, and garden lands of Jefferson 
 County are becoming very valuable on account of their 
 vicinity to the Capital of the State. It is not likely that 
 any more large canals will be taken out of Clear Creek, 
 though those already constructed are capable of being 
 enlarged and extended, and the water supply will war- 
 rant it. The water is full of mineral sediment from be- 
 
BOULDEE AND CLEAR CREEK VALLEYS. 97 
 
 ing used by the many mills located along its banks in 
 and above Golden. 
 
 . Alfalfa is raised to a large extent here, as well as in 
 the neighborhood of Greeley. For many years Mr. L. 
 K. Perrin, one of the first farmers in the State, has 
 
 lUOEKNE, OB ALFALFA {Medicogo sativo). 
 
 grown this valuable fodder to considerable profit. 
 Others, stimulated by the success attending his efforts, 
 have seeded from five to fifty acres. Mr. J. B. Walker, 
 located three miles from Denver, has over one hundred 
 5 
 
98 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 acres. It may be said here, that, while at this time 
 there are not over three thousand acres of alfalfa in the 
 State, the time is not distant when it will be the main 
 forage crop, of the country. There is much that can be 
 said in its f ayor, especially where it can be grown near to 
 large markets. There seems to be some question as to 
 its being baled successfully for transportation; but even 
 this difficulty, if indeed it exists, will no doubt be over- 
 come. Its valuable forage qualities are unquestioned, 
 while its market price equals that of the best hay. 
 
 When once a field of this species of clover is well set it 
 will annually yield from three to five tons of nutritious hay 
 to the acre, on which both cattle and horses thrive well. 
 For milch cows there is no hay its equal, and the dairy- 
 men of Colorado are rapidly learning to look upon it as 
 the best forage plant that can be raised. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY. 
 
 The valley of the South Platte, from where it issues 
 from the canon to the point where it receives the waters 
 of the Oache-la-Poudre, five miles below Evans, is 
 settled by a thrifty and enterprising farming community, 
 mainly occupying a strip of country two miles or so wide, 
 on each side of the stream. 
 
 In the early days of Colorado, only the lands bordering 
 immediately on the bed of the streams were supposed to 
 be valuable. These were eagerly taken up and occupied 
 as ranches, and to secure the control of the range stretch- 
 ing outward from the water, for cattle. This resulted in 
 building a large number of small ditches, carrying a lim- 
 ited supply of water, and capable of irrigating the lands 
 designed for hay meadows along the bottoms of the val- 
 ley, and for the cultivation of a few acres devoted to the 
 cereals and to vegetables. As time passed on, and it 
 began to be demonstrated that there was also a value to 
 the uplands, for agricultural and other purposes, these 
 lands, especially for miles west and north of Denver, 
 were obtained in one way and another by speculators, and 
 held for an advance in prices. New and large canal pro- 
 jects were broached and charters obtained, but in most 
 cases no further steps were taken to utilize the large body 
 of land lying idle in the immediate vicinity of Denver. 
 
 As the colony system grew in favor, by the success of 
 the one established at Greeley, several were projected, 
 having the South Platte as the source of water supply. 
 The towns of Platteville, Evans, Corona, and others, 
 might be named. From these laudable enterprises came 
 cooperative canals that have materially enlarged the 
 amount of land lying under water, especially as the 
 course of the river is followed down toward Greeley and 
 (99) 
 
100 COLOKADO AS AS AGEICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 Evans. A great deal of this land is still unproductive, 
 and the supply of the cereals could be materially increased 
 by the utilization of the lands that already lie under 
 completed canals, and only need, perhaps, new life in- 
 fused into their management to make them important 
 elements in the advancement of the agricultural resources 
 of Colorado. Not one quarter of the arable land to 
 which water can be applied in the valley of the South 
 Platte has even had the sod turned upon it. Much of it, 
 probably, is owned by parties who are not farmers, hold- 
 ing it as a safe and sure-to-be profitable investment. 
 But the retardation of an important industry thereby 
 ensues, turning settlement into other channels where 
 land is easier to be had and water fully as abundant. It 
 is probable that during the season of 1881, not more than 
 one hundred and twenty-five thousand bushels of wheat, 
 forty thousand bushels of oats, fifty thousand bushels of 
 com, and a proportionate amount of other crops were 
 raised in the region stretching from Platte Canon to Ev- 
 ans, a distance of seventy-five miles. 
 
 A very large and flourishing section of farming land 
 lies in the immediate vicinity of Evans, founded by a 
 St. Louis Western Colony in 1873. Four canals of large 
 size water the country south and east of the town. The 
 Colony Canal, as it is called, is twenty feet wide and 
 fifteen miles long. The Independent Canal is fifteen 
 feet wide and twelve miles long. The Union Canal is 
 twenty feet wide and fifteen miles long. The Latham 
 Canal is twelve feet wide and ten miles long. These 
 canals cover an area of seventy-five thousand acres of the 
 very best wheat lands, of which but a very small propor- 
 tion is in cultivation, so that there are good opportuni- 
 ties for new comers under these canals. A large amount 
 of hay is cut between Platteville and Evans. Farm 
 lands, unimproved, average fifteen dollars per acre; where 
 there are improvements, from fifteen dollars to thirty- 
 
SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY. 101 
 
 five dollars. Not over ten thousand acres are cultivated, 
 so that there is a good field here in this ■well located sec- 
 tion, for farmers to select lands from. The canals are 
 substantial, the water tax reasonable, averaging one dol- 
 lar per inch. 
 
 From Greeley to Julesburgh, now known as Denver 
 Junction, on the short line of the Union Pacific to Colo- 
 rado, up to the spring of 1883, but little farming was 
 carried on. Prime valley lands, abundance of water, ex- 
 cellent natural hay meadows, stretch along a distance of 
 two hundred miles, with but here and there an occupied 
 ranche. Distance from market has been one objection to 
 the settlement of these lands, but the fact that the State 
 owns the larger part of the lands susceptible of irrigation 
 has been the principal reason why they have lain idle. 
 
 Now that a branch line of the Union Pacific railway 
 enters the valley at the lower end and follows it up to 
 Denver, and the State Land Board has wisely decided to 
 sell part of the lands owned in this vicinity, there has 
 been an immediate and favorable change. During the 
 last few years, in anticipation of railway facilities, settle- 
 ments have been made at favorable points. These have 
 had a hard struggle for existence; some of them were en- 
 tirely abandoned. But a brighter day is dawning for the 
 lower Platte Valley, and it may be expected that in the 
 course of a few years, the valley will be dotted with thriv- 
 ing towns, and prosperous farms, under extensive canals, 
 will be found along the line of the new road. Already 
 three canal companies have been organized to construct 
 canals. One on the north side of the Platte, in the vicinity 
 of Fremont's Orchard, thirty-five miles east of Greeley, 
 named the Weldon Valley Canal, is twenty miles long, 
 with a width, for the first ten miles, of twenty-five feet, 
 and will water at least fifteen thousand acres of land. 
 Some of this land, to be thus opened for settlement, is 
 State laiid, which can be leased or bought on favorable 
 
102 COLOKADO AS AW AQBICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 terms. But little if any of it is open to homestead and 
 preemption. 
 
 Another, the Pawnee Canal, eighteen miles long, cov- 
 ering State land mainly, is taken out of the Platte River, 
 near Buffalo, a station on the Union Pacific Short Line 
 from Denver to Omaha. Its width for the first nine 
 miles is thirty feet; after which it is reduced until the 
 last few miles it is fifteen feet wide. It will water forty 
 thousand acres of choice land, and reaches to the town of 
 Sterling. The company constructing it have purchased 
 State lands amounting to about twenty thousand acres; 
 these will be partly cultivated by the stockholders, but 
 some of the land will eventually be placed on the market. 
 The lands under the canal still owned by the State can 
 be leased on easy terms. 
 
 The third canal is known as the Beaver, and waters 
 land on the south side of the Platte. It heads in the 
 vicinity of old Fort Morgan, and when completed will be 
 fully forty miles long. The first eighteen miles the 
 width is thirty-seven feet. At least fifty thousand acres 
 will be covered by this canal, mainly State lands, of 
 which one-half is owned by the company constructing 
 the canal; the balance is held in reserve by the State, but 
 can be leased. This fine body of land lies along the line 
 of the Colorado Branch of the Burlington and Missouri 
 railway, and will have two stations upon it; the first 
 named Brush, eighty-eight miles from Denver; the other 
 named Akron, one hundred and eleven miles from Den- 
 ver. This is one of the points selected by the Artesian 
 Well Commission to locate an experimental well. The 
 first twenty miles of this canal are completed; the 
 balance will be finished in 1883. 
 
 At Sterling, sixty miles east of Greeley, there is a set- 
 tlement of a score or more of farmers who have a fine 
 area of somewhat sandy land under cultivation. The 
 ditch covers several thousand acres. At South Platte 
 
SOUTH PLATTE VALLBT. 103 
 
 Station there is another settlement of about a score of 
 farmers who have built a canal and will farm next year. 
 
 As the road leaves Denver Junction on its way up the 
 valley, there is a large quantity of railroad land soon to 
 be placed in the market. Here too can be found public 
 lands, and a colony organization could secure as fine a 
 body of agricultural land as could be desired. This in- 
 viting field will, no doubt, soon be occupied. Hundreds 
 of farmers will seek homes in this section. 
 
 Closely identified with the agricultural future of the 
 South Platte Valley is the construction (now going on; 
 of the Platte Land Company's Canal and branches, which 
 are to water the immense area of half a million acres, at 
 least, lying east and north of Denver. These lands, 
 though in the immediate vicinity of Denver, with its 
 large market and its railroad connections with every sec- 
 tion of the State, have lain idle through all these years for 
 want of irrigating facilities equal to the needs of so large 
 an area. Millions of inches of water have run unappro- 
 priated down the current of this river that might have 
 been utilized, and made to conserve the interests of the 
 farmers of the country at large. By a system of lakes 
 and reservoirs, water flowing at seasons when not needed, 
 could have been stored in fabulous quantities, and held 
 for use when moisture was most needed for growing 
 crops. 
 
 But such an enterprise was one in which few, if any, 
 individuals could engage, and not many corporations 
 would incline a favorable ear to. Schemes for running 
 the water of this river over the arid plains along the line 
 of the Kansas Pacific railway east of Denver, had been 
 broached from time to time, and numerous examinations 
 of the practicability and cost of carrying out such an en- 
 terprise, have been made by eminent engineers from 
 abroad as well as at home, and reported upon favorably. 
 But, when the time came to seek for funds necessary to 
 
104 COLOEADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 carry on such a work, there did not appear to be suffi- 
 cient capital in Colorado willing to undertake it. 
 
 Since the State has taken so marked a step toward a 
 prosperous and permanent growth, and is likely to be- 
 come one of the wealthiest States in the Union, it has 
 attracted the attention of Eastern and of English capi- 
 talists, who have been on the look out for the safe inrest- 
 ment of large sums of money. Witness the amount put 
 into the construction of the Larimer and Weld County 
 Canal, to which reference has been made, and which 
 is creating homes for thousands of industrious farmers, 
 and adding millions to the taxable wealth of the State. 
 So well satisfied are these gentlemen who have invested 
 heavily, that this enterprise is likely to return good in- 
 terest for the amount invested, that any new project is 
 sure to receive favorable regard when presented for con- 
 sideration. Hence, when this South Platte enterprise was 
 once more urged upon capitalists who " look a long way 
 into the future " the possibility of success became surer. 
 
 In one of his visits to Colorado, the eastern owner saw 
 the necessity of arrangements with some parties to de- 
 velop the lands belonging to the Denver Pacific and 
 Union Pacific railways. His practical ownership of 
 these lands made it an object for him to place them upon 
 the market in such a condition, that a quarter section or 
 more could be obtained by men who desired to till these 
 acres, who would thereby build up the country through 
 which his lines of railway passed. He presented the sub- 
 ject to Mr. James DufE, the General Manager of the 
 Colorado Mortgage and Investment Company of London, 
 whose office was at Denver, and after a careful review 
 of the matter, an agreement was entered into by which 
 a canal was to be constructed whose size would make it 
 the largest in the country, and which would render valua- 
 ble hundreds of thousands of acres of apparently arid 
 lands. A company with ample capital was at once form- 
 
SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY. 105 
 
 ed in London to carry out this agreement. The services 
 of Mr. E. S. Nettleton, an engineer, well known in Colo- 
 rado as having been connected with the construction of 
 its largest irrigating canals, were secured. Mr. Nettleton 
 adopted what has been called the High Line route as the 
 one best calculated to secure good results, although his 
 plans will require the expenditure of a greater amount of 
 money than some of the routes recommended by other 
 engineers would have done. But as this work is one which 
 will probably remain in existence hundreds of years, and 
 one on which the prosperity of thousands of farmers will 
 ultimately depend, the matter of a few thousand dollars 
 more or less was not deemed worthy of serious attention. 
 Some account of this, the greatest irrigation work in 
 Colorado, will be of interest, showing the magnitude of 
 the system proposed, and the permanent character of its 
 construction. It will be seen that it is being built "not 
 for a day, but for all time." 
 
 The South Platte Eiver is tapped about one and a half 
 miles inside of the entrance to Platte Canon, about 
 twenty miles from Denver. From that point the water 
 is carried through a tunnel, bored through the solid rock, 
 into a flume, and thence into the principal channel. 
 
 Eeaching the plains the course of the stream is easterly 
 and northerly. It crosses Plum Creek by a flume nine 
 hundred feet in length, and a similar one will be re- 
 quired when it crosses Cherry Creek. Wherever creeks 
 are to be crossed there will be fluming of the most sub- 
 stantial character. The distance to Cherry Creek is 
 forty-four miles. The total length to Box Elder Creek 
 is eighty miles. Laterals and branches of at least eighty 
 miles more in length are to be built, so that the entire 
 canal system will be one hundred and sixty miles long. 
 At a certain point on the Divide between Cherry Creek 
 and Sand Creek, the canal will bifurcate, a branch ex- 
 tending in a northerly direction to water the lands be- 
 
106 COLOEADO AS AK AGKICULTtTEAL STATE, 
 
 longing to the company along the line of the Denver 
 Pacific railway, while the main canal will follow the 
 eastern line toward Box Elder on the Kansas Pacific 
 road. The work of constrnction is well under way, and 
 water ran to Cherry Creek during the season of 1882. 
 
 The following facts, which I have collated regarding 
 this Canal, are both trustworthy and interesting: 
 
 The ditch, it is estimated, will cover — or rather in- 
 clude within its line — an area of over eight hundred 
 thousand acres. Its capacity for irrigation will not, to be- 
 gin with, reach over two hundred thousand acres; that 
 is as water can at present be used for that purpose in 
 Colorado, This naturally leads to its being pointed out 
 that water at present in Colorado is not very economically 
 used for irrigating purposes. This is shown by a com- 
 parison of acreage which can be irrigated by a certain 
 body of water in this country, and the extent of land 
 which this same body of water will irrigate in countries 
 where the system of irrigation has been an established 
 fact for years. It is also a well known fact that Sir Ar- 
 thur Cotton, Director-General of Irrigation works in In- 
 dia, to whom several features and points in connection 
 with the building of irrigation works in Colorado were 
 recently submitted, stated that the. same quantity of 
 water in India would irrigate an extent of land three or 
 four times the extent at present irrigated by the same 
 quantity in Colorado. The logical outcome of such a 
 conclusion as this can alone be, that the longer a certain 
 area of land is under the system of irrigation, the less 
 quantity of water is required to do the irrigation. This 
 being so, it is apparent that the longer irrigation is con- 
 tinued the less the quantity of water required to ef- 
 fect the same purpose, and consequently the greater the 
 area which can be benefited by the irrigating ditch. 
 
 The benefits to accrue from the completion and suc- 
 cessful operation of a canal of so great magnitude, can 
 
SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY. 107 
 
 hardly be estimated. Says a writer already quoted from : In 
 the first place it is a well-known fact that Agriculture in 
 Colorado is comparatively easy, provided the supply of 
 water for irrigation purposes be secure and steady. The 
 land is generally of a quite level or gently undulating 
 character, and consequently the labor of irrigation is 
 easy and the expense light. After once having water 
 over the land in good shape, a pair of good horses and a 
 plow can turn the virgin soil at the rate of about an acre 
 a day. Agriculture in Colorado will always be profitable, 
 and for various reasons. The extension and development 
 of canals and the judicious cultivation of trees may have 
 a beneficial effect upon the aridity of the atmosphere. 
 The demand for home produce at the present moment is 
 very considerable, and the prices to be obtained corres- 
 pondingly high, and if the extraordinary development in 
 the mining industry of the State continues, which there 
 is every reason to believe it will, this large demand and 
 high prices will follow as a necessary consequence. 
 
 The cost of this Canal, the most extensive irrigating 
 works in the State, will be nearly three million dollars. 
 For the benefit of readers of this iVolume who may 
 contemplate Colorado as a home, it may not be amiss 
 to state that, reaching Denver, they will find at the 
 headquarters of the Platte Land Company such infor- 
 mation as they may desire. There can be no question 
 as to the ultimate value of these lands. Specimens of the 
 soil within the limits of this system of irrigation have 
 been analyzed (see page 108), and the result proves 
 that it is so rich in natural phosphates and in the fer- 
 tilizing elements of decomposed plants, as to insure a 
 continuous and abundant yield of wheat crops for an in- 
 definite number of years. It is capable of producing all 
 the cereals and vegetables indigenous to the Temperate 
 Zone. The closeness of these lands to the principal 
 market and shipping point in the State, gives them an 
 
108 
 
 COLORADO AS AN AGKICULTDEAL STATE. 
 
 
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SOUTH PLATTi! VALLEY. 109 
 
 additional value the moment the crop begins to ripen to 
 the harvest. The owner of a quarter section ought in a 
 few years to become independent, if he has in him any 
 of the thrift that characterizes the industrious man. 
 
 For those whose scanty means impel a careful consid- 
 eration of location, easy terms of payment are provided, 
 by which land and water can be secured upon annual 
 payments. The needs of all classes are met, and the 
 poor and rich alike can find homes here, if they will. 
 
 It requires no great stretch of the imagination to look 
 
 forward a few years and anticipate the panorama that will 
 
 then stretch out over the hitherto arid wastes of Eastern 
 
 Colorado. Wherever the limpid water is made to run, 
 
 there will spring up a plant, a shrub, a tree; wherever 
 
 the shining current flows, a field of grain will lift its 
 
 emerald tassels to the sunlight, eventually to change into 
 
 golden grain. Farms, fields, and gardens will flourish 
 
 under the beneficent touch of the Spirit of the Stream. 
 
 Fenced farms, smiling landscapes, and cosy homes will 
 
 spring up where of late sheep and cattle grazed in the 
 
 continuous silence, and the busy hum of civilization 
 
 will be heard in every direction. 
 
 " I see them come from their homes afar 
 Firm in the faith of the Western star 
 That led them to these slopes. ■ 
 And the young and the old, the fair and the bold, 
 And the feeble out of the old home-fold 
 Are full of their new-born hopes. 
 
 " Fair are the homes that round them rise 
 And sweet and bright are the happy eyes 
 
 That greet each coming day ; 
 For the old fades out before the new 
 And the roses grow where the cactus grew 
 
 On the prairie lands away. 
 
 " And the years shall come and the years shall go, 
 And the river's current still will flow 
 
 By the city of the plain, 
 And spires will point and towers will rise 
 And the mill wheel whiz where the Indian's cries 
 
 Will never be heard again." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 SOUTHERN COLORADO. 
 
 The first stream of any size soath of the Divide is the 
 Fontaine-qui-Bouille. A canal from this, constructed 
 in 1873, waters the garden and fruit lands about the 
 City of Colorado Springs. Below this beautiful and 
 thriving place lies a pleasant valley, almost in a state of 
 neglect, running down to its junction with the Arkansas 
 Eiver, near Pueblo. It is generally supposed that there 
 is a lack of water suflBcient to convert these waste places 
 into golden fields of grain; this is partly true. Five 
 thousand acres, perhaps, could be brought under cutliva- 
 tion in this charming valley, with a home market at Col- 
 orado Springs or Pueblo, that would take all that could 
 be raised from these now idle farms. A fair volume of 
 water runs waste, that could be utilized and made the 
 medium through which grain could ripen in scores of 
 wheat fields. Not one-tenth part of the land is at pres- 
 ent cropped. A few enterprising farmers could find 
 pleasant homes here. This is the only stream of any ac- 
 count in El Paso County, hence agriculture, thus far, 
 has not engrossed the attention of its citizens. Late re- 
 ports give about three hundred farms in the entire 
 county. The sheep interest, however, is very large, and 
 the eastern half of the county is dotted with ranges 
 where sheep thrive. The hay crop of the county, in 
 favorable seasons, reaches fully ten thousand tons; a 
 large area of upland is cut over without being irrigated. 
 Some attention is paid to alfalfa. 
 
 In the Arkansas Valley, though vast tracts of fertile 
 lands lie on either side of a river flowing an immense 
 (110) 
 
SOUTHEElSr COLOEADO, 111 
 
 body of water, there is but little agricultural develop- 
 ment. From Oanon City east of Pueblo, a goodly part of 
 the Talley lands are cultivated, but eastward, the agri- 
 culture of the valley is in the future. In 1874 an exten- 
 sive canal was built at a cost of over one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, to water the plains south and east of Pu- 
 eblo, but it did not prove a success. Probably the na- 
 ture of the soir had something to do with it. It was 
 sandy and frequent wash-outs occurred, while the canal 
 itself soon filled up with sand deposited by the flowing 
 current. The greater length of the canal, at its lower 
 end, has been abandoned, though under the first part of 
 it a few farmers are settled, using the water at a fixed 
 annual rental. 
 
 Stock interests predominate in Pueblo County, as in- 
 deed it will be found they do in all the counties and 
 valleys of the southern part of the State. Still this is 
 not because there are no lands suitable for farming oper- 
 jitions. The State assessment shows over twenty thou- 
 sand acres of farming land proper, valued at nearly two 
 hundred thousand dollars. Meadow lands are extensive 
 and are exceedingly profitable. But the pasture lands in 
 ownership are ten times the amount of farming and 
 meadow lands combined. Pasture land has an assessed 
 valuation of one dollar and a quarter per acre, meadow 
 land seven dollars and a half, and farming land eight 
 dollars and a half. With seventy thousand sheep, horses, 
 and cattle, valued at four hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars, with the possibility that the actual value will 
 reach one million dollars, it will be seen that the agri- 
 cultural industries of the - Arkansas Valley, in this 
 county, are not very large. 
 
 The production of grain is indeed small. Fifty thou- 
 sand bushels of wheat is an outside limit for a district 
 that could easily raise ten times that amount. It is said 
 that the Arkansas Valley is generally too hot to raise 
 
112 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 wheat with success. This may be true, but it is by no 
 means certain, and should not be accepted as fact without 
 further investigation. There is a lack of irrigating facil- 
 ities on a large scale, though quite a number of small 
 canals have been taken out. These, however, mainly 
 water meadow lands and do not extend far out upon the 
 uplands. In ordinary seasons a large amount of hay is 
 cut in the valley. "While there may be a question as to 
 wheat, there can be none about com, amber cane, and 
 vegetables of all kinds. The valley, properly and syste- 
 matically irrigated, can supply the entire State with syrup 
 and sugar. The water is ample in volume, the valley 
 lands warm and sunny, the soil a sandy loam eminently 
 adapted to cane culture, and millions of gallons of syrup 
 and pounds of sugar ought to enter into the product of 
 the valley. But will they? Not as at present developed. 
 A new class of settlers must come in, bringing with them 
 advanced ideas of progress and expansion, in the line of 
 agriculture, and a fixed purpose to succeed. There are 
 grand opportunities for colonies in this part of Colo- 
 rado. Towns could be founded and surrounded with 
 thriving farming communities. The Atchison, Topeka 
 and Santa ¥h railway runs through the valley, giving a 
 western home market and a south-westerly, going down 
 to Santa F6. 
 
 After leaving Pueblo County, the course of the Arkan- 
 sas is directly east through the entire length of Bent 
 County; but as concerns this part of the valley it is some- 
 thing like a Samson bound by the withes of a Delilah, 
 the persuasive damsel coming, in this instance, in the 
 shape of a cattle grower. As an old resident of the 
 county, when questioned as to crops, expressively put it 
 "You may set down its agricultural products in as many 
 figures as you please, but use ciphers only." 
 
 Yet this state of affairs is not brought about by the 
 absence of water or of arable land. A noble river runs 
 
SOUTHEKN COLOEADO. 113 
 
 unfettered by, with an abundant Tolume of water en- 
 tirely unappropriated, and so not hampered by any pri- 
 ority of right as to the possession and use. Wide table 
 lands — capable of producing corn, oats, amber cane, po- 
 tatoes, and all kinds of vegetables — with gentle undula- 
 tions slope up from each side of the river, at an altitude 
 of about four thousand feet above the level of the sea, 
 more promising than can be found in valleys having a 
 higher altitude and a colder soil, such as prevails in 
 Northern Colorado. 
 
 "When it is said that, at present, the Arkansas Valley 
 through Bent County is given over to the stock growers, 
 its situation is told in a sentence. Three or four men 
 virtually own the county. One man on the Purgatoire, 
 a tributary of the Arkansas, owns sixty-five miles of the 
 river front; another, on the main stream, owns twenty- 
 five thousand acres, stretching twenty miles on each side; 
 others own strips of varying size, thus leaving little room 
 for an interest that directly clashes with the possession 
 of so much soil controlling the water volume, to expand 
 and prosper. 
 
 At present hay is the principal crop of the valley. 
 From fifteen to twenty thousand tons are cut yearly. At 
 Eocky Ford there is a canal of large dimensions, taken 
 out of the south bank, which is well constructed and 
 probably the best in the county. It is twelve feet wide, 
 thirteen miles long, and covers over twelve thousand acres 
 of land mainly given up to meadow, and all under fence. 
 Beyond Eocky Ford, nothing of special agricultural in- 
 terest is to be found until "West Las Animas, the county 
 town, is reached. Here there is a fine canal, lying idle 
 on account of litigation about the choice farming lands 
 under it. Years will elapse before the case is settled, so 
 that the canal is useless, the lands lie idle; brown and 
 barren prairie land that might be green and gold in the 
 sunlight if open to settlement. 
 
114 COLOEADO AS AN AGEICTTLTUEAL STATE. 
 
 Potatoes seem to thrive well in this section, and potato 
 ground, wherever found, is very valuable. There are 
 some locations, back from the river front, where colonies 
 could be settled to great advantage, and canals con- 
 structed to water large bodies of choice land. Many of 
 these sections are open to public entry. The railroad 
 facilities are good, so that stations could be established, 
 and communication had direct with Eastern and West- 
 ern markets. 
 
 The weather record at this comparatively low altitude 
 (compared with the farming sections of Northern Col- 
 orado) is of some interest, and the following memoranda, 
 by a careful recorder, are given as reliable. 
 
 MEMORANDA. 
 
 1875. 
 
 Snow Storms. — January 4th, 13th, 21st, 37th, 29th. 
 February 23d, 24th. March 1st, 14th, 18th. April 7th, 
 10th, 34th, 35th. September 31st. November 4th. 
 Total, 16. 
 
 Below .Zero.— January 7th 3°, 8th 8°, 9th 18°, 10th 
 4°, 11th 4°, 13th 38°, 14th 33°, 15th 4°, 16th 4°, 17th 
 6°, 18th 6°, 32nd 8°. February 3d 4°. November 3d 
 4°. Total, 14. 
 
 1876. 
 
 Snow Storms. — February 26th. March 10th, 11th, 
 15th, 19th, 31st. April 12th. December 33nd, 23d, 
 30th, 31st. Total, 11. 
 
 Below Zero. — January 37th 3°. December 24th 28°, 
 25th 8°, 29th 12°. Total, 4. 
 
 1877. 
 Snow Storms. — January 7th, 11th, 18th, 22nd. Feb- 
 ruary 5th, 18th. March 1st, 9th, 23d, 26th. October 
 15th. December 3d. Total, 12. 
 
SOtJTHERK COLOBADO. 115 
 
 Below Zero.—Samiavj 8th 6°, 23d 15°, 24th 4°. ISTo- 
 Tember 39th 2°, 30th 4°. December 4th 4°, 5th 4°, 6th 
 4°, 7th 2°. Total, 9. 
 
 1878. 
 
 Snow Storms. — January 12th. February 2nd. March 
 8th, 28th, 29th. December 12th, 13th, 17th, 25th. 
 Total, 9. 
 
 Below ^ero.— December 25th 3°, 26th 8°, 27th 3°, 
 29th 6°. Total, 4. 
 
 1879. 
 
 Snow Storms. — January 7th, 28th. February 4th, 
 15th, 17th. November 27th. December 4th, 17th, 
 29th. Total, 9. 
 
 Below ^ero.— January 3d 4°, 6th 10°, 9th 10°, 11th 8°, 
 16th 4°, 18th 4°. December 24th 12°, 25th 10°. To- 
 tal, 8. 
 
 1880. 
 
 Snow Storms. — February 8th, 27th. March 12th, 
 15th, 20th. April 7th. October 11th, 14th, 15th, 30th. 
 NoTember 4th, 11th, 15th, 16th, 20th. December 16th, 
 19th, 28th. Total, 18. 
 
 Below Zero.— March 10th 5°. N'ovember 17th 1°, 
 18th 12°, 20th 4°, 22nd 2°, 23d 2°, 25th 8°, 26th 8°, 
 29th 4°, Total, 9. 
 
 The frequent snow storms noticed in March give suf- 
 ficient moisture for the germination of grain. They are 
 seldom severe enough to do any injury. 
 
 The Huerfano and Cucharas are the two principal 
 streams coursing through the counties of the same name, 
 and emptying into the Arkansas. The valley lands of 
 each are fair and attractive, but are given up almost 
 wholly to the occupation of Mexicans, whose little 
 flocks of sheep may be found at intervals along the 
 streams. Not over twenty-five thousand acres are re- 
 turned by the County Assessors as farming land. A 
 
116 COLORADO AS AN AGEICTJLTTJKAL STATE. 
 
 great deal of com is raised, more attention being given to 
 its cultivation than to wheat. La Veta, Cucharas, and Wal- 
 senburg, are the principal towns. The Denver and Rio 
 Grande railway traverses each county from east to (vest, as 
 well as from north to south, giving an outlet in every direc- 
 tion to produce which could be raised in large quantities 
 and of the finest quality, did but Yankee thrift or Western 
 persistence pervade the attractive country lying so pleas- 
 antly under the shadows of the Spanish Peaks. "When 
 the new civilization that is to replace the old, reaches 
 these beautiful valleys, and the bright and sparkling 
 water that flows down these streams, to mingle at last 
 with the volume of the Arkansas, are utilized to their 
 fullest extent, probably fifty thousand acres of fertile soil 
 can be made to bring forth abundant returns to the for- 
 tunate farmers who are yet to choose homes here. 
 
 East of the towns of Trinidad and El Moro, the first 
 on the line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, and 
 the last one of the terminal points of the Denver and 
 Eio Grande railway, is the Purgatoire Valley. Its head 
 is in the mountain district west of Trinidad, and from its 
 head to its confluence with the Arkansas, a length of 
 seventy miles, it has a varied elevation, from six thousand 
 nine hundred down to five thousand three hundred and 
 ten feet. The valley, from its head to Trinidad, is all 
 under cultivation, but almost entirely by Mexicans, who 
 have a few acres of land, ranging from ten up to a hun- 
 dred, on which they raise wheat principally. The average 
 width of the valley, to this point, is not more than half a 
 mile, and all the acequias, as the ditches are called, when 
 we reach the section of country where the Mexican ele- 
 ment predominates, are of small size, seldom watering 
 more than three or four farms. This is owing to the 
 rapid fall of the stream, as well as to the indisposition of 
 these rude, uncultivated husbandmen to avail themselves 
 of cooperation in the construction of larger canals. 
 
SOUTHEKS' COLOEADO. 117 
 
 Down the valley, east from Trinidad, stretches a coun- 
 try averaging a mile in width (and which, fifteen miles 
 east of the town, extends two and three miles), of excel- 
 lent soil, well adapted to grain culture, more or less oc- 
 cupied by American farmers, who, on one-quarter of the 
 land tilled by Mexicans, and with the use of one-half the 
 water, raise more wheat to the acre, and at less expense. 
 Four canals, from two to eight feet wide, and four or five 
 miles long, water a considerable area of land on the up- 
 land proper, which is not yet under plow, but could be 
 made to yield generously. 
 
 Here is a strip of country, therefore, one hundred miles 
 long, and averaging two miles in width, taking both sides 
 of the stream, capable of cultivation, provided the water 
 is sure. Over one hundred thousand acres of land is a 
 vast scope of country, and it is doubtful if all of it could 
 be watered from the stream. If economically used, it 
 might be sufficient. The prospect for the future is good. 
 There is no better portion of the State worthy of the 
 close investigation of new comers. 
 
 There are smaller valleys, in which streams that are 
 somewhat unreliable in their volume of water, flow as 
 tributaries into the Purgatoire. They are the Apishpa, 
 fifty miles long; the San Francisco, twenty-five miles 
 long, and the Trinchera, about fifteen miles in length. 
 These valleys are narrow, and only in the upper part can 
 farming be carried on, on account of the uncertainty of 
 the water supply. The three valleys named produce one- 
 fifth of the grain yield of the county. 
 
 It is to be remembered that at least three-fourths of 
 the farming produce is raised by Mexicans, who are three 
 in number to one of the Americans. Their method of 
 raising wheat is slovenly, and without signs of thrift, 
 while the means employed to thresh, using goats and 
 oxen for that purpose, are not conducive to a full crop, 
 or a clean one. Yet despite these drawbacks. Las Ani- 
 
118 COLORADO AS AK AGEICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 mas County, in which these valleys lie, shows commenda- 
 ble progress in agriculture. The last year's record 
 foots up one hundred thousand bushels of wheat, forty 
 thousand bushels of potatoes, besides small quantities of 
 garden stuff. 
 
 Slowly but surely the Mexican element is being elimi- 
 nated, and the more shiftless of this class pass to the 
 South. A thrifty American element is taking their place, 
 and it will not be many years before a remarkable im- 
 provement will be observed in the valley and upland 
 farms in this favored locality. 
 
 In consequence of the careless method of threshing, 
 the flour made here does not command a good price in 
 the market, and the better class of people do not use it. 
 It is consumed by Mexicans, or shipped South. The 
 average yield is thirty bushels. But little corn is raised, 
 the altitude being high, from five thousand to seven 
 thousand feet above the sea level. It is said that 
 the soil is not adapted to the culture of corn, but I am 
 inclined to think that the season is too short for it. The 
 crops generally are late, both in sowing and reaping, the 
 one being in April and the other in September, while 
 snow has been known to fall in June. 
 
 Near the head of the Purgatoire lies the picturesque 
 Stonewall Valley, which is inhabited solely by Americans. 
 Here agriculture is carried on • in a more varied form. 
 Grains give place almost wholly to vegetables. The po- 
 tato crop is large. From five to twenty acres are put in 
 by each farmer. The quantity and quality of the yield 
 cannot be surpassed in the State. The yield, with the 
 most careless treatment, reaches fifteen thousand pounds 
 to the acre, and in some instances exceeds it. 
 
 At present the cattle and sheep interests in these val- 
 leys are large. If the agricultural resources were devel- 
 oped with as much vim and vigor as is displayed in these 
 other pursuits, the county would take a vast stride in 
 
SOUTHEEN COLORADO. 119 
 
 adyance of its present status. It is probable that as the 
 country becomes more thickly populated, the great graz- 
 ing ranges will become reduced in size, fenced farms will 
 become more frequent, and the "Valley of the Spirits," 
 as it is sometimes called, be gradually filled with thriving 
 farms. Many farms, well tilled, are better for the State 
 than a few cattle ranges, well filled. 
 
CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 SAN LUIS PARK. 
 
 An important factor in the future of agricultural pro- 
 gress in Colorado, is the park just named, lying between 
 the Sangre de Christo range and the main system of the 
 Kocky Mountains, and embracing in its borders a section 
 of country from forty to seventy miles wide, and two 
 hundred and fifty miles long. Prom a geological point 
 of view, the park is one to which great interest attaches, 
 as the opinion prevails that at one time it was an inland 
 sea; the existence of which seems to be a recognized fact 
 from numerous indubitable evidences. Henry T. Wil- 
 liams, author of a Guide to Colorado, published a few 
 years ago, said of it, that "portions of the valley are 
 very rich and arable, notably the minor valleys along the 
 small streams, and along the foot of the mountains. The 
 climate is mild, so that the temperature is higher than 
 in other portions of the State, and, with the exception 
 of corn, all the cereals and vegetables thrive and mature. 
 But grazing is the principal industry, the valleys and 
 surrounding slopes affording rich pasturage." So, ten 
 or twelve years ago, it was said of a large portion of 
 Iforthern Colorado, that it was a good grazing country, 
 which would be its principal industry. But a change 
 has taken place. The large herds of cattle that once 
 roamed at will, over the wide stretch of country lying 
 north of the Cache-la-Poudre and the Platte Elvers, have 
 been withdrawn, mainly, to other fields, and the footsteps 
 of the agriculturist fall where once only the hoof-prints 
 of cattle were seen. This change of affairs is due to the 
 (120) 
 
SAN LUIS PAEK. 12] 
 
 rapid and continuous influx of people who have come to 
 Colorado to found homes therein; thus, occupying the land 
 and cultivating it, a higher civilization is reached, the State 
 greatly benefited, and the future of its citizens guaran- 
 teed, as far as the benefits to be derived from a prosper- 
 ous state of society are concerned. 
 
 And within the coming decade the same beneficial 
 change wiU take place in Southern Colorado. Hereto- 
 fore its agricultural resources have been overlooked, or 
 vastly underestimated. Its producing capabilities are 
 practically Inexhaustible. As mining increases, agricul- 
 ture will keep pace with it. The arable soil of this re- 
 gion is capable of producing food for an immense popula- 
 tion. At the present time the live stock and sheep in- 
 terests are far in the ascendant, and this is one cause for 
 the slow advance of farming south of the Divide. But 
 what has proven to be inevitable in the North, will yet 
 be found to be like the inexorable finger of fate in the 
 South, and where now parks, valleys, and uplands are 
 given up to sheep, gradually the thrifty farmer, with his 
 houses, canals, bams, and fences, will encroach, and wav- 
 ing fields of grain will be lifted to the sunlight and ripen 
 to the abundant harvest. 
 
 San Luis Park lies in the counties of Sagauche, Cos- 
 tilla, Eio Grande, and Conejos. More than twenty 
 streams run through it, capable of irrigating the greater 
 portion of the land, while the Eio Grande del Norte runs 
 through its entire length, with an inexhaustible supply 
 of water. 
 
 There are two hundred thousand acres of land hor- 
 dering on the Eio Grande that are capable of irrigation, 
 and would produce a most excellent quality of wheat 
 and other grains in great abundance. The average yield 
 per acre, taken from actual figures, kept by five different 
 farmers in this county, leads to the inference that the 
 yield, if anything, exceeds the average in the northern 
 6 
 
132 COliOBADO AS Alf AGEICTJLTUEAL STATE. 
 
 part of the State. I give the statements as forwarded to 
 me by the actual cultivators, having full confidence in 
 their accuracy: 
 
 Wheat. Oats. Potatoes. Barley. Hay. 
 
 Piedra Creak. 30 bush. 50 bush. 20,000 lbs. 60 bush. 1 ton 
 
 Hall Creek 37 " 63 " 50,000 " 60 " 3 " 
 
 Eio Grande 40 " 63 " 31,000 " 55 " 1 " 
 
 Embargo Creek 60 " 75 " 75,000 " 55 " 2 " 
 
 Near Del Norte 25 " 40 " . 15,0C0 " 30 " 8 " 
 
 Taking the five together, and getting- the average, the 
 yield per acre is as follows: 
 
 Wheat 38 bushels 
 
 Oats 58 " 
 
 Potatoes 33,200 lbs. 
 
 Barley 48 bushels 
 
 Hay 2 tons 
 
 To the general reader and intending settler, facts like 
 the foregoing go further towards conviction than the 
 finest spun theories that could be advanced by the most 
 ready reasoner. What five farmers can do, five thousand 
 can accomplish. "Where five combine to construct a small 
 canal, fifty, or one hundred, by like combination of money 
 and labor, can build one correspondingly large, and by 
 an equitable distribution of water, each secure enough 
 to cultivate one hundred and sixty acres of land. 
 
 An intelligent journalist, Hon. J. S. Stanger, editor 
 and publisher of the " Colorado Farmer," who attended 
 a Parmer's Institute, held at Del Norte, under the aus- 
 pices of the Agricultural College, during the winter 
 of 1879-80, thus records his impressions of the Eio 
 Grande Valley, from Alamosa to Del Norte: " In the 
 great San Luis Valley lie over a million acres of as fine 
 land as lies in this, or any other State. Flowing through 
 it, about midway between two great ranges of mountains 
 (the valley is surrounded by snow-clad spurs of the great 
 Eocky Mountains), is the Eio Grande Eiver — and Well it 
 
SA]Sr LUIS PAEK. 133 
 
 deserves its name. Into the park also &ow the Alamosa 
 and Conejos, from the south; the Sagauche and other 
 small streams, from the north. Not less than half a mil- 
 lion acres can be irrigated by economy in the saving and 
 distributing of these waters, and, as said before, no better 
 land can be found anywhere. In fact, the soil appears to 
 be better than the rich bottom lands on the Arkansas and 
 South Platte rivers." And then he added : "the friends 
 of the country are indeed surprised, to see farmer after 
 farmer, who has plowed, sowed, and reaped, in the San 
 Luis Valley, present for inspection by the convention the 
 productions of farm, field, and garden; wheat as fine as 
 any grown in the world; barley that can nowhere be ex- 
 celled; oats weighing forty-five pounds to the bushel, and 
 yielding enormously; timothy hay, growing as high as a 
 man's head; evidence in plenty that all, save the tender- 
 est vegetables, can be raised, while the small fruits suc- 
 ceed as well as in the vicinity of Denver." 
 
 Eio Grande County, lying on the western side of San 
 Luis Park, is level on its eastern half, through which the 
 Eio Grande courses its way, with an ample volume 
 of water, capable of irrigating many thousands of acres 
 of choice land on both sides of the stream. All the 
 way up the valley, from Alamosa to Del Norte, the 
 lands bordering on the river are fenced and cultivated, 
 mainly for hay. These meadows have been carefully 
 eared for, for years, until the most of them are in a high 
 state of cultivation, yielding hay of good quality. 
 
 There are at present a variety of nationalities repre- 
 sented in the various colony settlements in the neighbor- 
 hood of Del Norte. On the north side of the town is a 
 German settlement of about two hundred people. These 
 originally came out as a colony organization, but this dis- 
 tinctive feature of cooperation was soon lost. Most of its 
 members, however, remained, and are occupying land in 
 the immediate vicinity, under a canal four miles long. 
 
124 COLOEADO AS AN AGEICULTURAL STATE. 
 
 In the patient, plodding way, for which this race is fa- 
 mous, they are gradually changing the face of the prairie, 
 and now thriving farms meet the eyes of the traveller 
 through their district. 
 
 A few miles below them, on the same side of the river, 
 is a French settlement, consisting of a score or more 
 families. They are late comers, just beginning to 
 farm, and probably are the nucleus which will attract 
 many more from the same nation, in the near future. 
 They seem to have no desire to mingle with their neigh- 
 bors, keeping strictly to themselves. 
 
 On the south side of the river, on a strip of country 
 running from seven to fifteen miles below the town of 
 Del Norte, about two dozen Swedish families occupy the 
 bottom lands, raising grain, hay, and potatoes. These 
 settled here in 1875, and have become a prosperous com- 
 munity. The canals watering the land are small in ex- 
 tent, each apparently having one for his individual use. 
 
 The Mexican element is considerable, being about one- 
 fifth of the whole population of the county. These oc- 
 cupy the valley lying west of and above Del Norte. They 
 farm in the style of their forefathers. 
 
 Of very large canals there are none, as yet. Two on 
 the north side, as stated, cover an area not large in ex- 
 tent. One on the south side, eight miles below Del 
 Norte, is twelve miles long, and reaches to Piedra Pinta- 
 da (Eock Creek) watering the hay meadows on the north 
 side of that picturesque valley. The wheat crop, there- 
 fore, is not large; thirty thousand bushels will cover the 
 amount. Being raised mostly by Mexicans, it is not- of 
 the best qiiality, and as there is but one mill in the 
 county, there is not much inducement to put in a large 
 acreage. Oats yield abundantly, and most of the farmers 
 pay more attention to this grain than to wheat, on ac- 
 count of a steady market in the mining camps near by. 
 Potatoes are a staple crop, especially in the foot-hills be- 
 
SAN LUIS PARK. 125 
 
 yond Del Norte, where the finest quality of tubers are an- 
 nually grown. As high as nine hundred and thirty 
 bushels have been obtained from one acre. The upper 
 part of this valley, as in the Sagauche Valley lying to the 
 north, seems to possess the soil peculiarly adapted to the 
 growth of this tuber, and the two districts combined, 
 could supply the entire State, if more attention was given 
 to this crop. It is to be said to the shame of the fairm- 
 ers of Colorado, that California, Utah, and Iowa ship 
 into the State two-thirds of the potatoes eaten there, 
 when there is within its borders such soil as the two 
 valleys above named, giving so abundant a yield. 
 
 Sagauche County has more acres in cultivation at pres- 
 ent, than any of the other counties in South-western 
 Colorado. In the early days of the San Juan excitement, 
 when the mines of that wonderful silver- ribbed district 
 were overflowing with hardy prospectors, the ring of 
 whose picks could be heard in every gulch and on every 
 mountain side, the product of her farms, gardens, and 
 dairies, found a ready and a profitable market. For a 
 period of time, the carbonate excitement at Leadville and 
 kindred points, obscured San Juan; but the day has come 
 again when the silence is broken, and the hum of mining 
 development is once more heard. The demand for food 
 for the multitude that is flocking thitherward, must be 
 heeded, and Sagauche County, and more especially Sa- 
 gauche Valley, is in a position to respond to the call. Prom 
 her fertile soil, the tiller of the field will reap an abund- 
 ant harvest and a gratif3rang financial return for his la- 
 bors. The county has at least one hundred and fifty 
 thousand acres of arable, pasture, and meadow lands, di- 
 vided up into twenty-five hundred farms, of varying size. 
 
 The editor of the " Sagauche Chronicle," in enumera- 
 ting the advantages possessed by his section of country, 
 says of the agricultural resources: "as the streams, of 
 which there are about twenty-five in the county, nearly 
 
336 COLOEADO AS AIT A6EICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 all run in channels higher than the land on either side 
 of them, and none of them having high banks, it is an 
 easy matter to conduct the water in ditches wherever de- 
 sii'ed. When once a farm has been properly laid out for 
 irrigation, and the main and lateral ditches completed, 
 crops can be irrigated with but trifling expense per acre, 
 without any fears of drouth. The ability that a farmer 
 has of giving his crop water whenever it needs it, and 
 the increased yield resulting therefrom, is considered by 
 those accustomed to irrigating, as more than a compensa- 
 tion for the extra trouble and expense. The climate of 
 this section is adapted to the raising of all kinds of veg- 
 etables and grains, except the later varieties of corn. 
 Vegetables yield largely, grow to large size, and are of 
 very fine quality. Wheat yields all the way from twenty- 
 five to sixty bushels per acre, according to the quality of 
 land and the attention it receives. The wheat raised 
 here is pronounced by millers to be of better quality than 
 any that is raised in the States, it often weighing sixty- 
 four pounds to the bushel." 
 
 The rivers in this county have one peculiarity; they 
 have no visible outlet, presenting thereby a counterpart 
 of the district about Salt Lake, in Utah, only what 
 is there a great sheet of water, is here but a vast 
 stretch of swampy land. The Sagauche River irrigates 
 over ten thousand acres of bottom land in a charming 
 valley, forty miles in length, and yet the word valley 
 hardly applies to these lands, for the stream is an im- 
 mense canal of Nature's own construction, running on 
 high ground with the lands sloping from it on either 
 side its entire length until it reaches a basin, as it were, 
 in San Luis Park, where its volume overflows, spreads 
 out,- sinks, evaporates, goes — who knows where? The 
 mystery of its disappearance remains unsolved. What 
 is true of the Sagauche Eiver is also true of the San Luis, 
 with its half dozen or more little tributaries. It flows 
 
SAN LUIS PAEK. 137 
 
 along, a natural canal, about twenty miles in length, af- 
 fording its nourishing fluid to numerous farms on either 
 bank. In these valleys no expensive canal system is re- 
 quired, no following up the current for miles to get a 
 head of water to distribute upon the adjoining territory; 
 so that every farmer, almost, has his own canal, and the 
 water division, to be adjudicated in this district, presents 
 a phase thus far not witnessed elsewhere, in the number 
 of claimants, the amount of inches claimed, and in the 
 question of "overflow," something unknown in northern 
 irrigating districts. 
 
 On the western side of the county, the Sagauche, La 
 Garita, and Carnero, heading in the Sagauche range, 
 flow into the park. On the east side, the San Luis, with 
 its many tributaries, flows southward, meeting the waters 
 of the other streams on the level of the San Luis lakes. 
 About one-half of the area comprised in the county is ag- 
 ricultural and grazing land. The altitude is from six 
 thous|Ad seven hundred and fifty to seven thousand five 
 hundred feet above the level of the sea. Mountains on 
 the east, west, and north, give an indescribable grandeur 
 to the scenea:y; and the valley, mortised as it were in the 
 midst of the vast mountain hulk, presents an extraordi- 
 nary symmetry of configuration. 
 
 On Sagauche Creek about seventy-five farms are loca- 
 ted, ranging in area from forty to nine hundred and 
 fifty acres. Two-thirds of the land is in hay, but cereals 
 and potatoes are grown to some extent. Nearly ten 
 thousand acres are irrigated each year, while it is claimed 
 that twenty thousand inches of water flows in the stream. 
 
 On La Garita Creek, four thousand six hundred acres 
 are owned by twenty-five farmers. The water in this 
 is " appropriated " to the amount of six thousand inches, 
 and there is probably no surplus. No new settlements 
 are likely to be made on this creek, the land bordering 
 on either side being entirely taken up. But farms 
 
128 COIOEADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 here, as elsewhere, are always in the market for pur- 
 chasers. On Carnero Creek, which is seventeen miles 
 long, a number of Mexicans are farming. They own nearly 
 two thousand five hundred acres, using seven hundred 
 and fifty inches of water out of one thousand two hun- 
 dred and seventy claimed. Here there is no surplus 
 water inviting settlement. San Luis Creek, heading in 
 the Sangre de Christo range of mountains, has a length 
 of thirty miles. Into it a dozen or more tiny creeks 
 empty. There is one canal of size taken out of this 
 stream, being six feet wide and seven miles long. On 
 this creek and its tributaries, fifty-five farmers own six- 
 teen thousand eight hundred acres, their area in no sin- 
 gle instance being smaller than a section of six hundred 
 and forty acres, while three own over one thousand acres 
 each, and one has three thousand seven hundred acres 
 under fence as meadow and pasture land. About twelve 
 thousand acres are irrigated, or receive the benefit of the 
 "overflow." Aside from these settled farms, the "Gil- 
 pin Grant" lands are on the line of this stream and be- 
 low it, in the south-eastern corner of the county, cover- 
 ing ninety-nine thousand two hundred and ninety acres. 
 On- these lands the owner claims an overflow of four 
 thousand inches of water. 
 
 Of the products, hay takes the lead. From fifteen to 
 twenty thousand tons are cut along the streams men- 
 tioned. Oats is the principal grain grown. A large 
 yield can always be counted on. The story is told of one 
 acre from which one hundred and twenty-two bushels 
 were thrashed; this acre must have been of extra size. 
 But little wheat, as yet, is grown. One mill grinds 
 slowly, grinding all that comes in. Potatoes, as before 
 mentioned, thrive wonderfully in this soil. The altitude 
 may just suit this coy tuber, whose coquettish nature is 
 so puzzling to the farmers in the valleys of Northern Col- 
 orado, and in all the valleys on the eastern slope of the 
 
SAN LUIS PAEK. 129 
 
 mountains. But here the Early Eose, the Chili, and the 
 hundred cousins, named and unnamed, grow and yield 
 abundantly, having not the fear of the Doryphora before 
 their eyes. Paris Green is an unknown element in the 
 summer's calculation of the potato growers of Sagauche 
 County. Not that the creature of stripes is nob with 
 them, but because it seems to prefer the juicy weeds of 
 the field to the stalk of the potato, reveling upon them 
 while they let the emerald gonfalons of the underground 
 pomme de terre wave undisturbed in the balmy atmos- 
 phere. Using the language of Judge W. B. Pelton, at 
 that time editor of the " Sagauche Chronicle," it can be 
 said " Standing, as it were,- in the gateway to the im- 
 mense bodies of mineral west of her, that promise so 
 much for the future, it is not at all unreasonable to sup- 
 pose that the agricultural prosperity of the past, will pale 
 into insignificance in the era of grand prosperity that will 
 dawn upon Sagauche County in the near future." 
 
 Costilla County, lying directly south of Sagauche, with 
 the Eio Grande as its western boundary, is coursed by 
 the Trinchara, Culebra, and Costilla rivers. There are a 
 few Americans in this county, but the greater part of the 
 farming is carried on by Mexicans, who follow the meth- 
 ods of their forefathers, as though they were like the laws 
 of the Medes and Persians, and who stick to the primi- 
 tive tools of ancient times with a tenacity worthy of a 
 better cause. Wheat, oats, and corn are their main pro- 
 ducts, a careless cultivation giving only a moderate yield. 
 But the needs of the Mexican are few in number and 
 easily met. A few sheep are more to them than a field 
 of grain. A goodly number of Americans, however, are 
 on the Trinchera, where there are splendid hay ranches, 
 and as seasons roll by, no doubt this entire section will 
 be reclaimed from Mexican domination and make for 
 itself a good record on the page of agricultural history. 
 
 Conejos County has in its eastern section the Eio 
 
130 COLORADO AS AN AGEIOULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 Grande, La Jara, Conejos and Alamosa Elvers. The 
 amount of land suited to agriculture is large, but it is to 
 be said that cultivation as yet, is mainly done in the three - 
 last-named valleys. Around Alamosa there are extensive 
 hay farms; especially is this so in a strip of country 
 known as the Sink of the Alamosa, where there are 
 some valuable hay meadows, yielding thousands of tons, 
 one man alone running eighteen mowers on his own 
 land and on lands belonging to his immediate neighbors. 
 
 At Manassas, a few miles below Alamosa, on Conejos 
 Creek, there is a large settlement of Mormons, and this 
 county, in a very short time, is likely to be set apart to 
 this sect. At present there are not more than six hun- 
 dred people settled in Manassas and Ephraim, a town 
 four miles distant from the first named. Since 1879 
 some farming has been done; small canals have been con- 
 structed, and evidence is ample that this peculiar sect 
 have secured a permanent foothold in the State, and pro- 
 pose to effect a wonderful change in the agricultural sta- 
 tus of th"'. county. It is currently reported that the 
 Scandinavian emigration is to be turned in this direction, 
 and hundred of families settled upon the farming lands. 
 
 It is evident the Mormons are satisfied with the out- 
 look, and they are not, as yet, looked upon with any dis- 
 favor by the Americans who are in the county. The 
 State has sold them large areas of lands, without looking 
 into the effect their social peculiarities may have upon 
 the State at large. But as this aspect of the subject 
 does not come within the province of this volume to dis- 
 cuss, I will not pursue it further. Looking at the pos- 
 sibilities of the future, as far as agriculture is concerned, 
 it would seem as though Conejos County will swiftly rise 
 into prominence as a wheat-growing section of the State. 
 Those at present in possession do not appear to be a very 
 thrifty set; but if a foreign element, as vigorous as the 
 Scandinavians, should be settled in large numbers upon 
 
SASr liUIS PAEK. 131 
 
 broad tracts of land, the result cannot be but faTorable, 
 as far as wheat culture is concerned. 
 
 From Manassas to the Mountains, the Valley of the 
 Conejos is thirty miles long. The volume of water 
 equals that of the Cache-la- Poudre, and as there is an 
 abundant area of land on the north side of the stream, 
 reaching to La Jara Creek, over which water could be 
 carried at a reasonable cost for canal construction, there 
 would seem to be an opportunity for settlement of a 
 large and flourishing colony here, unless debarred by the 
 Mormons. It is believed that seventy- five thousand acres 
 can be cultivated. The soil is'" a sandy loam, deep and 
 strong. The altitude is seven thousand feet, therefore 
 only thebardy grains and vegetables can be raised to per- 
 fection; but wheat, oats, barley, and rye have an ample 
 season in which to mature, and onions, potatoes, turnips, 
 beets, and squash easily reach perfection. "Wild clover 
 grows in this valley and in those tributary to it. 
 
 Of Costilla and Conejos Counties, it may be said that 
 the main settlement, thus far, is by Mexicans, whose 
 careless system of culture has been before commented 
 upon. They have raised, in years past, considerable grain, 
 which found a ready market in the San Juan country. 
 Since the Denver and Eio Grande Railway has traversed 
 the region, there has been a considerable decrease in the 
 volume of cereals. Joined to the natural indolence of 
 this people, is an intense dislike to the rapid progress of 
 civilization, and the approach of the railway — this sym- 
 bol of the coming of a superior race — has led to the 
 abandonment of hundreds of widely cultivated ranches. 
 Freighting is now the main occupation of a majority of 
 those who five years ago gave their entire attention to the 
 cultivation of the soil. 
 
 The outlook for the future would seem to be encourag- 
 ing. The flow of water, especially in the Eio Grande 
 and the Conejos, is abundant, while the Culebra, La Jara, 
 
132 COLOKADO AS AN AGKICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 Trinchera, and a number of smaller streams, could readily 
 .be made available. The valleys are high and somewhat 
 cool, more so than would be supposed from the line of 
 latitude. If a colony like the one that settled Greeley 
 could be organized and planted on the table land, between 
 the Mormon settlement at Manassas, and the Toltec hills, 
 its success, if rightly managed, would be marvellous. 
 The advance of the railway to Durango and northward 
 to Silverton, as well as southward across the border into 
 New Mexico, and the certainty for a market for the 
 cereals, hay, and vegetables, that could be raised, in the 
 mining towns of the San Juan district, holds out a 
 promise that was wanting when the Union Colony set- 
 tled upon the banks of the Cache-la-Poudre. As re- 
 gards the possibility of preempting or homesteading lands 
 in these counties, the chances are not good. The great 
 majority of acres of arable land is in the ownership of 
 the State, under a Congressional Grant. But these can 
 be leased or purchased upon easy terms. 
 
 A few words about the State lands of Colorado will not 
 be amiss at this time and in this connection. Strangers 
 to the State, who chance to look at the map, and see vast 
 tracts of level, or undulating land, throughout the entire 
 eastern portion, naturally conclude that there must 
 be large quantities of available agricultural land open for 
 preemption and homesteads. But inquiry teaches them 
 that these lands, although in composition they are very 
 fertile, yet are almost barren on account of want of water, 
 and occupation is precluded to the ordinary settler of 
 western lands. These plains are only fit for the herds of 
 cattle and sheep that feed upon the scant but rich her- 
 bage that grows upon them. 
 
 There were granted to the State of Colorado for various 
 purposes, by the General Government, under Congressional 
 enactment, at the time the State was admitted into the 
 Union, lands to the amount of seven hundred and fifty 
 
SAN^ LUIS PARK. 133 
 
 thousand acres. The first State executive officers at once 
 availed themselves of this opportunity to select for the 
 State the choicest acres susceptible of irrigation to be 
 found within the borders of the State. These lands were 
 taken on the Platte Eiver and its tributaries, in the South 
 Park, and in the Arkansas Valley; but the largest, and 
 probably the best body of State lands, was located in the 
 Rio Grande Valley, in the great San Luis Park. Here 
 the State selected some two hundred and odd thousand 
 acres of land that is rich almost beyond comparison, and 
 that will produce, in fabulous quantities, every cereal and 
 vegetable grown in the northern and central latitudes of 
 the United States. These lands have not been occupied, 
 because the State Board of Land Commissioners refused to 
 sell, and adopted a policy of leasing; they could not be 
 tilled on account of the want of irrigating facilities, and 
 capitalists would not build canals for the uncertain tenure 
 of leasing; so the choicest arable areas within the borders 
 of the State lay idle for years. The General Assembly of 
 1881, however, enacted a law, authorizing the sale of one- 
 half of entire tracts of these lands to persons or corpora- 
 tions who would build irrigating canals for the entire tract. 
 Under this law the land has been eagerly sought for, and 
 companies have been organized to buy areas and con- 
 struct the required canals. 
 
 Unfortunately the waters of the Platte Eiver have been, 
 in a great measure, appropriated by prior companies, and 
 the irrigation of the State lands lying in this pleasant, 
 fertile valley is looked upon with some doubt by conserva- 
 tive and thoughtful men; yet large areas have been sold, 
 and, as has been stated in the chapter devoted to the 
 South Platte Valley, the construction of canals intended 
 to irrigate them, has begun. 
 
 In the Eio Grande Valley there is opened a grand field 
 for the development of the agricultural resources of the 
 State. This river has but few canals throughout its en- 
 
134 COLOKADO AS AN AGKICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 tire length in the State, and there is in it sufficient water 
 to irrigate many thousand acres, and the peculiar confor- 
 mation of the ground is very favorable to the building of 
 canals and for the distribution of the water. So very 
 favorable is this latter condition, that the Hon. B. H. 
 Eaton, the most extensive contractor and constructor of 
 irrigation works in the State, in a report to the capitalists 
 who compose the company known throughout Colorado 
 and Great Britian as the " Northern Colorado Irrigation 
 Company," said "the lands in this valley can be irri- 
 gated at one-fourth the cost that it requires in JSTorthem 
 Colorado." 
 
 To cover the State lands here, two great canals are 
 projected, one to cover lands lying on the north side of 
 the river, and the other on the south side. This last is 
 incorporated under the name of the State Land Canal 
 Company, and is being built as fast as possible, and the 
 company expects to be prepared to furnish water and sell 
 land, as early as the spring of 1883, though the entire 
 line will not probably be completed before the spring of 
 1884. The altitude, ranging from six thousand to seven 
 thousand feet, is rather high, still the season is long 
 enough and the soil fertile enough to attract settlement 
 where water is in ample supply. 
 
 The canal is located in the counties of Eio Grande and 
 Conejos, though the greater length is in the latter county. 
 It is to be thirty miles long, and it is probable that it 
 covers more land for its length than any canal in the 
 world, for the reason that its course is almost the chord 
 of a semi-circle. There are to be three main laterals, and 
 the total length of these are fully sixty miles. The main 
 canal for the first section of five miles is seventy-five feet 
 wide on the water surface, and is eight feet deep; water 
 to flow on a grade of eighteen inches to the mile. As 
 the canal progresses, the width is to be decreased so that 
 the last section will probably be about twenty feet wide. 
 
SAN LUIS PAEK. 135 
 
 The writer, a few months since, made an . extended 
 tour through this promising region. 
 
 It was a bright, warm day in August as I journeyed 
 oyer the plains that lie between Alamosa and Del Norte, 
 on the south side of the Kio Grande Eiver; around me 
 stretched thousands of acres of land, the sod of which 
 had never known a plow furrow; for countless centuries, 
 summer and winter, with warmth and with cold, with 
 sunshine and with storm, had come and gone, and still 
 these plains lay green and thick with grease wood, sage- 
 brush and gramma grass through the summer time, bare 
 and brown through the winter months, and here they 
 were still awaiting — what? Could anything be done to 
 change their character? 
 
 I alighted from the wagon at various points on our 
 journey, and with a spade dug down into the soil; here it 
 was dark and full of fibrous roots; there it was soft, ashy 
 in its nature; further on a sandy loam showed itself. 
 Then, as I held these various specimens of soil in shape- 
 less masses in my hand, there came to me the legend of 
 Saint Raymond and his disciples, and these wide and ap- 
 parently desolate plains assumed a new aspect in my 
 mind. 
 
 Without water, a desert; with water, a Garden of Eden. 
 And yonder, not seen with the eye from the point on 
 which I stood, but signaling its presence by a fringe of 
 green running for miles along the horizon, ran a river in 
 whose bountiful bosom was stored the precious fluid 
 whose touch upon these barren lands should be as vivify- 
 ing as was the water to the Eesnrrection Flower in the 
 ancient vase. 
 
 The possibilities of the future dawned upon me. Here 
 was an empire unoccupied; here was room for a thousand 
 homes; here were all things save men, capital, energy, 
 faith. Why were they wanting in this fair San Luis 
 Park, while in the far north no stream ran unfettered in 
 
136 COLOKADO AS AN AGKICULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 its course, but from out each breast ran channels to irri- 
 gate the land and bring into blossom, bloom and fruitage, 
 grains, vegetables, cereals^ fruits? All around were the 
 mighty mountains, looking down upon a magnificent 
 plain, and through its course the Eio Grande del Norte, 
 a stream greater than the Arkansas or the South Platte, 
 ' but the mountains gave back no answer. 
 
 As in a dream I swept along until suddenly I was 
 brought to a realization of the present. Here was a rail- 
 road track, and close beside it men and teams were busy 
 with scrapers, throwing up the soil and making a canal 
 wide enough and deep enough to float a schooner. The 
 past with its eons of eternal silence vanished in an in- 
 stant. The present, with all the actualities of the busy 
 age, was before me. The crunch of the scraper in the 
 sand was suggestive of a new era. The mule teams cir- 
 cling in gangs of five from canal-bed to berme-bank were 
 types of labor, whose outcome should be for the rebuild- 
 ing of the State and of the people. Here was a project 
 in which man's skill was to direct a current of water 
 from a channel in which it had ran for ages, and send it 
 out over vast stretches of prairie lands to increase the in- 
 dustrial wealth of a commonwealth. Given water, the 
 land is no longer barren; provided man, with hands 
 hardened by toil, with brow browned by the summer sun, 
 would do here as he had done elsewhere. Mother ITa- 
 ture, can she be less kind in the valley of the Eio Grande 
 than she has been in the valleys of the Arkansas, the 
 South Platte, the Boulder, the St. Vrain, the Cache-la- 
 Poudre? No, let but the same conditions exist, and 
 upon these plains there will rise as fair wheat fields, as 
 prosperous homesteads, or intelligent communities as 
 elsewhere, to make Colorado the pride of her citizens. 
 
 Think what will be the result of putting one hundred 
 thousand acres of land where they can be utilized and 
 made to serve the manifold interests of man? One thou- 
 
SAll LUIS PAKK. 137 
 
 sand farms of one hundred acres each,,, all in cultivation, 
 would make a wondrous change in the story now told 
 concerning agriculture in Colorado. There can be as 
 much wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, hay, and TCgetables 
 raised from the fertile lands under this company's canal, 
 as is now produced in Boulder, Larimer, Weld, Jeiferson, 
 and Arapahoe, the five great agricultural counties of 
 Northern Colorado. ^ 
 
 Put these one hundred thousand acres into good cul- 
 tivation and they would yield: 
 
 Wheat, 60,000 acres yield 1,200,000 bushels, value, $1,800,000 
 
 Oats, 10,000 acres yield 350,000 bushels, value 245,000 
 
 Barley, 10,000 acres yield 400,000 bushels, value 400,000 
 
 Potatoes, 5,000 acres yield 1,000,000 bushels 750,000 
 
 Hay, 10,000 acres yield 10,000 tons, value 200,000 
 
 Vegetables, 10,000 acres yield 300,000 
 
 Small Fruits (currants, goosherries, raspberries, blackberries, 
 
 strawberries) 250,000 
 
 $3,795,000 
 
 In the above estimate it will be seen that corn is left 
 out. Still this is not because corn will not mature in 
 the valley, for at Del Norte, fifteen miles west, and at an 
 altitude fifteen hundred feet higher than the lands 
 under these canals, the white Mexican corn thoroughly 
 matures. 
 
 During the year 1881, produce was shipped into the 
 State amounting to nearly twelve millions of dollars. 
 Nearly all of this was for articles that can be raised here; 
 that are raised here, in fact, only not in sufficient quan- 
 tities to meet the demands of the people. This need not 
 continue. It will not, when in this great San Luis Park, 
 both south and north of the Rio Grande Eiver, there shall 
 be seen fenced farms, pasture and wheat lands, substan- 
 tial farm houses and bams, and at various points central 
 settlements, where churches, schools, reading-rooms, 
 newspapers ^nd stores are grouped together — tokens all 
 
138 COLORADO AS AN AGKICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 of thrifty communities, milized societies, and aboTS all, 
 an unerring index to comfortable and happy homes. 
 
 All this, in time. True, it takes time to accomplish 
 this. But not so long, after all. What was there in the 
 Cache-la-Poudre Valley in the year 1870? Only on the 
 bottom lands were there hay farms, homes of old-time 
 pioneers who looked upon the mesa lands or uplands that 
 stretched above them as utterly worthless, save for grazing 
 grounds for cattle, as homes for prairie dogs, and as 
 ground fit only for cactus to grow upon. Now behold 
 the change. By the entrance into that valley of energetic 
 farmers, and their steady perseverance and tireless toil, 
 they have added millions to the taxable value of the State, 
 founded thriving towns, and dotted the uplands with a 
 thousand farms, all under irrigation; canals whose life- 
 giving waters have carried food and fortune to those who 
 possess the land. 
 
 What has been done there can be done in the valley of 
 the Eio Grande. Indeed, it was but by merest chance 
 that the Union Colony of Greeley did not settle in San 
 Luis Park. The Exploring Committee sent out in the 
 winter of 1869 — 70 sought to pass over the Sangre de 
 Christo range and into the valley lands lying under the 
 shadow of Sierra Blanca. But then there was no rail- 
 road; busy hands had not graded Veta Pass for the iron 
 link that was to bind Eastern and Western Colorado to- 
 gether. A heavy snowfall had rendered the pass impass- 
 able, and the committee failed to see a land of which they 
 had heard much and favorably. So they turned their 
 faces northward again and, sitting on the banks of the 
 Cache-la-Poudre, saw in fancy the city of Greeley rise be- 
 fore them in a vision of the future. 
 
 Their dream was turned into a reality. Is there reason 
 to believe that the experiment of twelve years ago cannot 
 be repeated at this point in Southern Colorado ? Here is the 
 land; is it any different from that of Northern Colorado? 
 
139 
 
 I believe it is T>el^^, Ii?MS^^Ceacer depth. Is there any 
 less water? On the contrary there is far more than in 
 the first-named valley, enough to water four times the 
 amount of land. Is the growing season longer or 
 shorter? Shorter, perhaps, but long enough for all kind 
 of grain, hardy vegetables and small fruits, and there is 
 no reason to doubt that apples and other standard fruits 
 can be grown there, though this is not a fact absolutely 
 established. Six months of growing weather, at least, 
 can be safely calculated upon, and Canada and some of 
 our extreme Northern and Eastern States cannot count 
 upon so long a season, and yet apples are grown to per- 
 fection in these States. The land generally, it may be 
 said, is a sandy loam, almost level, with fall enough 
 to make irrigation easy and perfect, easily worked 
 and irrigated, and the soil deep enough to last a genera- 
 tion for grain culture without requiring the application 
 of manure. The water supply is ample, far more so in 
 the San Luis Valley than elsewhere in Eastern Colorado, 
 it having been estimated that the Eio G-rande Eiver will 
 supply irrigation sufficient for three hundred thousand 
 acres. All this land is virgin soil, waiting to welcome 
 the farmer to possibilities unequalled anywhere in the 
 States east of the Eocky Mountain Eange. 
 
 And why "unequalled" you ask? I answer, because 
 the expense of cultivation is less, the average yield more, 
 the prices obtained better than elsewhere. These lands, 
 when water is applied, will yield in value above all ex- 
 pense of cultivation, interest, taxes, etc., a net return 
 per acre in crops as follows: 
 
 Wheat $14.50 
 
 OatB 17.00 
 
 Barley 16.00 
 
 Hay 15.00 
 
 Potatoes $ 00.00 
 
 Onions 250.(0 
 
 Cabbage 350. 00 
 
 Berries 400.00 
 
 The extensive system of the Denver and Eio Grande 
 railway company, whose recent extensions have opened 
 
140 COLOEADO AS AN AGKIUCLXUEAL STATE. 
 
 up the whole south-western portions of Colorado to 
 settlement, courses through these lands, and gives an 
 outlet to every point of the compass. The main line to 
 far-off Durango runs via Alamosa. So does the line 
 entering New Mexico. A branch — shortly to be built — 
 will reach the mining sections of Chaffee and other 
 counties by way of Sagauche, while the eastern outlet is 
 over La Veta Pass, whose beauty has been told by tour- 
 ists, and whose Mule Shoe Bend is in the front rank of 
 railroad engineering skill. Markets, near and afar, are 
 thus within easy reach; for doubtless when settlements 
 have been made along the line of this enterprising rail- 
 way, there will be a station established upon some point 
 on the lands under this canal that will be the depot for 
 centering and moving the crops of the valley, at rates 
 that will enable farmers to compete, at least, with Utah 
 on the West, Kansas on the East, and Dakota on the 
 North. 
 
 Prof. Hayden, in his report upon the cultivable areas 
 of Colorado, 1876, declares that the agricultural capabil- 
 ities of the San Luis Park, are measured only by the sup- 
 ply of water, and then adds: "Prof. Cyrus Thomas, in 
 his annual report for 1870, page 198, estimates the land 
 capable of irrigation at twenty-five per cent, without the 
 use of reservoirs. In this estimate I agree with him. 
 The amount of water which enters the valley north of the 
 line of New Mexico, including the Eio Grande (which is 
 by far the largest stream) will irrigate nearly thirteen 
 hundred square miles. This is very nearly all the water 
 which enters the valley. The area to be irrigated, then, 
 is practically the, entire area of the whole valley, and is 
 about twenty-five per cent, of the whole area. I, how- 
 ever, suppose all this water is used in that part of the 
 park which is in Colorado, and thus increase the irriga- 
 tion to 32.5 per cent. 
 
 "This area is proportioned as follows, among the differ- 
 
SAN LUIS PAEK. 141 
 
 ent streams which enter the valley. The Eio Grande 
 carries, at the end of the irrigating season, not far from 
 two thousand five hundred cubic feet of water per second. 
 In that part of its course above the San Luis Valley, there 
 is but little land that can be irrigated. The presumption 
 that one cubic foot of water per second will suflBce to irri- 
 gate two hundred and eighteen acres, will not hold good 
 in the case of the Eio Grande drainage area here, for the 
 soil is sandy, and involves a waste. Instead of three 
 cubic feet per second to the square mile, five will be 
 none too much. This, however, would give an area of 
 five hundred square miles by the river and by its branches, 
 as follows: Alamosa and the La Jara, one hundred miles; 
 Conejos about the same; Trinchera seventy miles; Cule- 
 bra fifty-eight miles; Costilla twenty-nine miles; Gata 
 fifteen miles. It will be seen, that this gives, in round 
 numbers, six hundred thousand acres of land within the 
 borders of these four counties susceptible of cultivation. 
 It is not probable that there is at the present time 
 over one hundred and seventy-five thousand acres of 
 land in the entire State, yielding wheat, oats, corn, 
 barley, rye, and potatoes, which crops are valued, in 
 round numbers, at four millions of dollars. Computing 
 from these figures as a basis, therefore, it would appear 
 that the latent cereal wealth in the bosom of San Luis 
 Park would, if developed, add nearly fifteen millions of 
 dollars to the annual aggregate of Colorado's soil pro- 
 duction. The Park may be said to be a Commonwealth 
 in itself. 
 
CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 SOUTH- WESTERN COLORADO. 
 
 In the south-western corner of Colorado there is con- 
 siderable agricultural land, within the borders of La 
 Plata County. The valleys of Los Pinos, Florida, Ani- 
 mas, La Plata, Mancos, Dolores, and San Juan, can each 
 boast of a fertile soil of greater or less area. The trend of 
 the surface being toward the south, there is thereby se- 
 cured a genial climate peculiarly favorable to successful 
 vegetation. The mean elevation is about six thousand 
 feet. The mountains on the north, rising five thousand 
 feet or more above the valleys, are like a mighty wall of 
 protection against the northern blasts. These valleys are 
 rapidly filling up with intelligent farmers, where the 
 lands are not reserved for the use of the Indians. The 
 entrance of the Denver and Eio Grande railway into 
 the county has given a healthy impetus to the wave of 
 immigration beating against this far-off corner of the 
 State. At Durango, a prosperous city has been estab- 
 lished, commanding the entire trade of the country. The 
 mines in this vicinity are already producing great wealth, 
 thus giving additional value to all the lands that can be 
 cultivated in this section. There are, perhaps, twenty- 
 five thousand acres of the best grade as to quality of soil, 
 in this county, susceptible of the highest cultivation, and 
 as productive as any in the State. 
 
 Los Pinos Valley, through the entire length of thirty 
 miles, is admirably adapted to farming, the volume of 
 water being abundant, and the soil very fertile. The 
 valley of the Florida is small in extent, but exceedingly 
 rich; the scenery is wondrously beautiful, and will, in 
 (142) 
 
SOUTH-WESTERlf COLORADO. 143 
 
 time, make it an attractive point for tourists. Con- 
 cerning the valley of the Animas, a writer in one of its 
 local papers asserts that the name signifies the Spirit 
 Eiver, and is applied with entire propriety, as it flows 
 along with a weird and murmuring sound, receiviug the 
 silvery water of rivulet and cascade, from glen and grotto, 
 dashing anon through canon and gorge, until, reaching 
 the vortex of a precipice, the seething waters of the 
 cataract plunge into the lower channel, and leaving the 
 Grand Canon, the majestic river sweeps around to its con- 
 fluence. The upper part of this valley, only, is in Colora- 
 do, but it contains a magnificent stretch of farming land, 
 beginning within three miles of Durango, ten miles wide, 
 and twenty miles long. The altitude is six thousand five 
 hundred feet; the summer and fall months are pleasant, 
 the air being cool and bracing; while the winter climate 
 is not more severe than other parts of Colorado. Tim- 
 ber and coal, gold and silver mines, abound in this vicin- 
 ity. The timber is yellow and white pine, with some 
 spruce and red cedar. The coal veins run from four to 
 fifty feet, and are of the finest quality; equal to anthra- 
 cite. The mining districts in the vicinity are La Plata, 
 Eico, San Miguel, Silverton, and the Needle Mountains. 
 The valley is distant four hundred and fifty miles from 
 Denver, and but a day's journey by rail over the Denver 
 and Eio Grande railway. 
 
 Eio Dolores Valley has but little land capable of culti- 
 vation. In what is known as the Big Bend, there is an 
 area of two thousand acres, well farmed. There is said 
 to be in Montezuma Park over five thousand acres of 
 good land, to which it is proposed to lead the water of 
 the Dolores, though the cost will be considerable; when 
 it is done, this extreme outpost of the agricultural lands 
 of Colorado will be made to bloom, beneath the magic in- 
 fluence of water, into beautiful gardens and fields. Even 
 if the valley lands of La Plata County were all occupied 
 
144 COLORADO AS AN AOBICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 and cropped to their utmost capacity, the supply would 
 not equal the demand, in consequence of the rapidly in- 
 creasing population of the mining districts in the imme- 
 diate neighborhood of its principal town, Durango. 
 
 On to the Gunnison! was the battle-cry of the 
 prospector, last year, and will be again. It has some im- 
 portance, therefore, as a point toward which our agri- 
 cultural products must flow. The mines create a market. 
 The miners pay cash. The haryest gathered from the 
 soil, under the genial influence of the sun and the water, 
 is as golden as that taken from the hills, whose supposed 
 wealth attracts so many prospectors. 
 
 In the Gunnison Valley, Prof. Wheeler, who has exam- 
 ined it thoroughly, claims that the agricultural lands are 
 unsurpassed for their luxuriance of vegetation, and those 
 who have long been residents are profuse in their praises 
 of such sections of it as are now open to settlement. As 
 yet no great amount of land has been put under plow. 
 For the last two years the ranchmen have fallen victims 
 to the mining fever, and the attractions of Euby, Pitkin, 
 Virginia City, and the Elk Mountains, have been too 
 strong for the eager souls who want to get rich very fast. 
 A writer in that country says that the excitement created 
 by rich strikes in these new mining camps so demoralized 
 the ranchmen in the Gunnison Valley, that the older 
 the settlement grew, the more it became dependent upon 
 the outside world, for produce its own neighborhood 
 could produce with ease. 
 
 Farming has been followed, more or less, in the coun- 
 try below the town of Gunnison, since the spring of 1874, 
 when a colony settlement was made there. From that 
 time up to the present it has continued with variable 
 success. Mr. S. Richardson, who has resided there since 
 that year, says, "No better potato or root crops can be 
 raised elsewhere than have been raised in the Gunnison 
 Valley. Barley, oats, rye, and Mexican wheat do well 
 
SOUTH-WESTEEN COLOKADO. 145 
 
 when not OTer-irrigated. * * * * a. few energetic 
 farmers, like some I could name, who are already here, 
 could revolutionize this whole country in regard to agri- 
 culture. Surrounded by the best mines in the world, 
 with hard and soft coals in abundance, there will be, for 
 many years to come, a market unsurpassed, for magnifi- 
 cent prices for good articles. A place like this, accessible 
 from all points, at all times, must, with its wonderful 
 advantages, become the great metropolis of the Western 
 slope of Colorado." .|A:nother writer has very truly writ- 
 ten, referring to Grand Valley: " I believe I can truly say 
 that there is no better land and no better climate on the 
 face of the earth, with an altitude of from four thousand 
 to five thousand feet, susceptible of producing everything 
 by irrigation that would be desirable — fruit of nearly 
 every description, and all the different varieties of grain 
 and vegetables grown in the States of Missouri and Kan- 
 sas. Prom an agricultural point of view, therefore, as 
 well as from the miner's outlook, these hunting grounds 
 of the savages will soon be changed into camp and farm. 
 The finger of the coming civilization points to the Elk 
 Mountains as steadily as the needle points to the pole." 
 
 The Uncompahgre has a valley from one to four miles 
 wide, and thirty-five miles long. It is estimated that it 
 contains about sixty-four thousand acres of land which can 
 easily be irrigated, with perhaps a greater quantity on 
 the adjacent mesas that could be watered, but would 
 require the construction of expensive canals. The soil 
 on the bottom lands is exceedingly fertile, and is capable 
 of producing all kinds of crops that can be raised at 
 altitudes between five thousand and six thousand feet. 
 It is adobe, mixed with sand. 
 
 From just below the junction of the N"orth fork and 
 
 the Gunnison, there is a valley which is about ten miles 
 
 long, ending at the mouth of the Uncompahgre. It is 
 
 three miles wide, and easily watered. On the Gunnison, 
 
 7 
 
146 COLOBADO AS AN AGEICULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 between the moutli of the Uncompahgre and the Grand, 
 there are several valleys of from one hundred and sixty 
 to one thousand acres, but the river generally runs 
 through a canon. On the north of the river is a mesa 
 (upland) where water would create good farms. Be- 
 tween the Gunnison and the Grand is some fine upland. 
 It is a clay and sand soil, covered with wire and bunch 
 grass. But it is too high to be irrigated save at consid- 
 erable expense. If ever a canal is constructed, there are 
 at least sixty thousand acres of land for farming. From 
 the junction of the Grand and Gunnison, westward, for 
 a distance of about thirty miles, on the north side of the 
 river is a magnificent valley about four miles wide, most 
 of which can be watered at no great cost. The soil here 
 is the same as on the Uncompahgre, with perhaps less 
 alkali and more sand. Patches of sage brush, grease-wood 
 and squaw bushes, abound. These last mentioned are load- 
 ed down with a small red berry, resembling the currant, 
 and is considered fully as good for cooking. On the 
 borders of the streams there are groves of cottonwoods, 
 and the foot-hills are covered with a splendid growth of 
 cedar and pinon. Higher up the mountains pine and 
 spruce abound. 
 
 Towns are springing up all through this, until now, 
 inaccessible country. The Denver and Rio Grande rail- 
 way runs through the entire region on its way to Salt 
 Lake City. The South Park Branch of the Union Pa- 
 cific railway is also in the same section. The two roads 
 will meet at the junction of the Uncompahgre and Grand, 
 and then run parallel with each other down the Gunni- 
 son and Grand. The land on the latter stream was sur- 
 veyed not long since for an Indian reservation, but the 
 Indians have been removed to Utah. Most of the 
 land on the Uncompahgre and Gunnison has not yet been 
 surveyed, but will be in the spring of 1883. These lands 
 are open to settlement, pending survey. 
 
SOUTH-WESTBEN COLOEADO. 147 
 
 On these streams there is room for thousands of farm- 
 ers, and the mild climate will cause every available place 
 to be taken. It is predicted that the lower Grand Valley 
 will, in a few years, furnish fruit and vegetables equal to 
 Utah, and also be a great resort for invalids. A recent 
 visit to this valley tends to confirm this impression in my 
 mind. 
 
 Park County, lying west of El Paso and Douglas 
 counties, is watered by the South Platte and a number 
 of small tributaries. It has little value as a grain region, 
 or for the growth of general crops. The lands lie at a 
 high altitude, and are surrounded on three sides by the 
 main range and spurs of mountains. The cold winds 
 from the snow-crowned hills sweep, over them, and only 
 at two or three favorable points near the eastern line of 
 the county can any gardening or farming be done. But 
 as a pastoral, a hay-producing county, it is excelled by 
 none in the State. These industries constitute no mean 
 item in the resources of the county. Perhaps fifty thou- 
 sand tons of hay are annually cut, having a market value 
 of nearly three-quarters of a million of dollars. The 
 mining towns all around furnish a ready market. The 
 soil is rich and deep, and the mountain slopes make mag- 
 nificent grazing grounds, while the valleys of the. streams 
 are reserved for meadow lands. It is probable that seventy- 
 five thousand acres of land are fenced for hay and pas- 
 ture. In the main valley, especially, are hay farms, 
 ranging in extent from four hundred to one thousand 
 acres, all substantially enclosed and cared for. In the 
 neighborhood of Hartsel, Garo, and Buffalo Springs, ad- 
 ditions are constantly made to the hay lands. On Trout 
 Creek there is one farm of four thousand acres enclosed 
 in one fence. It is provided with an irrigating canal, seven 
 miles long and ten feet wide, from which thirteen miles 
 of laterals distribute water over the bottom lands. In 
 a few years such a farm will annually produce three thou- 
 
148 COLOEADO AS AN AGKICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 Band tons of hay. At the junction of the two forks of 
 the South Platte, thirty-three miles of fence enclose a 
 pasture farm, of three thousand nine hundred acres m. ex- 
 tent, while two irrigating canals supply it with water. 
 Near Buffalo Springs there is one farm of one thousand 
 acres, where experiments in cultivating the native grasses 
 have been successfully made, especially with red top and 
 timothy. Specimens of timothy, four feet and four 
 inches in length, with heads over eight inches long, have 
 been taken from a timothy field of twenty acres in this 
 county, grown at an altitude of seven thousand eight 
 hundred feet. Seeded in the fall of 1879, used as pas- 
 ture during 1880, last season three tons were cut to the 
 acre. A late writer, referring to this county, says that, 
 ' ' when the land is enclosed and care taken in cleaning out 
 the hummocks, the grasses root well in the uncovered 
 soil, and some meadows return as high as three tons to 
 the acre. The natural hay lands yield from one-half to 
 one ton, and what may be termed foot-hills, from one- 
 fourth to one-half a ton. Wherever irrigation is possi- 
 ble, excellent crops are raised that rate higher than any 
 other hay in the market." 
 
 Cattle raising, as may be imagined, is a paying busi- 
 ness in such a pastoral district. Some fine herds are 
 kept. Some sheep are kept to good profit; they range 
 on the side hills in summer, and are kept in well-pro- 
 tected enclosures during the winter. 
 
 Custer County has within its borders the Wet Moun- 
 tain Valley. Grape Creek crosses through this, on its 
 way to the Arkansas. The valley is ten miles wide and 
 twenty-five miles long. It has an altitude of six thou- 
 rsand five hundred feet above the level of the sea. The 
 ■ first hay ranches taken up in this valley were in 1869. 
 The next year a German colony of over one hundred 
 families settled here, founding the town of Colfax. But 
 the enterprise was badly managed. It failed as a co- 
 
SOUTH-WBSTEKK COLOEADO. 149 
 
 operative organization, and its members scattered. The 
 soil of the Talley is of a rich, black, humus nature. It 
 will produce wheat, rye, barley, oats, potatoes, beans, 
 and indeed all the hardy vegetables. In addition to 
 these, a variety of corn, known as Mexican — a small, 
 white, hard corn, can be raised, averaging thirty bushels 
 to the acre. But the present (as well as the future) in- 
 dustry of this valley is hay, of which can be raised hun- 
 dreds of thousands of tons of the finest and most nutri- 
 tious quality. The grass in the valley proper, in the 
 gulches, and along the mountain sides, is extremely rich, 
 and has a spicy flavoi", said to be equalled only by the 
 grass grown on the mountains of Switzerland. 
 ' Though the German colony mentioned was a failure, 
 still nearly one-third of its members remained, taking 
 up land under Government regulations, and a fair meas- 
 ure of success has attended them. The valley itself is 
 unequalled for beauty, lying as it does in an undulating 
 basin, having Grape Creek for its drainage, with the 
 snowy summits of the Sangre de Christo range and the 
 Sierra Mojada on either hand. The width of the grass 
 lands proper is three miles, while those that are bordered 
 on both sides by table lands, vary from three to six miles, 
 yia, settled in 1871, is surrounded by a fine farming 
 country, in which hay and cattle"*ranches abound. Nu- 
 merous little creeks course through the valley, while the 
 Ula Canal Company is a corporate institution, having an 
 irrigating canal of considerable size, covering a wide area 
 of land devoted to hay meadows. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 ARTESIAN WELLS— EESEEVOIES, 
 
 This subject is attracting some attention in the State. 
 The General Government, owning so much vacant land 
 within its borders, has twice appropriated several thou- 
 sand dollars to be used in experimenting on the plains 
 east of the Rocky Mountain Range. About two years 
 ago, under the first Congressional appropriation, the 
 Commissioner of Agriculture selected a point in the 
 Arkansas Valley, just north of the town of West Las 
 Animas, and within the military reservation of Fort 
 Lyon, and from time to time work was continued on it, 
 with but little success, until the appropriation was ex- 
 hausted. There seems to be a belief that the site selected 
 was unsuitable, and the money needlessly squandered. 
 "When the Commissioner was in Colorado, he hardly 
 spent two weeks in examining the country, and it was 
 scarcely known that he had come, before it was announced 
 that he had made his location and had gone. Be this as 
 it may, the results of the boring have been unsatisfactory. 
 
 Commissioner Loring, who has charge of the last ap- 
 propriation, wisely sent out a commission composed of 
 gentlemen eminently adapted for the position, to traverse 
 the section of the country bordering upon the eastern 
 range of mountains, and to report thereon before a new 
 attempt was made at boring. They reported two locations 
 in Eastern Colorado, at points called Akron and Chey- 
 enne Wells, and this winter work will be commenced 
 upon them. 
 (150) 
 
AETESIAN WELLS — KESBBVOIRS. 151 
 
 The movement to sink artesian wells in Colorado is 
 one of vast interest. If successful, hundreds of thou- 
 sands of acres will be changed from merely wild pasture 
 to arable land, capable of producing thirty bushels of 
 wheat to the acre, and would thereby add millions to the 
 producing industries of the State. A full development 
 of its agricultural resources can hardly be had by irriga- 
 tion, as practised from the natural surface flow of water. 
 Large as it is at present, compared to what it was sup- 
 posed to be ten years ago; and large as it will be when 
 the water supply is systematized to the greatest good of 
 the greatest number, even then but a few hundred thou- 
 sand acres can be cultivated, while many millions will 
 lie idle, afEording scanty support to the cattle that roam 
 over it. But the fact once established that artesian 
 wells can be sunk upon the prairies, and a stride forward 
 is made in the agriculture of Colorado which will put it 
 in the front rank of grain-producing areas. 
 
 The Sahara of to day in Africa is a different desert 
 from what it was half a century ago. Vegetation 
 abounds, villages have sprung up, and the entire face of 
 nature has been changed by the sinking of artesian wells. 
 JTearly a hundred are in successful operation. Large 
 areas of land have been placed under cultivation. The 
 supply of water is abundant and of good quality, and the 
 desert of ancient times is fast disappearing before the 
 skill of modern science. 
 
 It is not certain that the vast waste of plain between 
 the border line of rainfall in Kansas and the Indian Ter- 
 ritory on the east, and the Foot-hills of the Eocky Moun- 
 tains, can be reclaimed from their solitude and apparent 
 desolation, and transferred into abodes fit for the habi- 
 tation of man. Grass, sage-brush, and grease wood in- 
 dicate fertility of soil. It is known that where sage- 
 brush grows, the finest wheat producing lands have been 
 found by our farmers in the valleys and uplands border- 
 
153 COLORADO AS AN AGEIOULTURAL STATE. 
 
 ing our streams. It ■would seem as if all tlie elements of 
 agricultural growth were lying perdu in the soil of the 
 plains, lacking only one thing to bring them to fertile 
 productiveness. That one thing is water. Does it sweep 
 in subterranean streams beneath the soil? Is it flowing 
 down the grade between the mountains and the plains? 
 Where is the witch-hazel wand that can tap its hidden 
 Tolume and bid it rise to the surface, meeting sunlight 
 and starlight, and becoming submissiye to the humor of 
 mankind? 
 
 The first thing, then, is to know that it is there hid- 
 den beneath the sod. There are many who do not be- 
 lieTe in the theory, who are students of science as 
 weU as practical observers. Prof. E. L. Berthoud might 
 be mentioned as one of them, who believes that the 
 chances of obtaining surperfluous supplies of water from 
 artesian wells are inversely proportioned to their distance 
 from the mountain range, and that " to attempt to bore 
 for permanent supplies of water east of parallel one hun- 
 dred and five, in Larimer, Boulder, Jefferson, Arapahoe, 
 Douglas, and Bent Counties, will be infruitious and un- 
 satisfactory, and cannot, we believe, lead to the discovery 
 and delivery of large, permanent supplies of water." 
 
 An artesian well has been described as a small hole, 
 sunk to a great depth in the earth, through which cur- 
 rents of water rise toward the surface and sometimes 
 flow over. To secure this state of things, three condi- 
 tions are necessary. First, a fountain head higher than 
 the place where the well is to be bored. This is easy 
 enough to secure in Colorado. Second, a moderate dip 
 of the strata towards the site of the well. It is not so 
 certain that this can be secured. Third, alternations of 
 porous and impervious strata beneath the surface. This 
 fact is yet to be ascertained. 
 
 The authority before neferred to, Prof. Berthoud, in a 
 paper on Artesian Supplies, declares that, though water 
 
AETBSIAN WELLS — EESEEVOIES. 153 
 
 may be found all along (but close to) the foot-hill range, 
 from New Mexico to Wyoming, yet it fails to reach the 
 surface; the water thus tapped is only the result of local 
 drainage, or obtained from scattered crevices that exist 
 everywhere in the porous sand-stone and slates, that un- 
 derlie the whole region, and that this universal difEusion of 
 underground veins, small in size, obtained by local drain- 
 age, is the reason of their failure to reach the surface or 
 to flow above it. 
 
 Twenty years ago, near Fort Lyon, where the experi- 
 mental work of boring for artesian supplies has been go- 
 ing on, an efEort was made to obtain well water. Af a 
 depth of seventy feet, the same clay showed and not a 
 drop of water was obtained. The experiment was aban- 
 doned, though the well -was sunk in an afluent, then 
 dry, of the Arkansas Eiver. 
 
 The question, therefore, are there underground flowing 
 currents of water coming from the vast mountain ranges 
 in Western Colorado, remains unanswered. Until it is 
 settled, it is useless to discuss what an amount of land 
 can be watered from the flow thereof. The present out- 
 look is against their success. For years to come, farm- 
 ers are likely to find their supply for irrigation from sur- 
 face-running streams, and from reservoirs, where vast 
 supplies can be stored during periods when the volume 
 of running water is greatest, and at times when but little 
 is used for irrigating. At present one-half of what is 
 used is wasted by careless usage, and two-thirds flow by 
 unappropriated. There is water enough and to spare, 
 for years to come, for irrigating purposes in Colorado. 
 
 It has been proposed, at various times, to increase the 
 amount of water available for the purpose of irrigation, 
 by the establishment of reservoirs at convenient points. 
 There are times in the year when water flows in excess of 
 the demand for its use, and when the regular season for 
 irrigating is over, it runs away unchecked. This volume of 
 
154 COLOKADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 precious moisture could be safely stored and drawn from 
 when needed. A few lake reservoirs have already been 
 tried, and in a limited way proven successful. In the 
 neighborhoods of Greeley, Fort Collins, Longmont, and 
 Berthoud, there are lakes used as reservoirs for farms 
 lying below them. Still, there exists a feeling which, on 
 the part of farmers in some districts, has grown into a 
 conviction that, thus far, reservoirs have done more harm 
 than good. One of the great drawbacks to this whole 
 business of irrigation is the seepage. Spread out a large 
 body of water in the form of a lake, and the waste on 
 the lands below it will be much greater than that out of 
 a canal. There is so much greater surface from which the 
 water may leak. .The- water is standing at deadweight, 
 on the lake, while it is running at a greater or less velocity 
 through the artificial channel. Under some canals much 
 land has been rendered untillable on this account, and 
 farmers unhesitatingly afiBrm that they would suffer much 
 less by this cause were it not for the seepage from reser- 
 voirs which have been made in some cases by the farmers 
 themselves, in others by the water from canals gather- 
 ing in natural basins, spreading out upon broad surfaces, 
 from which the damage is redoubled upon the lands be- 
 low. In the latter case, this waste from the ditch often 
 forms a broad flag-covered marsh. In the winter this 
 freezes over. The water and ice go on increasing until 
 spring, when the thaw comes, and vast tracts of country 
 are flooded. Invariably the canal is the cause of all, but 
 the damage has been greatly increased by the use of reser- 
 voirs. A few have worked to a charm, but whenever the 
 water that is wasted by thus sinking, passes through 
 an alkali deposit, or through soil containing alkali in any 
 considerable quantity, when it comes to the surface it 
 will injure the soil, and often completely destroy its pro- 
 ductiveness. In the Cache-la-Poudre Valley, hundreds 
 of acres that were once very productive, have been aban- 
 
AETESIAN WELLS — EESBEVOIES. 155 
 
 doned on this account. There is little doubt, however, 
 but that every acre of this class of land may be com- 
 pletely reclaimed and made most productive land. I 
 have been told that such has been found to be the case 
 in Italy, where people have been studying irrigation and 
 its effects for centuries. The method to be pursued will 
 involve drainage at some expense, which will pay, when 
 lands become more valuable than they now are. 
 
 Ultimately, then, the fact of seepage as a cause of dam- 
 age to land will not figure as a valid objection to the stor- 
 age of water in reservoirs for future use in irrigating. 
 Thus far these lake reservoirs have been constructed on 
 the plains. No attempt has yet been made to store water 
 in the mountains, but it seems as if the most practical 
 locations would be found inside the foot-hills. There a 
 great depth may be obtained in which a large volume oi 
 water can be stored, with but a small surface exposed to 
 the action of evaporation. 
 
 Prof. Hayden, in his report of 1876, briefly adverted 
 to reservoirs, but declared it to be unnecessary to 
 dwell upon the subject, as the necessity for them was in 
 the far future. Of this I am not so sure. We are be- 
 ginning to realize that the storage of waste water is closely 
 connected with our permanent prosperity, as far as agri- 
 culture is concerned, and it behooves us to consider care- 
 fully and well all plans that may be brought forward foi 
 this purpose. The Professor favored the plan, provided 
 any movement was made in this direction, of construct- 
 ino- small reservoirs on the bottom lands. He says; 
 "There are many points on the Arkansas and South 
 Platte where, by the approach of the river bluffs to the 
 stream on both sides, a dam could be built to connect 
 them, at slight expense, and thus a considerable body oi 
 water imprisoned until needed. A succession of these, 
 along the streams, placed where the local topography and 
 the needs of the land require, would serve the purpose oi 
 
156 COLOEADO AS AK AGRICULTURAL STAIB. 
 
 utilizing all the water whicK is annually sent down from 
 the mountains. As a favorable place to build a large 
 reservoir, in which all the water of the Arkansas may 
 be stored, I will mention a small valley in the midst of 
 the canon of that river, called Pleasant VaUey. It is 
 about ten miles long by three in average width. At this 
 point it could easily be dammed, and the water drawn off 
 as needed by the channel of the river. A good point for 
 forming a large reservoir on the Eio Grande is near the 
 foot of San Luis Valley, where the river suddenly runs 
 into a narrow passage between two perpendicular walls of 
 basalt. A dam at this point would collect all the water 
 which the stream would annually bring down." 
 
 In Southern Colorado, as yet, the need of the reservoir 
 system is not apparent. But in the northern agricultural 
 districts, where already a scarcity of water is experienced, 
 in some years, the subject begins to assume immediate 
 importance. It would have been far wiser to have spent 
 the money appropriated for artesian well experiments, in 
 the construction of one or more reservoirs to save the 
 water running away on the surface, instead of wasting it 
 to find whether water flows beneath the soil. 
 
CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 APICULTURE. 
 
 Ten years ago, if asked concerning bees in Colorado, 
 but one answer could be given. The chapter devoted to 
 them would be like that given to the subject of Snakes 
 in Ireland: " There are no bees in Colorado." The one 
 sentence would comprise all the facts. 
 
 To-day, a different answer can be given to such a 
 question. Apiculture is an established industry in the 
 State. A recent tour through all the valley lands, m 
 search of agricultural statistics, gave the author full evi- 
 dence that both in Northern and Southern Colorado more 
 or less attention is being paid to this pleasant and profit- 
 able industry; and that, if it increased in the same ratio 
 for the next ten years, at that time the market could be 
 supplied with the home produce to the entire exclusion 
 of that now brought from Kansas and California. I am 
 inclined to believe that at least five thousand stands of 
 bees, mainly Italian, are in the State; that Colorado is 
 as well adapted to profitable bee-keeping as California; 
 that the honey produced is fully as white, as pure and as 
 sweet as any introduced into the market; that there is 
 hardly a farm or a garden where bees will not thrive, and 
 that the foot-hills are peculiarly adapted for extensive 
 apiaries. 
 
 One who is now a firm believer in bee-culture in 
 
 Colorado, once said, that the apparently desert plains 
 
 and absence of honey producing plants made quite an 
 
 unfavorable impression on his mind in the direction of 
 
 (157) 
 
158 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 apiarian science. Like the stockman on his first yisit to 
 the arid plains, who could not see grass enough to the 
 acre to subsist a goose upon, he could only believe that a 
 colony of bees here would soon starve to death. But his 
 experience has made him change his views, and he is 
 now the owner of one of the best apiaries in the State. 
 He declares it to be true that millions of pounds of 
 honey are left to waste their sweetness on the desert air, 
 simply for want of bees to gather it. 
 
 In the East, warm weather with occasional storms, is 
 necessary to a good honey season. A continual drouth 
 is fatal to the bees' harvest. Looking at Colorado from 
 this point of view, it would seem as if its arid climate 
 would be unfavorable. But the belief now prevails, that 
 the hot days, followed so invariably by cool nights, facil- 
 itate the secretion of honey in flowers and blossoms bet- 
 ter than any other state of weather. In the East, days 
 of drouth are usually followed by warm nights, which is 
 fatal to honey prospects. Occasional showers cool the 
 atmosphere, which is favorable; therefore the tempera- 
 ture is of more importance than dampness. Again, con- 
 tinual rains destroy the honey crop and deprive the bees 
 of an opportunity to go upon the wing. Taking these 
 things into consideration, we see why bees do so well in 
 the dry climate of Colorado. Its hot days, followed by 
 cool nights, give to Nature an abundance of sweets. 
 With no prolonged rains, bees have an ample opportunity 
 to improve the shining hour, which in Colorado means 
 from sunrise to sunset, one day after another, week in 
 and week out— as a rule. Thus it is to be seen that in- 
 stead of being a poor bee country, Colorado is just the 
 reverse. All that is needed to make honey an important 
 item of wealth to be added to the prosperity of the State, 
 is an awakened interest in the matter, and this it would 
 seem is becoming more and more evident. 
 
 In considering the profit on a single colony of bees, the 
 
APICULTUKE. 159 
 
 following data are from a record carefully kept by Kev. 
 J. S. Flory, of Longmont. He says : " In 1878 I had 
 a colony of bees sent me from Illinois. The cost, includ- 
 ing a full-blooded Italian Queen, was fifteen dollars. This 
 was in the fall of the year. More than enough honey was 
 made to keep them oyer winter. During the season of 1879, 
 the colony was divided once, and from the two, at the close 
 of the season, a hundred pounds of nice honey were taken. 
 Had an extractor been used, double the quantity would 
 have been taken. In the two colonies about forty pounds 
 of honey for each hive were left for them to winter on, so 
 that the story of the first year is somewhat as follows: 
 
 Cost of original colony $15 
 
 Cost of one new hive 3 
 
 Total outlay $18 
 
 100 pounds of honey @ 35 cents $25 
 
 Young Colony, worth 15 
 
 $40 
 
 Profit on an investment of $18 = $40 
 
 or over two hundred per cent. 
 
 Experience has shown that the Italian bee is the best, 
 being more prolific and more hardy. It is from a climate 
 somewhat similar to that of Colorado. Mr. Flory also 
 gives the following directions to ensure success: 
 
 "A moveable comb hive. Colonies should be kept 
 strong in numbers and rich in stores, in order to stimu- 
 late to early breeding. Enough common sense to know 
 when and how to make artificial swarms, and when to let 
 these alone. Too many colonies are killed by kindness — 
 too much attention. The fatal mistake with too many 
 is, wanting to get along too fast." 
 
 It is the experience of others, that Italian bees are able 
 to obtain honey from flowers that the common bee cannot 
 work on, because of the difEerence in the length of the 
 tongue, the former having the longest, thus enabling 
 
160 COLOKADO AS AN AGKICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 them to work common red cloTer, which the blacks can- 
 not reach. 
 
 Touching locations for large apiaries, Dr. King, of 
 Boulder, considers that a short distance — say from two 
 to six miles — inside the foot-hills, is the best; depending, 
 however, upon the contour and height of the hills compris- 
 ing the first uplifts. Where a canon or a gulch is open 
 and wide, and the hills are low, a dry side gulch with a 
 south-eastern exposure would be a good situation. In 
 the early spring the bees go to the lowest foot-hills to 
 get the earliest blooming flowers, and as the same vari- 
 eties blossom at higher altitudes, they follow them up, 
 and as the season advances, still keep following them up 
 higher and higher. Then, as new varieties bloom below, 
 they repeat the process during the entire season of bloom. 
 But it is also to be said that bees do well upon the plains, 
 in the valleys, and wherever land is under cultivation; 
 for the face of nature here is covered from early spring 
 time to late fall with flowers that afford honey in great 
 abundance. Trees, wild blooms, vegetable blossoms, 
 wild grasses, cleome, alfalfa, corn blossoms, all offer their 
 store of sweet treasure to the ever busy bees. In consid- 
 ering this source of constant supply, it is a fact of great 
 importance to know, that from the 6arly part of March, 
 generally, bees begin to gather pollen and honey from 
 willows on southern hill sides and sunny slopes, and from 
 this time to October, there are very few days that honey 
 is not gathered from some source. Now contrast this 
 with the season in the Eastern, Middle, or even West- 
 em States, where the honey season seldom lasts three 
 months, and it will be seen that Colorado is one of the 
 best States in the Union for bee culture. Pasturage is 
 profuse in its abundance. With the willow blossoms 
 comes a species of Delphinium, pushing its head up even 
 through the snow, and covering foot-hills and plain with 
 its bloom. Wild roses and red raspberries abound in the 
 
APICULTURE. 
 
 161 
 
 CLEOMB, OB EOCKT MOUNTAIN BEE-PLAST. 
 
163 CQIiOEADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 foot-hills. On the plains, with the willow and cotton- 
 wood, comes a little weed called the " hog potato," grow- 
 ing flat on the ground. It has a purple bloom. Then 
 there are fruit blossoms and wild roses in May and June; 
 milkweed and immeasurable wild flowers also appear. 
 Alfalfa is in its first bloom and is fayorite foraging 
 ground for the busy bees. In July the wild grasses and 
 the wild flowers tempt the roving fancy of the bees, while 
 melon, squash, and other Tines invite the winged seek- 
 ers after sweets. During August and September, corn- 
 tassels, alfalfa, amber cane, furnish abundant food. At 
 this time, too, the prairies, in spots, are covered with 
 cleome, or the Eocky Mountain bee-plant, with its wealth 
 of purple flowers, in which lies hidden an amount of bee 
 food one little dreams of, which the bees transform into 
 the choicest honey that can be found. In October, there 
 grows on dry prairie land, a weed the shape and size of 
 sage brush, having a yellow bloom. This is not the best 
 bee food known, but is used when other things are not 
 to be had. 
 
 There is one. drawback to bee culture which must be 
 mentioned. It comes from too much warm, sunny 
 weather in winter. This causes bees left on summer 
 stands to fly out, and doing this day after da,y, many are 
 lost and never return to the hive, and as they do not be- 
 gin breeding until February, and then very slowly, the 
 numbers rapidly decrease, and often the entire swarm is 
 lost, from this cause. The remedy for this is a good 
 cellar, well ventilated and so arranged that the tempera- 
 ture can be kept at from 40° to 45° Fahrenheit. It is to 
 be said, in addition, that perfect darkness and the great- 
 est degree of quiet that can be secured must be main- 
 tained. 
 
 Such, then, is the present condition of Apiculture in 
 Colorado. Plains, valleys, and foot-hills alike seem adapt- 
 ed to success. 
 
APICULTUBE. 163 
 
 If there are five thousand hiyes in the State at the 
 present time, taking the increase from these alone, with- 
 out any fresh additions from the East, as doubling each 
 year, what is the outlook for the future? A little figur- 
 ing will show that in a few years five million hives will be 
 in Colorado. The honey problem, therefore, is as sug- 
 gestive of profit as the product is of sweetness. Pew so 
 poor that they cannot afford one hive. Few hives but 
 double each year, and also yield at least fifty pounds of 
 choice honey. John Allen, in his book on the Blessed 
 Bees, shows that under the most favorable conditions, 
 bees increase in number very rapidly, and he cites an in- 
 stance under his own observation, where three hives in- 
 creased to nineteen in one season. 
 
CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 FRUIT GEOWING. 
 
 Fruit growing is in its infancy in Colorado, but it 
 promises to be an industry of some prominence. When 
 it is known how tbey can be grown there will be no 
 trouble to raise fruits of all kinds. It is with the horti- 
 culturists of the State as it is with the child learning to 
 walk. Steps are feeble and uncertain at first. There is 
 an unknown quantity to master. There is doubtful 
 ground to tread. The time comes when the child knows 
 its own powers, and thereafter walking is no problem. 
 Tl\e main diflBculty in fruit growing lies in the difference 
 of climate between this State and those at a lower alti- 
 tude, and the application of known theories and facts 
 that govern these two different conditions existing here. 
 There is so much to unlearn, in horticulture as well as 
 agriculture, before it can be made successful. As the 
 President of the State Board of Agriculture once re- 
 marked: "The soil contains nearly all the ingredients 
 necessary to produce all kinds of fruits that can be grown 
 in the Northern States, and with a right knowledge of 
 the way to manage fruit trees, we shall succeed in mak- 
 ing this a fruit-growing State, but this knowledge can 
 only be obtained by experience." 
 
 Ten years ago, a fruit grower in Boulder County, in 
 the month of April, looked over what was then an ex- 
 tensive orchard for Colorado, and saw over three hundred 
 peach trees, besides apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees, 
 destroyed, so far as that year was concerned, by the cold, 
 severe winds that swept down the valley as late as the 
 (164) 
 
FRUIT GEOWIBTG. 165 
 
 32d. of the month. He saw, in addition, the canes of 
 his raspberries, and blackberries, and the vines of his 
 grapes killed to the ground. Surely such a sight would 
 be enough to discourage the most ardent fruit gi-ower. 
 Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin seemed written of the coun- 
 try, as far as fruit was concerned. But this courageous 
 man did not say so. Perhaps he recalled the fact that, 
 in the early settlement of States like those of Iowa, Illi- 
 nois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas, many 
 diflBculties were encountered by those who firmly believed 
 that, the proper conditions secured, success would wait 
 upon fruit culture, and to-day these States stand in the 
 front rank of fruit producers. 
 
 Eeturning to his sitting-room, Joseph Wolff, of Boul- 
 der, wrote as follows: "Notwithstanding the disastrous 
 results of last winter and this spring on the various kinds 
 of trees and vines, there is no need for any one to be dis- 
 couraged. * * * * pruit culture in Colorado is a 
 system of experimenting, and must for many years be 
 largely in that condition, until experience shall determine 
 what varieties to plant, the soil required, the proper 
 tillage, the effect of irrigation, mulching, fertilizers, and 
 other equally as important matters. Croakers should 
 bear in mind that of all the trees planted, but few are 
 old enough to bear fruit, and in nine cases out of ten, 
 they have been planted, cared for, and tilled, in a most 
 unthrifty manner. My own opinion is that Colorado will 
 yet rival any of the Middle States in the production of 
 fruit, and for one I propose to keep on trying until I 
 succeed; not in getting a few bushels of little, knotty, 
 sickly trash, but an abundance of large and luscious 
 fruits of all the hardier varieties. Of the peach I have 
 but little hope, but even that may be successfully pro- 
 duced, when we know how." 
 
 The same year, at a Farmer's Club, held in Denver, 
 one of the speakers said: "I have twenty-five varieties of 
 
166 COLORADO AS ABT AGKICtJLTUEAL STATE. 
 
 apples, ten of pears, five of cherries, and ten of plums. 
 There were a few killed last winter, the season being the 
 hardest on trees I have ever known in this country. But 
 I think that apples will yet be as sure a crop with us as 
 wheat. Cherries will do as well, provided the right 
 variety is chosen, which should be none of the kind 
 called sweet." 
 
 What was then a prophecy is fast becoming a realiza- 
 tion. Yet not without many failures and discourage- 
 ments and loss of time, money, and temper. At first, all 
 trees were planted ou the bottom lands, where heavy, 
 clay soil predominates, and where it was supposed they 
 would only grow. All along in the valley of Clear Creek 
 and of the South Platte, in the vicinity of Denver, hun- 
 . dreds of trees were planted and flourished, for a time. 
 As the period of fruiting grew near, it was observed that 
 the tops of the trees began to die, and soon the whole 
 tree showed that something was sapping its vitality. For 
 awhile the cause of this was not discovered, and when it 
 was found out, it was something that could not be pre- 
 vented. The roots of the trees had penetrated through 
 the soil, and in the sand and boulders below found no 
 nourishment. 
 
 So the work of a dozen years was brought to nought. 
 A new departure was to be taken, or the attempt aban- 
 doned. This, fortunately, was considered out of the 
 question, and to day, on the uplands of Clear Creek 
 stands an orchard of trees removed years ago from the 
 bottom lands, apples from which in the fall of 1879 took 
 the special premium given by the Governor of the State 
 for the best collection of apples. 
 
 The President of the Colorado State Horticultural 
 Society, Mr. D. S. Grimes, may be accepted as good 
 authority. In response to inquiries, he says that enough 
 has been grown to demonstrate the fact beyond a doubt 
 that this industry can be as successfully carried on in 
 
FRUIT GEOWING. 167 
 
 Colorado as in other States. From personal observation 
 I am convinced that the greatest enemy to successful 
 fruit growing is the grower himself. If the people 
 treated their garden and field crops as some of them do 
 their trees, failure would undoubtedly follow. Wher- 
 ever an honest, intelligent effort has been made, trees 
 are growing, and doing well. Indeed, under fair 
 treatment, it is hard to tell what varieties will not suc- 
 ceed. JPruit is a natural production of the country. In 
 the mountains and along the rivers and creeks are found 
 currants — red, black, and yellow, the last named especially 
 large and excellent. Easpberries, strawberries, whortle- 
 berries, June berries, are gathered from the foot of the 
 mountains up to snow line. In^ some localities, especially 
 in Fremont County, there are wild plums of larger size 
 and as delicious flavor as one-half of our cultivated va- 
 rieties. There are wild fruits growing in the canons of 
 Colorado which, when brought to the light of cultiva- 
 tion, will be jewels in the horticulture of the country. 
 The soil along the mountain streams, and for miles out 
 on the plains, is a rich alluvial of decomposed matter, 
 brought down from the mountains, containing all the 
 elements essential to tree and vegetable life. All varieties 
 of fruits grown here are smooth, free from worm or in- 
 sect, heavy, juicy, and of a fine flavor, a characteristic so 
 marked as to enable our people to readily distinguish the 
 fruit grown here from that brought from other States. 
 Trees come into bearing earlier here than in the East. 
 In growing, the tops incline low, producing a heavy foli- 
 age, while the bark is of much lighter color than that of 
 the same variety brought from the States. Our soil and 
 climate exhibit many peculiarities, but I fail to see any- 
 anything to hinder Colorado from becoming a great fruit- 
 producing State, except failure in planting and improper 
 cultivation. 
 There is hardly a valley in the State where fruit is not 
 
168 COLORADO AS AN AGBICULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 grown in greater or less quantity. In the Poudre Valley 
 one of the most successful growers is Mr. J. W. Parker, 
 of Greeley, who has an orchard of over two thousand ap- 
 ple trees. The Ben Dayis, Fameuse, Winesap, Astra- 
 chan, and Duchess of Oldenburgh, all do well with him. 
 He pays especial attention to crabs, finding in Denver a 
 ready market for all he can ship. His principal varieties 
 are the Transcendent, Hyssop, Tetofsky, and Briar Sweet. 
 He also has Flemish Beauty and Duchess de Angouleme 
 pears in bearing, the Early Richmond cherry, and the 
 Lombardy plum. Mr. Parker, after an experience of 
 five years, believes that not only apples, but pears, plums, 
 and cherries will be staple crops in years to come. He 
 advises all to plant orchards, and if the grasshoppers 
 come, to smoke them out; if the Blister-beetle troubles 
 them, administer Paris Green; destroy the ants, kill the 
 gophers. In a word, take care of the orchard, and some 
 day not very far distant, cider will be sold at ten cents a 
 gallon in Colorado. 
 
 The entire valley of the Cache-la-Poudre, from the 
 canon where it empties into the Platte, is becoming dotted 
 with small orchards. Hardly a farmer but what is set- 
 ting out trees. Some will succeed. Some will fail. 
 The one, because he gives good care and careful cul- 
 ture, the other because he gives indifferent care and care- 
 less culture. One will say that fruit will grow, and 
 show with pride his apple-bearing trees and his loaded 
 grape vines; the other will say that fruit will not grow, 
 and point to worm-eaten trees and blasted vine as proof 
 of his assertion. 
 
 As in this valley, so in the St. Vrain, the Boulder, 
 Big Thompson, Ealston, and the other valleys in North- 
 ern Colorado. Mr. J. S. Flory, of Longmont, wrote as 
 follows, in the fall of 1879, regarding his orchard in the 
 valley of the St. Vrain: "If the most skeptical could see 
 my orchard, they would conclude that apples, pears, and 
 
FRUIT GROWING. 169 
 
 peaches can be successfully raised in Northern Colorado. 
 The spring was very unfavorable for fruit, all the early 
 bloom being killed, yet some of iny apple trees are so 
 loaded with fruit, that I am under the necessity of tying 
 and propping up some of the limbs. The Duchess of 
 Oldeuburg and Fall Stripe are as nice apples as one wishes 
 to see. They seem to come to perfection in every respect. 
 The Early Eichmond cherry bears abundantly. As to 
 grapes, every vine is loaded, and it is true, as has been 
 said, ' it is as easy to raise grapes as squashes, when you 
 know how.' What kills three-fourths of the trees is the 
 warm winters, in which the hot rays of the sun beat 
 upon the south-west side of the trunk of the tree, heat- 
 ing it and starting the sap; then, at night a severe frost 
 coming, the tree is ruined." 
 
 While it is shown that fruit can be grown very success- 
 fully in Northern Colorado, I am inclined to believe that 
 the best region lies south of the Divide, and on the 
 western slope, in the valleys of Gunnison County, 
 where a warmer climate, a sandier soil, and a longer 
 season prevails. In the Arkansas Valley, on this side of 
 the main range, and the Grand Valley with its numer- 
 ous tributaries in Western Colorado, lies the Eden 
 of the horticulturist of the next and succeeding gen- 
 erations. 
 
 The varieties positively adapted to the climate of North- 
 ern Colorado, cannot' be definitely given. Those that 
 have been tested and found to thrive, can be named. 
 The Farmer's Institute, held at Fort Collins, in the win- 
 ter of 1880-81, named the following as best adapted to 
 that region : — 
 
 Summer varieties: Eed Astrachan, and Duchess of 
 Oldenburg. Winter varieties: Ben Davis, White Water, 
 Pearmain, Genitan, Wagner, and Jonathan. Others 
 might be named, that have succeeded w^ith some. Such 
 as the Early Red, Sweet Bough, and Golden Sweeting, 
 
170 COLOEADO AS Alf AGKICULTUEAli STATE. 
 
 for summer; the Maiden's Blush, and the Limber Twig, 
 for autumn; the Koxbury Eussett, for winter. In cher- 
 ries, the English Morellos. In pears, the Bartlett for 
 summer, Flemish Beauty for autumn. Vicar of Wakefield 
 for winter. In plums, Colorado ought to take front rank 
 as a producer. Here they are entirely free from the Cur- 
 culio, and are only injured by hail storms. They grow 
 wild in . the canons and among the foot-hills; they 
 flourish to perfection when transplanted to the plains. 
 To give a list of varieties would be to name, almost, all 
 those contained in the catalogues. In peaches, the Ams- 
 den, Crawford's Early and Late, and Hale's Early, have 
 been grown, but not to any encouraging extent. The 
 Peach of Colorado has not yet been born, or, if bom, is 
 yet in swaddling clothes, and has not been brought to 
 the baptismal font for naming. 
 
 In Southern Colorado, more especially in the Arkansas 
 Valley, apple and grape culture are receiving the exclu- 
 sive attention of many persons. In the neighborhood 
 of Canon City there are orchards that have produced 
 heavily for years. At Florence, is a twenty-acre apple 
 orchard, ten of them in bearing, probably the largest in 
 the State. The soil of the valley is of an adobe character, 
 full of limestone, and seems peculiarly adapted to apple 
 culture. Anson Eudd, and W. A. Helm, of Canon City, 
 have fruit gardens that would delight the eye of the hor- 
 ticulturist. Mr. Eudd commenced planbiug as early as 
 1864, meeting with but little success, but now an orchard 
 of two hundi-ed trees rewards his patience, perseverance, 
 and faith. His trees grow low, many of the branches, 
 when the fruit is on them, bending to the very ground. 
 He applies salt in abundance, believing that too much 
 cannot be scattered on the soil about the trunks of the 
 trees. Besides apples, he has been successful in raising 
 pears, peaches, quinces, and grapes. Concerning the 
 future of fruit he is very sanguine, believing that the 
 
FKUIT GROWING. 171 
 
 entire Arkansas Valley will be filled ■with orchards within 
 the next ten years. 
 
 W. A. Helm, of the same place, began planting in 1867; 
 he has not so large a number of trees, but in variety they 
 are unequalled in the State. His favorites are the Eed 
 Astrachan, Winesap, and Genitan. Of pears he grows 
 the Duchess, Bartlett, and Quince Pear, and has no 
 question but that this delicious fruit is admirably adapt- 
 ed to the Arkansas Valley. He has two apricot trees in 
 bearing, as well as black walnuts, mulberries, and persim- 
 mons, while hazel bushes profitably occupy a corner of his 
 garden. Of grapes, he has the Concord and other East- 
 ern varieties, but is giving special attention to three or 
 four California varieties, which, he thinks will do well in 
 Colorado. The Eose of Peru, a black, and the Muscatel, 
 Sweet Water, and White Ohasselas, all white, are kinds 
 he has had in bearing for the last five years, and thinks 
 they will do well, at least in Southern Colorado. The 
 Salem is his favorite of the Eastern varieties. 
 
 Mr. Jesse Erazier's twenty acre Apple orchard is at 
 Florence, ten miles east of Canon City, on the Leadville 
 branch of the Denver and Rio Grande railway, and is 
 visible to travellers on the trains that daily pass up and 
 down the valley. He has fully one hundred varieties, 
 among which maybe mentioned the Ben Davis, Winesap, 
 Genitan, Jonathan, Golden Russett, Eed Astrachan, 
 Duchess of Oldenburg, and Bailey's Sweet. He gives 
 preference to the following: 
 
 SuMMEE Apples, 
 
 Jeffries, Duchess of Oldenburg, Early Harvest, Eed 
 Astrachan. -*• 
 
 Fall Apples, 
 
 Cole's Quince, Sweet Pear, Jonathan, Fameuse or 
 Snow Apple. 
 
172 COLOKADO AS A.TS AGEICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 WiNTEE Apples, 
 
 Ben Davis, Winesap, "Willow Twig, Eawle's Genitan. 
 It will be noticed that everywhere the Ben Davis is set 
 in the front rank as a safe apple to grow in Colorado. 
 Thus, • in both Northern and Southern Colorado, proofs 
 are accumulating that the State has within it the germs 
 of success in fruit growing, and within a few years will 
 begin to supply the demand from home orchards. The 
 green fruit trade of Denver is enormous. The sales 
 amount to nearly a million dollars yearly. Five hundred 
 car-loads is a low estimate of the amount of California 
 and Biistern fruit brought into the markets of the State, 
 Concerning the Small Fruits, as they are termed, they 
 are becoming quite abundant. Hundreds of acres in the 
 immediate vicinity of Denver are in grapes, currants, 
 gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. 
 The profits are enormous, especially from strawberries. 
 The wholesale price of small fruits in Denver during the 
 last season, was as follows: 
 
 Per Qaart. 
 
 Strawberries 35 cents. 
 
 Blackberries 35 cents. 
 
 Red raspberries 50 cents. 
 
 Black cap 35 cents. 
 
 Currants 35 cents. 
 
 Gooseberries 20 cents. 
 
 The cost of cultivating one acre of strawberries is 
 about fifty dollars. Water costs two dollars per cubic 
 inch, and two inches is sufficient to water an acre of 
 berries. It costs three cents per quart for picking, and 
 about two cents for boxing and preparing for market. A 
 yield of eighteen hundred quarts can be taken from one 
 acre. The entire cost of cultivation and placing upon 
 the market is not over one hundred and fifty dollars, 
 leaving a net profit of three hundred dollars per acre. 
 All kinds do well, but need high and close cultivation, 
 bearing for five years before they require to be renewed. 
 
CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
 
 During a residence of more than twelve years in 
 Colorado, mainly in the agricultural sections, and having 
 had much to do with the founding and establishment of 
 farniing towns, it has been my fortune to answer many 
 questions concerning the State. By grouping a few of 
 these together, there can be given, in brief space, much 
 information that will prove extremely useful to those 
 who have it on their minds to make Colorado their home, 
 but who have not, as yet, broken loose from their old 
 associations : 
 
 Are there any Government lands to be had? 
 
 Yes, but very little, if any, under canals that are built, 
 or close to any settled communities. 
 
 Where can these lands be found? 
 
 Mainly in Southern Colorado, in the valleys of the 
 Arkansas and Eio Grande del Norte, in the valleys of the 
 Uncompahgre, the Gunnison, and the Grand, in West- 
 em Colorado, and along streams tributary to these rivers. 
 
 Can a man without means enter upon Government 
 lands with a hope of making a home easily and early? 
 
 No. And yet this can be qualified by the statement 
 that men have done so; but they were single men, and 
 could submit to the worst kind of roughing. It would 
 be criminal for a man, with a wife and children depend- 
 ent upon his labor for their daily bread, to attempt what 
 an unencumbered man might reasonably do "in chanc- 
 ing success." 
 (173) 
 
174 OOLOaADO AS AN AGBICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 How much money ought a young man to have? 
 
 A young man with three hundred dollars in his pos- 
 session, when he reaches Colorado, can easily secure a 
 foothold, and eventually become a land owner. 
 
 How much ought a married man to have? 
 
 If with a small family, he should have at least five 
 hundred dollars. With an economic management, in-doors 
 and out, this will secure land, a cabin, and subsistence 
 for the first six months. 
 
 What is the best time to come? 
 
 In the fall, for the preparatory work of moving, get- 
 ting settled, and preparing for spring work should not 
 be put off until the sowing season comes. 
 
 How early does the season open? 
 
 Some years as early as February plowing can be done. 
 
 What kind of land should one get? 
 
 This is a question not easily answered. If a home- 
 stead can be secured in the immediate vicinity of a grow- 
 ing town, or with railroad facilities for shipping produce 
 to distant points, within reach of schools, churches, and 
 social privileges, the question answers itself. But there 
 are few such homesteads to be had, except by purchase 
 from some one already occupymg the land. 
 
 How about railroad lands? 
 
 There are but little, if any, now to be had from the 
 railroad companies. Most of the available arable land 
 unsold has, within the last two years, been contracted to 
 companies formed for the purpose of constructing and 
 operating irrigation canals. ThesQ hold the land, of 
 course, at a higher rate of valuation than did the rail- 
 road companies. Still, present prices are not exorbi- 
 tant, and intending farmers can easily do worse than 
 purchase such lands. 
 
 Is water absolutely essential? 
 
 Yes. Without it, Colorado is a desert. With it, 
 
QUESTION'S AKB AWSWEES. 175 
 
 iin Eden exists again, on the slopes of the Kocky Moun- 
 tains. 
 
 How are the winter months? 
 
 Usually, mild, compared with the same latitude on the 
 Atlantic Coast. We get the benefit of the ocean cur- 
 rents of the Pacific, and the influence of the soft, mild 
 westerly winds which prevail in the winter, coming from 
 that warm ocean. Sometimes the mercury, in February, 
 runs as high as seventy degrees in the shade. The snowa 
 in winter are generally light. 
 
 Are there ever any severe snow storms? 
 
 Yes. And they come when they are least expected, 
 
 "When is that? 
 
 In the months of March, April, and May. 
 
 Are the summers extremely warm? 
 
 In the middle of the day, in the months of June, July, 
 and August, it is very warm. But in the shade there is 
 always a refreshing coolness, 'while the nights invite to 
 sleep as deep as it is invigorating. 
 
 What is the amount of rain fall per annum? 
 
 It may be set down at about twelve inches, or one-third 
 of the mean precipitation on the surface of the globe. 
 Three-fourths of this falls in the early spring months, 
 securing the germination of grain without irrigation, and 
 the annual growth of grasses upon the prairies, on which 
 such vast herds of cattle grow fat. 
 
 Do you have high winds? 
 
 Yes. What would you think of an ocean, whose 
 waters were never in motion? What kind of a country 
 would it be where the air never circulated, but remained 
 motionless? But there are no tornadoes, like those 
 in the tropics, and while the whirlwinds which devas- 
 tate Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, may have their birth in 
 the hills of Colorado, they go out while they are young 
 and innocent of harm. In the heavier atmosphere, miles 
 below the altitude of the foot-hills, they may get obstrep- 
 
176 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 erous and behave badly. In the spring months, especially 
 when the winter has boen open and mild, winds prevail, 
 and are, to say the least, annoying — "only this and noth- 
 ing more." 
 
 What is the general nature of the soil? 
 
 A sandy loam predominates, though a stiff clay is oc- 
 casionally met with. It is very easy to work, and only 
 requires common attention to return a thousand fold. 
 
 What can be raised in Colorado? 
 
 Almost everything. Wheat, com, oats, barley, rye, 
 amber cane, vegetables of all sorts, fruits of nearly every 
 kind common to our latitude. In fact, whatever is raised 
 in Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, or Ne- 
 braska, can be raised in Colorado. 
 
 What is the average yield of the principal products? 
 
 Wheat, twenty-two bushels; Oats, forty; Eye, twenty; 
 Barley, thirty; Potatoes, one hundred and twenty. These 
 are low figures, and are likely to rate one-third higher. 
 It is no uncommon thing to find an eighty-acre field of 
 wheat running forty bushels to the acre. 
 
 Do you get good prices for your products? 
 
 Yes. There have been years when low rates prevailed, 
 as they have done elsewhere. But Colorado is so rapidly 
 filling up with settlers, the majority of whom are non- 
 prod,ucers, that everything the farmer can produce will 
 bring him a good price. At the time this chapter is 
 prepared, wheat rates at one dollar and fifty cents per 
 hundred pounds; corn, one dollar and seventy-five cents; 
 oats, two dollars and ten cents; potatoes, two dollars and 
 twenty-five cents; onions, two dollars and fifty cents; 
 cabbages, one dollar and fifty cents. 
 
 What about Dairying? 
 
 Parts of Colorado are eminently adapted for dairying, 
 of which there is little, as yet. Inside the " foot-hills," 
 as the most easterly tier of low hills is called, are small 
 parks that are sheltered and extremely favorable. The 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 171 
 
 "Divide" is a stretch of country with an altitude of 
 from six thousand to seven thousand feet above the level 
 of the sea, running for thirty miles in an easterly direc- 
 tion from the mountains, lying between the South Platte 
 and Arkansas Rivers. This region is to be the great 
 dairy region of Colorado. Its resources are abundant and 
 extremely nutritious grasses; a plentiful supply of water in 
 the shape of springs and brooks; a cool summer climate, 
 rendering it possible to make as good butter and cheese 
 in summer as in fall. 
 
 Are there any cheese factories? 
 
 Two or three; there should be two or three dozen. 
 
 What do butter and cheese bring? 
 
 From twenty to thirty cents in summer, from thirty 
 to forty cents in winter. Cheese retails at twenty-five 
 cents per pound. 
 
 Are the markets certain? 
 
 Yes. The mines furnish a very profitable market, and 
 towns are springing up in every direction. These people 
 must be fed. Not one-third of the supply is raised in 
 the State. California and Utah send potatoes, honey, 
 and fruits. Kansas and Nebraska send wheat, hay, oats, 
 and corn. Millions of dollars go out of the State each 
 year, for grain, and produce, and feed, that ought to be 
 raised at home. 
 
 How do prices compare with those in the East? 
 
 Not unfavorably. Clothing,^ building material, dry 
 goods, are a little higher, perhaps, than in the far East- 
 ern States. In the mining camps prices rule above those 
 that prevail in the country towns on the line of the great 
 thoroughfares. 
 
 Do you burn wood or coal? 
 
 Coal, mainly, in all the farming towns. In the foot- 
 hills and mining camps, wood. Coal of excellent quality 
 ranges from four dollars to six dollars per ton. 
 
 The preceding questions will coTer a multitude of points 
 
178 COLORADO AS AN" AGKICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 about which great ignorance preyails. They are the 
 minutim of practical interest to the new settler who 
 wisely "counts the cost" before he ventures into un- 
 known lands. A chapter devoted to these details has 
 some value, if the facts as stated can be relied upon. 
 For this, the reader has the author's pledge that, 
 intentionally, no false statement is made. Colorado is 
 settling up fast enough without having to miscolor or 
 misrepresent. Its advantages are so numerous that 
 there is no need to go beyond the boundary of actual 
 fact. 
 
CHAPTEE XVm 
 
 COLORADO AGEICULTUEAL COLLEGE. 
 
 It may not be out of place to present a brief account 
 of an institution in which the farmers of Colorado have 
 a special interest, and one in whose success all the citizens 
 of the State will share. The State Agricultural College, 
 located at Fort Collins, Larimer County, was opened in 
 1879, its doors swinging wide to all who desire admit- 
 tance, offering opportunities for education in the indus- 
 trial branches of learning which cannot fail to prove 
 beneficial. Gov. F. W. Pitkin, in his last message to 
 the Legislature, recommending an appropriation in ad- 
 dition to the regular State tax, used the following lan- 
 guage : " The farmers of the State have not, as a gen- 
 eral thing, the time or the means to carry on experi- 
 ments on a large scale. They are compelled to produce 
 a crop annually for the support of their families, and can- 
 not make tests of many varieties of seeds and different 
 methods of cultivation, when they know that a majority 
 of these experiments must be conducted at a loss. The 
 object of the College is to have these experiments carried 
 on under the supervision of a person specially educated 
 for the purpose, that the test may be conducted intel- 
 ligently and under the most favorable conditions, and 
 that the results obtained may be accurate and entitled to 
 the confidence of the farming community. These results 
 are not only given to the public through printed reports 
 and newspapers, but they are witnessed by the pupils of 
 the College who assist in the labor, and through them 
 (179) 
 
180 COLOKADO AS AN AGKICULTFEAL STATE. 
 
 the different portions of the State from which they 
 come are directly benefited. The College affords op- 
 portunities for its students to obtain a thorough educa- 
 tion in the sciences and mathematics, and also in sci- 
 entific farming, and at the same time brings to the 
 knowledge of agricultural communities many new facts, 
 by which their business may be more profitably con- 
 ducted." 
 
 The College was organized in accordance with the 
 provisions of the act of Congress of 1863, by which lands 
 were granted to the amount of thirty thousand acres 
 for each Senator and Eepresentative in Congress for the 
 endowment, support and maintenance of at least one 
 college, where the leading object shall be to teach such 
 branches of learning as are related to agriculture and 
 the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and 
 practical education of the industrial classes in the several 
 pursuits and professions of life. 
 
 The leading object of the Institution — ^to use the offi- 
 cial language of the Faculty — is to impart a thorough 
 and practical knowledge of all the branches and sciences 
 that pertain to agriculture. Its course of study differs 
 from that of a University, in the absence of a classical 
 department, and in the greater attention given to those 
 studies in the scientific course that pertain to agriculture 
 and the arts. It differs also in the fact that it em- 
 bodies with this liberal course of study, practical train- 
 ing in the work of the farm, its students being required 
 to spend at least two hours of each day in labor under 
 the direction of their instructors. Although this labor 
 is in the direct line of their studies, they are paid for it 
 at so much per hour. This manual labor is held to 
 be beneficial, by the financial aid it gives to the student; 
 by instructions in method of work; by the health derived 
 from regular, moderate exercise, and by the correct 
 ideas imparted as to the dignity and importance of labor. 
 
COIiOKADO AGEICULTUEAL COLLEGE. 181 
 
 The College is a State Institution, and is supported by 
 the State. Its doors are therefore open, free to all with 
 certain limitations as to age and advancement, neces- 
 sary in the conduct of such a school. 
 
 It is to be seen from this that the Colorado Agri- 
 cultural College is not a literary school, masquerading 
 under the conTeuient title given to it, nor is it, on the 
 other hand, merely a manual labor school. Its aim is 
 to combine labor and science, in such a way, that one 
 shall aid and strengthen the other. The labor must be 
 accompanied by knowledge, the knowledge must be aided 
 by labor. The education imparted is of the head and 
 hand, and in proportion to the proper training of them, 
 of the heart also. It is deemed better for health, mind, 
 and for morals as well, that education should be thus 
 broad and liberal. 
 
 The Department of Experimental Agriculture is of the 
 utmost importance to the farmers of the State. When 
 success results, it will benefit them; when failure ensues, it 
 will save them from loss of time, labor, and expense. 
 Here the new grains can be grown and reported upon. 
 Here new methods of irrigation may be examined and 
 experimented with. Here the new varieties in field and 
 garden seeds can first be shown worthy of the farmer's 
 attention, or discarded. The importance of this depart- 
 ment, carefully conducted, will be of immense value in 
 a State, where old rules and familiar methods of farm- 
 ing do not apply. 
 
 The complete course of instruction includes a prepar- 
 atory year, and a four year's collegiate course. The 
 student is not absolutely required to follow this course, 
 but is allowed to select his studies. Graduation confers 
 the degree of Bachelor of Science. Tuition is free to 
 all students, but there is a matriculation fee of five 
 dollars, and an incidental fee of one dollar, at the be- 
 ginning of each term, ' which entitle the student to the 
 
182 COLORADO AS AN AGEICULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 privileges of the whole course. There is a dormitory 
 attached to the College, and board is provided for those 
 who wish it. In this home the student is boarded at 
 cost, which amounts to about three dollars per week. 
 The College is supplied with the leading scientific and 
 literary publications of the day, to which the students 
 have free access. 
 
 Institutes conducted by the Faculty, are held during the 
 winter at different points through the State. These ses- 
 sions are attended by the farmers in the immediate vicin- 
 ity. Papers are read by the President, the Professors in 
 charge of departments, by members of the Board of 
 Trustees, and by some of the farmers, upon topics con- 
 nected with the soil. Valuable papers are thus procured 
 for general circulation, on corn, wheat, alfalfa, hay, po- 
 tatoes, amber cane, fruit, floriculture, the apiary, irriga- 
 tion, fertilizing, rotation of crops, stock raising, dairying, 
 poultry, and the economies of the farm. Discussions upon 
 each topic generally follow the reading of the paper, which 
 are spirited, and bring out many important statements. 
 
 There is a Nursery connected with the farm, where th6 
 various forest and fruit trees are growing. The surplus 
 products of the farm or of fruit trees and plants deemed 
 worthy of more extended trial, are to be distributed in 
 various parts of the State for further experiments, and 
 the results announced for the general good. 
 
 The Faculty consists of C. L. IngersoU, President and 
 Professor of Logic and Political Economy; A. B. Blount, 
 A.M., Professor of Agriculture and Botany; Charles F. 
 Davis, B.S., Professor of Chemistry and Physics; F. H. 
 "Williams, Professor of Practical Mechanics and Drawing. 
 The fall term commences in September and ends in De- 
 cember. The winter term begins in January, and ends 
 late in March, The spring term commences early m 
 April and closes in June. These three terms compose 
 the year. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 FARMING JOURNALS. 
 
 The existence of newspapers in farming communities 
 is a good indication of the intelligence of the people. 
 The number and excellence of the valley journals in Col- 
 orado, is really surprising. In towns and Tillages of the 
 East, where the home paper is but feebly supported, and 
 continues from year to year barely sustaining itself, it 
 would seem as if the people took no pride in the medium 
 through which their special locality is made known to the 
 outside world. In Colorado, it is just the reverse. 
 Hardly a town of any account but has its representative 
 press. Some farming communities sustain their two and 
 three newspapers. These are supported with pride, 
 copies are sent abroad to friends, and the patronage given 
 is in no stinted measure. A list of these journals will 
 have a positive value to those who desire to obtain in- 
 formation concerning the region which they represent; 
 hence they are given here as being part and parcel with 
 matters touching the farming interests of the State. 
 Only those are named that represent agricultural com- 
 munities; and sample copies can probably ^e had by those 
 desiring them, simply by addressing the publishers. 
 
 "The Colorado Farmer and Live Stock Journal "is 
 the only strictly agricultural paper in the State. It is 
 published at Denver, and is devoted to the agricultural 
 and pastoral interests of the eastern slope of the Eocky 
 Mountains, including Wyoming, Colorado, and New 
 Mexico. Price per annum, $2.00. 
 (183) 
 
184 COLORADO AS AN AGKIOULTUEAL STATE. 
 
 "The Tribune," Greeley, $3.00 per annum. "The 
 Sun," Greeley, $2.00. These two journals represent the 
 farming region of the lower Cache-la- Poudre Valley. 
 
 "The Journal," Evans, Weld County, $2.00 per an- 
 num. This paper circulates among the farmers on the 
 South Platte, from the Cache-la-Poudre up to the county 
 line, including Platteville, Fort Lupton, and Erie. 
 
 At Fort-Collins there are two journals, " The Express" 
 and "The Courier."' Each is $2.00 per annum. They 
 are the representative organs of the upper portion of the 
 Cache-la-Poudre Valley, in Larimer County. 
 
 "The Keporter" is published at Loveland, in the 
 same county, in the district through which the Big 
 Thompson and Little Thompson streams run. Per year 
 $2.00. The town of Berthoud is in this district. 
 
 At Longmont, Boulder County, the center of the St. 
 Vrain farming interests, there is published " The Press " 
 and " The Ledger," each $2.00. Also the "Home Mir- 
 ror," a monthly, mainly designed for eastern circulation. 
 Price, 50 cts. 
 
 At Boulder, 'in the same county, three journals are 
 published. "The News-Courier," "The Banner," and 
 "The Herald." Bach $2.00 per annum. These repre- 
 sent the region including Left Hand, Boulder, South 
 Boulder, and Coal Creek Valleys. 
 
 Golden, in Jefferson County, has two papers, "The 
 Transcript," and "The Globe." Each $2.00 per an- 
 num. These are the exponents of the farming valleys of 
 Ealston, Clear Creek, and Bear Creek. 
 
 The Divide has one representative paper, " The Jour- 
 nal," published at Castle Eock, Douglas County, at $1.50 
 per year. It includes Elbert County as well, and is the 
 official organ of both counties. 
 
 El Paso County has " The Gazette," and "The Eepub- 
 lic," both published at Colorado Springs. The first issues 
 a daily and a weekly edition, at $10.00 and $2.00 per year. 
 
FARMING JOUKNALS. 185 
 
 The second is a weekly only, at $1.50 per annum. These 
 represent the southern slope of the Divide, Monument, 
 and Fontaine-qui-Bouille Valleys, as well as the famous 
 watering town of Manitou, the Saratoga of the Eocky 
 Mountains. 
 
 The Arkansas Valley is well represented in journalism. 
 Bent Oouuty, on the extreme east, has at West Las An- 
 imas, " The Leader," representing the stock and agri- 
 cultural interests of the county, and of South-eastern 
 Colorado. $2.00 per annum. At Pueblo, the next 
 county west, "The Chieftain " issues a daily edition at 
 $10.00, and a mammoth weekly, at $3.00 per annum. 
 " The Commercial Standard," weekly, $2.00 per year, is 
 also published here. These are published in the old 
 town, as it is called. In South Pueblo, " The News " is 
 published daily, at $10.00 per year. These represent 
 the interests of the Arkansas Valley and its tributaries, 
 the St. Charles, Huerfano, and Apishpa Creeks. 
 
 Fremont County has, at Canon City, " The Eecord," 
 and " The Eeporter," weekly, at $3.00 per year. Among 
 the tributaries of the Arkansas, in this county, are Cur- 
 rant, Grape, Cottonwood, and Oil Creeks. Florence, the 
 great fruit-growing section is in this district. 
 
 Custer County has, at Eosita, " The Sierra Journal," 
 weekly, at $2. 00 per annum. Wet Mountain Valley, with 
 its extensiye meadow lands, lies in this county. 
 
 Still following up the Arkansas, at Buena Vista, in 
 ChaSee County, is published " The Times," and " The 
 Herald," each weekly, at $3.00 per annum. Though 
 mining industries flourish in this vicinity as well as at 
 Eosita, there is considerable farming done in the neigh- 
 borhood, warranting their being included in this list. 
 
 Las Animas County, in the extreme south-eastern part 
 of the State, has, at Trinidad, on the Purgatoire Eiver, 
 two daily journals, "The Times," and "The News," 
 each issuing a weekly also; the first at $10.00 per year, 
 
J 86 COLOEADO AS AST AGEICTTLTUEAL STATE. 
 
 the last at $1.00 per year. The Purgatoire Valley, and 
 the Apishpa, are in this county, and in each farming is 
 a permanent industry, though the stock interests are 
 very large. 
 
 Crossing the Sangre de Christo Pass, in Costilla 
 County, there is no point of sufficient prominence for a 
 newspaper. In Sagauche County, at Sagauche, "The 
 Chronicle" is published weekly, at $3.00 per annum. 
 It is the exponent of the upper part of San Luis Park, 
 including Sagauche and San Luis Valleys, with their 
 numerous tributaries. 
 
 The upper end of the Eio Grande Valley has, at Del 
 Norte, two weekly journals devoted to its interests, in 
 "The Prospector," at $3.00 per annum; and "The 
 Cactus," at the same price. State lands, unoccupied, 
 abound in this section; but the agricultural interests are 
 also large. 
 
 Further down, on the Rio Grande River, in Conejos 
 County, is published "The Independent," at Alamosa, 
 $3.00 per year. The Conejos, La Jara, Alamosa, and 
 other tributaries to the Rio Grande, course through this 
 section. 
 
 La Plata County, in the south-west comer of the 
 State, has in it such valleys as Florida, Hermosa, Los 
 Pinos, Dolores, the Animas, and others, and at Durango, 
 " The Record " is published daily and weekly. The lat- 
 ter is a mammoth eight-page sheet, at $3.00, giving gen- 
 eral agricultural information of the charming valleys in 
 its vicinity. 
 
 In Gunnison County, on the lands of the late Ute Res- 
 ervation, at Montrose, is published " The Messenger," 
 an exponent of the wonderful resouraes of the Uncom- 
 pahgre Valley, $3.00 per annum. 
 
 To the foregoing list might be added a number of pa- 
 pers, especially those published in what is known as the 
 San Juan country, which give farming itenis, fiom their 
 
lAEMING JOURNALS. 187 
 
 neighborhood. But as these points are not strictly agri- 
 cultural centers the papers referred to cannot properly 
 he included in our list. Those given, sho\^ conclusive- 
 ly that the farming population of Colorado is also a 
 reading one, and can safely challenge comparison with 
 towns in the East, and communities that count their age 
 by scores of years, while of these but few can show the be- 
 ginning of a second decade. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CATTLE AND SHEEP. 
 
 A single chapter devoted to the cattle and sheep inter- 
 ests of Colorado must suffice, since these industries, 
 though indirectly belonging to the economies of the farm, 
 in this State are distinct and separate from agriculture. 
 There are about one million head of cattle, with a value 
 of at least fifteen million dollars, shov?ing that the busi- 
 ness must be extensive. The mildness of the climate, 
 the vast grazing grounds on the plains, the ranges in the 
 mountain parks and valleys, all tend to make cattle 
 growing profitable as ■well as pleasant. It is said that 
 all the good ranges are occupied, and this is probably 
 true of the eastern side of the State, of the Wet Moun- 
 tain Valley, and perhaps San Luis Park. But in the 
 vast territory comprised in North Park, and the country 
 beyond the main range in "Western Colorado, through 
 which the Grand and other streams course, there is much 
 vacant territory, to be eventually occupied by cattle. 
 
 Wherever water can be obtained, a ranche and a range 
 beyond it are apt to be found, in all the gently undulat- 
 ing prairie land stretching eastward from the foot-hills to 
 the boundary line of the State. 
 
 Concerning the grasses of the plains, they are of 
 three kinds: the Gramma grass, growing about ten 
 inches high, in a single round stock, with two heads to 
 it. Then comes the Buffalo grass, growing about four 
 inches high, which is curly in its character, and lies 
 close to the ground. Then Bunch grass, which keeps 
 (188) 
 
CATTLE AND SHEEP. 189 
 
 green at the roots nearly all winter. On these, cattle 
 and sheep — unless the winter season is extraordinarily 
 severe — subsist all the year round. The Loco Weed, for 
 whose eradication a State bounty is provided by statute, 
 is somewhat troublesome in early spring, it being the 
 first to put forth the green leaves so eagerly sought for. 
 
 In Northern Colorado, Weld and Arapahoe are coun- 
 ties in which cattle predominate. South of the Divide, 
 Bent, Las Animas, Elbert, and Pueblo counties return 
 the largest number. Weld, Larimer, and Arapahoe 
 also sustain large sheep interests. Southern Colorado, 
 in which the largest number are kept seems to be 
 best suited to cattle. Of late years, improved stock, 
 both of cattle and sheep, have been introduced. No one 
 special breed can be named. Herefords, Shorthorns, 
 Devons, Jerseys, each have their champions who believe 
 their favorite breed to be the one best adapted to the 
 country. But the fact is, all do well, and amply repay 
 investments made in them. 
 
 There exists in the State a Board of Cattle Inspectors, 
 created by law. Two Stock Associations are in existence, 
 one with headquarters at Denver, the other at Pueblo, 
 Each hold annual sessions for the discussion of mutual 
 interests. There are sixteen "round-up" districts, gov- 
 erned by well-defined rules and regulations. In the 
 spring occurs the ' ' round-up," when all the cattle spread 
 over the various grazing tracts of country are drawn to- 
 gether in one herd and, with their increase, separated 
 and taken to the ranges occupied by the different owners. 
 Herds of improved cattle sell at from fifteen dollars to 
 twenty-five dollars per head, according to grade. The best 
 way to get into the business in Eastern and Southern Col- 
 orado, is to buy a ranche, a range, and a herd at one time. 
 
 Tlie methods and profits of Cattle Eaising in Colorado 
 may be grouped together as follows, and are gathered 
 from reliable sources: 
 
190 COLORADO AS Alf AGKICULTTTEAL STATE. 
 
 To arrive at a clearer understanding of the method of 
 stock raising it will be well to consider briefly the three 
 systems of running cattle now in vogue. 
 
 First — Loose herding. This is the system of the Texas 
 frontier, and is generally practised by stock raisers who 
 have emigrated from that State. The cattle are turn- 
 ed loose on the range, with those of other owners, and 
 a sufficient number of men are employed to guard the 
 outskirts of the range. No attempt at an actual count 
 of the cattle is made from year to year, but the owner 
 arrives at the probable increase by the number of calves 
 he brands at the annual "rounding-up " of all the cattle 
 on the range in the spring, and at the "roun ding-up" of 
 beef cattle in the fall. It is claimed that cattle thrive 
 better in this way, and the cost of managing them by 
 such a system is small; but the loss by straying and steal- 
 ing is not light, and to Eastern men, at least, it would 
 be very unsatisfactory. 
 
 Second — Close herding. This system provides a suffi- 
 cient number of men and horses to keep a given number 
 of cattle within certain boundaries, and to keep an accu- 
 rate account of them. It is the method adopted by 
 many stock raisers having small herds, who came to the 
 State from the Middle and Western States, and who have 
 in large part preferred to run a bettef class of cattle, and 
 occupy less range. The expenses are comparatively light; 
 two men at a salary of thirty dollars a month, each, with 
 six or eight ponies, can profitably manage five hundred 
 head of cattle. 
 
 Third — Wire-fence enclosures. This system, now be- 
 ing introduced quite extensively, provides a wire-fenced 
 enclosure for the herd, thus keeping the cattle within 
 fixed boundaries, and dispensing with the service of sev- 
 eral employes in the management of a large herd. While 
 each of the two first-mentioned systems has its peculiar 
 advantages, it is believed that the wire-fence plan will 
 
CATTLE AND SHEEP. 191 
 
 ultimately become the most popular, and it is upon this 
 basis tliat the following tabulated statement has been 
 made. By it, one man, irith three horses, and the as- 
 sistance of several extra hands at the spring branding — 
 which each system requires — can care for five hundred 
 head of cattle. But against economy in management 
 wo must take into account the interest on the money re- 
 quired to build the necessary length of fence, calculat- 
 ing ten acres to the animal, and the cost of the fence at 
 one hundred and forty dollars per mile. 
 
 -€n the following table a mixed herd of five hundred 
 head of cattle of different ages has been taken as the 
 basis of calculating, experience having shown such a herd 
 to be, taking everything into consideration, the best in- 
 vestment. The stock raiser in this way receives a more 
 immediate return on his capital, not having so long to 
 wait lor the growth of marketable steers — usually three- 
 year-olds, past — as where all cows are chosen for a com- 
 mencement. Aside from this, it is more difficult and 
 expensive to purchase a herd composed exclusively of one 
 class. 
 
 Let us say, the stock raiser makes a purchase in Sep- 
 tember of a herd composed exclusively of one class. 
 
 CAPITAL INVESTED IN STOCK. 
 
 150 young cows, and calves, @ S15 $2,250 00 
 
 100 two-year-old heifers, @ $12 1,200 00 
 
 100 two-year-old steers, @ 812 1,300 00 
 
 75 yearling heifers, @ $7... 535 00 
 
 75 yearling steers, @ $7 5:5 00 
 
 10 high-grade bulls, @ 75 750 00 
 
 Total for herd $6,450 00 
 
 CAPITAL INVESTED IN EANCHE, ETC. 
 
 Seventeen miles of wire fence, enclosing, approxi- 
 mately, ten thousand acres '. $3,380 00 
 
 Kanche, corrals, etc S50 00 
 
 Horses and equipments £50 00 
 
 Total $3,880 00 
 
192 
 
 COLOKADO AS AN AGEIOULTTJKAL STATE. 
 
 
 
 SnMMAKT 
 
 OF iOCOIJlfT rOB ITVE TEABS. 
 
 
 Year. 
 
 Stock. 
 
 YdLue. 
 
 Sales, Three-year-old Steers. 
 
 Expenses. 
 
 B-k Acc't. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 530 
 
 655 
 
 852 
 
 1,063 
 
 1,321 
 
 % 7,140 00 
 
 8,435 00 
 
 11,200 00 
 
 14,630 00 
 
 18,477 50 
 
 100 @ $18 00.... $1,800 
 
 75 @ 18 00.... 1,350 
 
 60 © 18 00.... 1,080 
 
 100 @ 23 50.... 2,250 
 
 130 @ 22 50.... 2,925 
 
 % 680 00 
 
 750 00 
 
 850 00 
 
 1,100 00 
 
 1,600 00 
 
 $1,120 00 
 
 600 00 
 
 i:30 00 
 
 1,150 00 
 
 1,435 00 
 
 Total bank account $4,.525 00 
 
 Value of stock $18,47r 50 
 
 Bank account .'... 4,525 00 
 
 Total $.23,002 50 
 
 Capital invested $3,450 00 
 
 Profit in five years $16,552 50 
 
 In the aboTe table the increase of cattle has been reck- 
 oned at eighty-fiye per cent., allowing five per cent, of 
 loss from natural causes, making a net increase of eighty 
 per cent. ; but on the grown cattle no estimate of loss has 
 been made. There would be loss, doubtless, but in the 
 wire-fence enclosure this would be entirely from natural 
 causes, and very light. The estimate of eighty per cent. 
 net increase of young cattle is, in this country, as all 
 stockmen well know, ra,ther below the average, and as it 
 would tend to complicate the tables to account for this 
 slight loss on the grown stock, it has seemed best to work 
 them out as above, thus making them simple, and as accu- 
 rate as it is possible for such an estimate to be. The im- 
 provement of the stock bred from fine bulls has been 
 reckoned at twenty-five per cent. In estimating expenses 
 the services of one man at forty dollars a month, with 
 several extra hands to assist in branding, etc. , have been 
 taken into account, together with the cost of feed for 
 the horses and keeping up the requisite number of bulls. 
 No allowance has been made for rent of laud, as at the 
 present time there is no trouble in securing a good range 
 on the frontier for a nominal sum. In summing up at 
 the end of five years, the cost of the fence, ranche, and 
 corral, are valued as they were at the outset. 
 
CATTLE AND SHEEP. 193 
 
 Prom this table, then, it will be readily seen that start- 
 ing with a capital of ten thousand dollars, a man can 
 easily pay his running expenses for the first five years, 
 leaving a fair balance in the bank. At the end of that 
 time the herd will have nearly trebled in value, and from 
 that time on, the profits from the sale of three-year-old 
 steers will rapidly increase. 
 
 That there is "money in sheep," goes without question 
 in Colorado. Wlien one-year-old lambs average four 
 pounds, ewes five to six, and rams from twelve to fifteen 
 pounds of wool, worth from fifteen to twenty cents, it 
 will be readily seen that there is a large margin for 
 profit, provided proper care is taken. Twelve years ago, 
 but few sheep were in the State. Since that time the 
 growth of this industry has been rapid. Then perhaps 
 fifteen thousand were owned. Now the number nears 
 two millions. Thorough-bred Merinos are annually 
 brought in, finding ready sale. The yearly wool clip 
 exceeds seven million pounds, having a value of nearly 
 one million and a half dollars. 
 
 The following estimate of outlay and income in sheep 
 farming for a period of three years will convey some idea 
 of the ease with which capital doubles itself. 
 
 OUTLAY. 
 
 1000 ewes @ $3 $3,000 
 
 35 rams @ $30 750 
 
 Wagons, teamB, ranche, herders, provisions 1,500 
 
 Cost of shearing;, extras, etc 250 
 
 Expenses of second year 1,.500 
 
 Expenses of third year 3,000 
 
 $9,000 
 
 INCOME. 
 
 First 7tar. Wool 5,000 pounds @ 20 cents $1,000 
 
 Increase in flock 750 @ $1.50 1,135 
 
 Sicmd Tear. Wool 7,500 pounds @ 20 cents 1.500 
 
 Increase in flock 1,000 @ $1.50 1,500 
 
 Third Tear. Wool 13,000 pounds @ 20 cents 3,400 
 
 Increase in flock 2,000 3,000 
 
 $10,525 
 
 Original investment 4,000 
 
 $14,535 
 
 ■7 
 
194 COLORADO AS AN AQEICULTtTEAL STATE. 
 
 I This is not a bad exhibit. The next two years the 
 profits increase very ^'^ast. There are some who claim 
 that two hundred per cent, profit can be made. This 
 may be true, in isolated cases, but not as a rule. Lately, 
 in an Eastern magazine, an article on Sheep Husban- 
 dly appeared, based, as asserted, upon actual facts, 
 gathered by the writer from those directly engaged in 
 the business, in which, on a basis of two thousand ewes 
 and sixty rams, with the outfit and provisions making 
 the investment fourteen thousand dollars, the money 
 was doubled in three years. But it is better not to be 
 too sanguine of making such profits. If the origi- 
 nal investment is doubled at the end of the fifth year, it 
 is a safe and profitable industry. There are bad seasons, 
 late springs, sudden snow storms that take the flock un- 
 awares, and serious loss ensues. 
 
 A writer on sheep husbandry in Colorado gives the 
 following sound advice to those who propose adopting 
 this pursuit: "Those who enter this business are ad- 
 vised to act cautiously, at first. It is better to learn the 
 ways of the country and the methods pursued of caring 
 for sheep, requisite for success, from some who are in the 
 business. A year's apprenticeship is a wise move on the 
 part of the man who intends keeping sheep. The knowl- 
 edge thus gained will be of incalculable value. A careful 
 selection of land for a range is necessary; some have two 
 ranges — one for summer on the plains, and one for win- 
 ter within the shelter of the foot-hills. A close atten- 
 tion to the business in all its minor details, will enable 
 even those who are novices to build up a respectable for- 
 tune in a very few years by sheep raising." 
 
 In a recent number of the "American Agricul- 
 turist," there was published so excellent a descrip- 
 tive account of a Colorado Sheep Eanche in Eastern 
 Colorado, from the pen of David W. Judd, Esq., 
 that I give it in this connection as being better 
 
CATTLE AND SHEEP. 195 
 
 than anything I can write to convey a correct impres- 
 sion of the subect: 
 
 Leaving Kiowa, a Kansas and Pacific railway station, 
 thirty-one miles east of Denver, we drove eight miles over 
 the plains in a buck-board wagon, reaching C. and W. and 
 G. Raymond's well-known ranche at the close of a lovely 
 October day. We were warmly welcomed by one of the 
 three proprietors and his young wife, who, having finished 
 her school days in New York, had come two thousand miles 
 to grace a ranchman's' home. There is a novelty and 
 charm about this life which attract very many from the 
 older States, and one is constantly discovering in the rough 
 herder's garb men of education and culture. They are fond 
 of the freedom and exhilaration of this mode of existence, 
 which also promises health, wealth, and adventure. Very 
 many of the herders or hired men are fresh from college; 
 youths who are serving their apprenticeship in the occu- 
 pation of sheep-raising. Others come here from the 
 Eastern and Middle States to engage in mining opera- 
 tions. They are unsuccessful, become straightened for 
 money, and take to herding because herders are in de- 
 mand. Their wages vary from fifteen to thirty dollars a 
 month, and board, according to capacity and experience. 
 Many not only remain with their sheep during the day, 
 but sleep near them in the corrals at night, as a protec- 
 tion against wolves. On three successive nights since we 
 have been here, these wolves have made a descent upon 
 the corral, killing several lambs. In the early days of 
 Colorado sheep-raising, the herders were accustomed to 
 camp with their flocks wherever night overtook them. 
 This, however, was found to be a dangerous practice, in- 
 asmuch as the sudden storms of the Colorado plains 
 would blind and scatter the sheep, and often lead to 
 great loss. Sheep invariably go before a storm. Some- 
 times they can not be checked, but will push on to cer- 
 tain destruction. We recall one instance where three 
 
CATTLE AND SHEEP. 197 
 
 thousand sheep in Southern Colorado, oTertaken at night 
 by a sudden storm, blindly followed their leader over a 
 precipice, and perished in the waters below, not one 
 escaping. Now the ranchmen have their sheep corralled 
 at sunset, instead of keeping them out on the plains. In 
 the engraving the sheep are represented as coming in for 
 the night. Though generally manifesting but little in- 
 telligence, they invariably display much sagacity in wend- 
 ing their way toward the corral, which they know will 
 afford them protection against wolves, and keep them 
 warm and comfortable. The sheep soon come to know 
 the herders, and manifest as much affection for them as 
 sheep are capable of. It is not well, however, to have 
 them become too tame, because they hang back and do 
 not drive well. The thrifty owner has his sheep out of 
 the corral and upon the plains by daylight. They feed 
 until about ten o'clock, then " bunch up," or form a 
 compact mass, until four o'clock, and from then they 
 feed until driven in at dark. They eat gramma, buffalo, 
 wire, and bunch grass. Wild hay is cut and stacked for 
 feeding in winter, so that they may not want for food 
 should there be a heavy fall of snow. The herders gen- 
 erally have horses of their own, which subsist on prairie 
 grass, are very much attached to their owners, and be- 
 come wonderfully skilled in managing sheep. Give them 
 the rein and they will gather in and keep the flock to- 
 gether with as much dexterity as the shepherd's dog who 
 accompanies them. The dog is an essential part of the 
 "outfit," being a companion to bis owner, and exercising 
 a constant vigilance for the safety of the flock. Herder, 
 horse, dog, and sheep, together make a very picturesque 
 appearance as they move over the plains. 
 
 The flocks, comprising Mexican sheep and their in- 
 crease from Merino rams, generally number from one 
 thousand to three thousand. During the winter the lar- 
 ger flocks are generally divided in order to insure- better 
 
198 COLOBADO AS AN AGEICFLTUBAL STATE. 
 
 feeding aad better protection. One herder can readily 
 manage two thousand fiye hundred sheep, but he has to 
 hare his wits about him constantly. The leader of the 
 flock is generally a Mexican goat, whose prowess ' is rec- 
 ognized by the whole herd, and whose prominent figure 
 enables him to be easily seen both by the sheep and the 
 herder. 
 
 The Mexican sheep, as a general thing, are purchased 
 about the first of October. The rams are turned in with 
 them in December, and the lambing season begins 
 about the middle of May. Shearing begins about the 
 first of June. The Mexican sheep shear from two 
 to four pounds, and improved sheep from four to eight 
 pounds. Of course there are exceptions; for example: — 
 The Willard Bros., at their shearing-match, last year, 
 clipped thirty-two and one-half pounds of wool from one 
 Vermont ram, which brought twenty cents a pound. In 
 shearing sheep, great care must be exercised not to begin 
 too early, on account of late storms. The shearers are 
 paid from five to eight cents a sheep for their work. One 
 man can shear from twenty to seventy sheep in a day. 
 Mexican wool brought, last year, from sixteen to twenty 
 cents a pound (prices are much less this year), according 
 to the absence or presence of "kemp," a hairy, valueless 
 substance. As sheep improve, the quantity of kemp 
 gradually diminishes. The fleece of the native Mexican 
 sheep is a coarse carpet wool, but as the flocks are im- 
 proved by the introduction of Merino rams, the quality 
 of the wool is improved, until many of the ranchmen 
 now claim that it is fully as good as that grown in tbe 
 Eastern States. They further maintain that when their 
 improved sheep become disassociated in the public mind 
 from the native Mexicans, their wool will justly com- 
 mand as good a price as is paid for Eastern fleece. Ow- 
 ing to the scarcity of water, sheep are rarely washed in 
 Colorado, and it is stated that many tons of dirt are an- 
 
CATTLE AKD SHEEP. 199 
 
 nually shipped east in the Colorado fleece. TJntil re- 
 cently, the ranchmen disposed of their wool to local deal- 
 ers and agents. Two years ago they began to consign it 
 to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, and other 
 Eastern houses. The main disease among the sheep is 
 scab, which is due, like the itch in man, to a minute 
 mite, and may be communicated from one animal to an- 
 other. The treatment is, to dip the sheep in some liquid 
 that will destroy the parasite; the dipping apparatus 
 costing from fifty dollars to one hundred dollars. The- 
 principal dip is composed of tobacco, sulphur, and some- 
 times arsenic and soap. Three men can dip twenty-five 
 hundred sheep a day. Scab does not affect the wool 
 itself, but causes the sheep to lose wool, often to a consid- 
 erable extent. 
 
 While sheep-raising presents so many attractions, it is 
 no child's play, as many coming here from the East learn 
 to their sorrow. Drones cannot succeed in this better 
 than in any other business. Money, muscle, and brains 
 are required to achieve success, and the idea that owners 
 can live m the East, and safely trust their flocks to the 
 management of others here, has been rudely dispelled. 
 One has got to be upon the ground, and superintend 
 his own ranching operations, if he expects to prosper. 
 Upon coming to Colorado, to engage in sheep-raising, a 
 man should hire himself out as a herder, in order to learn 
 the details. No man should embark in the business, 
 until he has had some experience. He should be here 
 during the three seasons, that is: lambing, shearing, and 
 diijping. At the end of that time he will have a very fair 
 insight into the workings, although it would be advisa- 
 ble for him to pass a winter here, and have an experience 
 with one of the heavy storms. He must not take the ad- 
 vice of any one man, but form his judgment after con- 
 versing with various sheep-raisers. He must expect to 
 invest not merely money, but his time and brains. He 
 
200 COLOKADO AS AK AGKICULTUEAJ. STATE. 
 
 must expect to give his personal attention to the business, 
 not simply for one or two years, but for fire or ten years, 
 until he gets his herd sufficiently well graded, to bring 
 in a fair income from wool. He will find the stories of 
 ranchmen to differ in many particulars. Two years ago 
 five thousand dollars was regarded as the usual amount 
 required in purchasing a complete sheep " outfit," — that 
 is — a ranche, horses, dog, sheep, and rams. He should 
 start with about one thousand Mexican sheep, which he 
 can purchase of dealers at Denver, and almost anywhere 
 else. They sold two years ago for two dollars to two 
 and one-half dollars each. They can be purchased this 
 autumn, for from ninety cents to one dollar and fifty 
 cents each. The Vermont rams wiU cost him from 
 twenty to fifty dollars apiece. There should be one ram 
 for every fifty ewes. 
 
 He will not be required to pay anything for his land, 
 which belongs to the Government. Generally the build- 
 ings and ranche franchise can be purchased of some one, 
 who, for various reasons, wishes to make a change. If 
 the new comer locates on a new range, he will have to 
 build a dug-out or an adobe house, and must have a 
 wagon, a span of horses, and a shepherd dog. The cor- 
 ral, with accompanying shed, should be built as soon as 
 possible. If he has his family with him, he should pur- 
 chase the needed household furniture here. The rates 
 of freight are so high, that as few effects as possible 
 should be brought from the East. He should employ a 
 herder to watch the fiocks, while he himself keeps close 
 guard over the rams. He must make up his mind to be 
 absent from the ranche only a few hours at a time during 
 any season. 
 
 In selecting a range, wood and water are the great es- 
 sentials. It is for this reason that the ranches through 
 Colorado and the other "Western States and Territories 
 are generally located along the streams and river bottoms. 
 
CATTLE AND SHEEP. 301 
 
 Water-spouts are of rare" occurrence, but they are one 
 of the things which a new-comer should have in view 
 when locating his ranche. The little grove of trees, seen 
 in the engraving, are cotton-wood. This is the only- 
 thrifty tree that grows spontaneously on the plains. In 
 addition to the wood which they supply, these cotton- 
 wood groves afEord a protection from the snow, and break 
 the force of storms. The buildings here are made of 
 adobe, viz., sun-baked mud. They are substantial, com- 
 fortable, and supply the place of frame houses, which 
 are expensive, owing to the high price of timber. The 
 dug-out in the background, was the original home of the 
 "founder " of the ranche. It is not an uncommon thing 
 to find a family recently from the Bast, temporarily oc- 
 cupying a dug-out, and having with them a piano and 
 other evidences of culture and refinement. 
 
CHAPTEK XXL 
 
 THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF THE STATE. 
 
 Not the least important factor in the development of 
 the agricultural resources of Colorado, has been the net- 
 ■ffork of railway lines crossing the country and giving 
 easy communication to the principal markets, as well as 
 to points touched by main trunk lines running east and 
 west. When I first settled in Colorado, in 1870, its cap- 
 ital was isolated from the civilized world. The Union 
 Pacific system left it one hundred miles to the south. 
 The Kansas Pacific had but just reached the eastern line, 
 though pointed toward Denver. A road was in course 
 of construction from Cheyenne on the Union Pacific 
 railway down to Denver, but only fifty miles were in op- 
 eration. South of Denver, the Denver and Rio Grande 
 railway was just beginning to feel its way across the Di- 
 vide, separating the South Platte and Arkansas Valleys. 
 
 Now — how diEEerent the stuation. 
 
 Beginning in Northern Colorado, we find the Colorado 
 branches of the Union Pacific railway system reaching 
 all the farming valleys, penetrating into the foot-hills, 
 up to the mining districts, and now making its way over 
 the great Continental Divide, to the western border. 
 There is no valley of any size, or country town of any 
 importance, that it does not reach. Fort Collins, Love- 
 land, Longmont, Boulder, Erie, Evans, Greeley, Eaton, 
 the main farming centers of "Weld, Larimer, and Boulder 
 Counties, are on the connecting lines that give an outlet 
 to markets south, north, east, and west. 
 
 The Julesburg branch, as it is called, enters Colorado 
 at the extreme north-east corner of Weld County, and 
 (302) 
 
THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF THE STATE. 203 
 
 follows the course of the South Platte, all the way to 
 Denver. Hitherto this large valley, with an abundance 
 of meadow lands and arable areas, was so distant from 
 market faeiUties as to be practically useless and without 
 value; but within the last two years there has been a 
 wonderful change, and all along its course new towns and 
 farming settlements are being established on Government, 
 Eailroad, and State lands. The Colorado Central branch 
 skirts the foot-hills from Golden, in Jefferson County, 
 north; traversing the farming districts in Boulder, and 
 Larimer Counties, crossing the valleys of the Boulder, 
 St. Vrain, Big Thompson, and Cache-la-Poudre, on its 
 way to Cheyenne, The Denver Pacific branch, starting 
 from Denver, goes further out upon the plains; follows 
 the course of the South Platte Eiver to Evans, where it 
 leaves it, crossing the Cache-la-Poudre at Greeley, passes 
 the new town of Eaton, and thence runs north to Chey- 
 enne. By either of these branches, Cheyenne and the 
 eastern and western markets on the main line of the road 
 are reached. By the Kansas Pacific branch, the market 
 of Kansas City is within reach. This road is at present 
 used more for cattle than the cereals, but the day may 
 come, when it will be found serviceable for the transpor- 
 tation of surplus grain. 
 
 The domain of the Denver and Rio Grande railway is 
 in Southern and South-western Colorado. The Baby 
 Eoad, as it was termed in 1871, has become a Giant in 
 1882. It is not yet full grown. It is a study, even to 
 glance at its completed lines and spurs, while those in 
 course of construction and in contemplation, are so nu- 
 merous as to cause wonder. From Denver to Durango, in 
 the farthest comer of the State, in the south-west, it pen- 
 etrates, reaching the fair valleys of La Plata County, 
 through rocky canons and over mountain passes, that 
 once it seemed impossible to cross, even by trail. The 
 fair valley of the Fontaine- qui-bouille, on the banks of 
 
204 COLOBADO AS ANT AGBICULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 which the beautiful City of Colorado Springs is located, 
 is traversed by the main line.. From Pueblo, west, the 
 course of the Ark^^nsas EiTer is followed, through fertile 
 lands and grass-grown vales, until Buena Vista is reached. 
 Wet Mountain Valley is reached by a branch road from 
 Canon City. The main line, crossing the Sangre de 
 Christo range at La Veta Pass, dips down into the 
 splendid San Luis Park, and at Alamosa touches the 
 Eio Grande del Norte; at this point a branch goes up the 
 valley to the very edge of the Continental Divide, pass- 
 ing Lariat, and Del Norte. The main line, turning 
 south at Alamosa, goes down to the border line of New 
 Mexico, thence westward, crossing the pleasant valleys 
 of the San Juan, Piedra, Florida, Las Animas, going up 
 this last-named stream until it reaches Silverton, in the 
 great silvery San Juan country. The Utah Division, 
 from Salida, crosses Marshall Pass, and then descends 
 into the valleys of the Uncompahgre, Gunnison, and 
 Grand Rivers, passing through what has been not in- 
 aptly termed the New Colorado, where at least half a 
 million acres of arable land, more than bountifully sup- 
 plied with water for irrigating purposes, await the com- 
 ing of those who shall make an apparent wilderness bloom 
 and blossom as the rose, and where in the near future, 
 thousands of happy homes are to be founded, and the 
 material wealth of the State greatly advanced by the 
 yearly products of a soil capable of raising everything in 
 the line of vegetables, fruits, and cereals. From this 
 point the road goes on to Utah, reaching Salt Lake City. 
 It will be seen by the foregoing, how extensive is the 
 operating system of this railway, and it can well be un- 
 derstood what efEect it has upon valley lands far in the 
 interior, that were almost valueless on account of isola- 
 tion from markets before its coming. As has been re- 
 marked by a writer on Farmers and Railroads, " without 
 railroads we find cheap land, cheap produce, and cheap 
 
THE BAILWA.Y SYSTEM OF THE STATE. 305 
 
 labor; with them we find a remarkable and almost imme- 
 diate improvement in all directions." Nowhere is this 
 more noticeable than in Colorado. 
 
 The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad traverses 
 the south-eastern portion of the State, principally in 
 Bent, Pueblo, and Las Animas Counties. From the State 
 line it follows the fertile valley of the Arkansas to La 
 Junta, where the main line branches to the south on its 
 way to Santa Pe, New Mexico, passing up Purgatoire 
 Valley, to the coal section about Trinidad. A branch 
 continues west from La Junta, still following the course 
 of the Arkansas, until Pueblo, the metropolis of South- 
 ern Colorado, is reached. Prom this point a third rail on 
 the Denver and Eio Grande railway enables it to reach 
 Denver, without transfer of passengers or freight. By 
 this line the farmers of south-eastern Colorado reach the 
 markets of New Mexico. 
 
 The extension of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 
 road from its terminus at the Missouri River, by the con- 
 struction of the Burlington and Missouri Eiver railway 
 in Nebraska, from the river direct to Denver, opens 
 communication with more distant markets. The road 
 enters Colorado in Arapahoe County, follows up the 
 course of the Republican River, enters Weld County, 
 touching the South Platte River and following its course 
 up to Denver. This opens up to market a vast region, 
 hitherto used only as grazing ground for cattle. At 
 present but few settlements are on its line; at Akron, 
 one of its stations, the National Government is experi- 
 menting in sinking an artesian well. If successful, it 
 will change the condition of the north-eastern part of 
 Colorado very materially. On the Republican, as well as 
 on the South Platte, on the line of this road, the State 
 owns large tracts of land that can be leased or purchased 
 (conditional upon constructing irrigating canals) by in- 
 dividuals or corporations. Per Colorado people this road 
 
206 COLOKADO AS AK AGBICULTUJRAL STATE. 
 
 has one point of vantage. When the time comes, if ever 
 it should, for farmers to seek distant markets for their 
 surplus produce, it presents the Chicago market, one 
 thousand and fifty-three miles away, to be reached with- 
 out breaking bulk. At present this advantage accrues 
 to passenger travel. 
 
 The Denver and New Orleans railroad, lately begun, 
 with its line at present only operated to Pueblo, has be- 
 fore it an important future, reaching to the far South 
 with New Orleans as its objective point. It is intended 
 to build this road to the Canadian Eiver, where it will con- 
 nect with one already nearly finished, having its starting 
 point at New Orleans. On its way to the Canadian 
 Kiver, this line of railway will touch the valley of the 
 Purgatoire, and the town of Trinidad, and possibly ex- 
 tend a branch up the valley west, through Stonewall 
 Valley and the passes beyond, reaching the mining dis- 
 tricts located west of the Spanish Peaks. At present it 
 gives an outlet to the produce raised in the eastern sec- 
 tion of the Divide, in Elbert, and Douglas Counties; 
 points that have hitherto been lacking in facilities for 
 the convenient transportation of crops. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing that the railway sys- 
 tem of Colorado has its importance to farmers, as well as 
 to merchants and miners. There are some who cry down 
 railroads and consider them a disadvantage to the country. 
 But the more intelligent portion of the people every- 
 where are beginning to realize that they confer vast ben- 
 eQts upon the country at large. But for the great Trans- 
 Continental railway, Colorado might still have been a 
 terra incognita to the East. But for the Union Pacific 
 ' railway of branch lines in Northern, and the Denver and 
 Eio Grande railway in its Southern borders, Colorado 
 might have been known to day only as a Territory, in- 
 stead of one of the most promising and prosperous States 
 of the American Union. 
 
OHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 GARDEN CULTURE BY IRRKJATIOIT. 
 
 As may well be supposed, where all the cereals and 
 small fruits grow to perfection, the culture of vegetables 
 becomes an industry, giving employment to a large num- 
 ber of gardeners. Especially is this true in the neigh- 
 borhood of large towns and cities. Everything in the 
 line of vegetables grows to perfection; the quality is good, 
 the yield prolific, and the net returns to the grower very 
 satisfactory. Some of the worms and insects that have 
 become a pest in the Eastern States, have found their 
 way to Colorado, and made themselves troublesome to 
 the gardener. But, as yet, no serious complaint has been 
 made, and the per cent, of loss is small, hardly to be 
 noticed in the abundant yield. 
 
 Last year a canning establishment, located in Denver, 
 began canning tomatoes, and it is altogether probable 
 that this is the beginning of an industry that will, ere 
 long, furnish employment for a large number of gardeners. 
 
 As an account of the method of irrigating gardens may 
 be of interest, I append a paper upon the subject, which 
 appeared in the "American Garden," of New York, in 
 Nov., 1882. The paper being based on my own personal 
 experience, it will, I trust, give a clear idea of what many 
 erroneously suppose to be a diflBcult and laborious task: 
 
 Garden work and fruit culture in Colorado must be 
 
 planned to meet the requirements and conditions of its 
 
 peculiar climate, and as these include irrigation, it is 
 
 desirable that the land selected for a garden, or for a 
 
 207 
 
308 COLORADO AS AN AGBICDLTUEAL STATE. 
 
 fruit plantation, should be as level as possible, as more 
 or less additional expense and labor are involved on ir- 
 regular, or sloping ground. 
 
 Shadyside, the residence of the author, located about 
 two miles from the city of Denver, is a block of four 
 acres, having the good fortune to lie close to the maiu 
 irrigating canal that waters a strip of country about ten 
 miles long, and from one to three miles wide. Trees — 
 Cottonwood or lindens — border the south, west, and north, 
 making a complete shelter-belt, leaving the eastern side 
 with a full exposure to the sun. The house is set in a 
 grove of trees of ten years' growth. Over the eastern 
 half of the land there is a gentle slope to the west, while 
 the western half is fairly level. 
 
 The main canal, passing within two rods of the south- 
 east corner of the land, is tapped by a flume of wood, 
 laid level with tJie bottom of the canal, and passing 
 through the berme on the lower side of the canal; at 
 the end entering the canal there is a wooden head-gate, 
 made to lift, to allow the number of inches required, to 
 pass under it and through the flume; this head-gate can 
 be dropped down when water is not being used, shutting 
 it entirely ofE. Five inches of water is used during the 
 season at Shadyside; by this I mean the amount that 
 would pass through an orifice one inch deep and five 
 inches wide, or two inches deep and two and a half 
 inches wide, as the case may be. One inch is usually 
 considered sufficient to water one acre. 
 
 The heavy black lines represent the shallow laterals 
 running alongside the various beds in which the water 
 taken from the main canal flows, and which is tapped at 
 various points to meet the requirements of the occasion. 
 For instance: "Water is let into the garden at the south- 
 east corner, allowed to flow down the fence line until it 
 reaches plot 7, which is a bed of rhubarb, or pie-plant; 
 here, at a central point, a temporary check to the water 
 
GAEDBN CULTURE BX lEEIGATION. 
 
 209 
 
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 £&■ 
 
 36 
 
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 -90- 
 
 -/e- 
 
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 i3 
 
 zm^ 
 
 /a 
 
 I-.' 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ySbadffSlde^iyyleFwk, near J>enysKCbIo, Residence of y^.P<3Ai 
 
 ExpLAWATTOiTS.— 1. Hotise ; 2. Flower garden: S. Chicken run; 4. Bam; 5. 
 Chicken house ; 6. Cow corral: 7. Bhubarb bed; 8. Grape-vines; 9. ABparagus bed; 
 JO. Experimental garden; 11. Hay-stack ; 12. Water-melon patch— Bean-row border ; 
 Is. Musk-melon patch— Bean -row border; 14. Kitchen garden— vai iety of veg-eta- 
 bles; 15. Tomato natch : 16. Cucumber patch; 17. Rows of pole Benns ; 18. Turban 
 Sqnash bed; 19. Strawoerriea ; 20, Currants ; 31. Strawberries; 22. EpspherrleH; 
 38. Blackberries ; 24. Cauliflower and winter Cabbage ; 25. Onion patch ; 26, Currant 
 and Gooseberry plantation ; 27. Alfalfa strip. 
 
210 COLOEADO AS AN AQRICULTUBAL STATE. 
 
 is made by damming the channel; two or three shovel- 
 fuls of dirt are generally sufficient for this purpose. By 
 making an opening in the west bank of the lateral, at the 
 point indicated by < , the water, thus diverted, flows 
 into the rows of rhubarb, until enough is let in to fully 
 saturate the ground, say for half an hour, in which time 
 it will sink several inches in the sandy loam of which the 
 soil is composed. Then the temporary dam is removed, 
 the cut in the bank filled up, and the water allowed to 
 flow along until it reaches the patch of grape-vines, where 
 the same process is repeated; then to the bed of asparagus; 
 this, being larger, will require two or three openings, so 
 the dam is built at the farther corner of the bed, and these 
 openings made for the water to flow through into the rows. 
 Plots 7, 8, and 9 have young fruit trees growing in them — 
 apple, pear, cherry, etc. The water from this bed that 
 does not soak into the ground is allowed to flow through 
 a couple of small, wooden flumes set in the walk, into 
 the plot numbered 10, which is a sort of experimental 
 garden, where new and choice varieties of seeds are tested. 
 The ground here being perfectly level, the water will run 
 down a row and then run back in another row, until 
 several are filled. A furrow is run in each row; I gen- 
 erally use the Firefly plow and find it answers the purpose 
 very well. 
 
 When these beds are fully watered, the dam is removed 
 and the water allowed to turn to the west, along the plot 
 numbered 14. This is the kitchen garden, where all 
 kinds of vegetables are grown for home use, mainly in 
 rows. The plots 13 and 13 are melon patches, in hills, 
 with a border of wax beans banked up on the outer side, 
 so that the water can completely cover the space allotted 
 for melons. The plots 15 and 16 are tomato and cucum- 
 ber beds, also in hills. The rest of the plot is cultivated 
 and planted in rows. This last summer I had corn, 
 parsnips, carrots, beets, lettuce, radishes, peas, beans, 
 
GARDES' CULTDEB BY IKKIGATIOK. 211 
 
 nasturtiums, melons — musk and water, — turnips, red 
 cabbage. Savoy, kohl rabi, summer cabbage, onions, 
 chufas, peanuts, tomatoes, and cucumbers, growing in 
 this plot of ground, in abundant supply. 
 
 In irrigating this ground, a check, by damming, is 
 made about every rod, and eight or ten rows of water can 
 be seen running down the rows at the same time. The 
 furrow is run as close as possible on one side of the row 
 of vegetables, in order to allow the water to seep down 
 close to the roots of the growing plants. It takes but a 
 short time to fill these channels, and the shining currents 
 of water, glistening under a summer sun, are a beautiful 
 sight to see, aside from the usefulness of the mission 
 upon which they journey. 
 
 When the water has passed the rows and reached the 
 tomato and cucumber patches, it flows into zig-zag fur- 
 rows run by the "Firefly," so as to circle around each 
 hill. The water easily flows in them all, seeping and 
 spreading on each side, and penetrating the ground sev- 
 eral inches, until the beds are thoroughly saturated. 
 
 When this pleasant work is completed, the lateral run- 
 ning west is cut off and the water allowed to flow north 
 again, until it reaches the plot marked 17, where three 
 rows of bean-poles, about thirty in a row, show the Cran- 
 berry and Lima growing luxuriantly. Down these rows 
 it runs, flowing over into plot 18, where a patch of Tur- 
 ban squashes are growing. From this it falls into the 
 lateral running along the east line of plots marked 10, 
 30, aild 31. The first-named is a bed of Crescent Seed- 
 ling and Jucunda strawberries; number 30 has eight 
 rows of Ked Dutch currants, twenty-five in a row; num- 
 ber 31 is a bed of Wilson strawberries. All these are 
 grown in rows, and their irrigation is an easy task. 
 
 Now, as will be seen, the entire east half of the garden 
 has been well watered, about half a day being consumed 
 in the work. 
 
213 COLOEADO AS AN AGEICULTUKAL STATE. 
 
 We now come to the west half. The water is turned 
 from flowing into tho channel on the east side of the 
 garden, and allowed to run down a lateral outside of the 
 south fence fronting the house, until it reaches the far- 
 ther side of the drive-way and the corner of the flower 
 garden, where it flows into and out of one bed into an- 
 other, as shown in the map. These five beds have raised 
 walks about and between them, so that they are lower 
 than the surrounding surface and a system of flooding is 
 followed. A better plan, however, and one that will 
 probably be followed hereafter, is to attach a garden- 
 hose to the force-pump at the kitchen door, with a 
 sprinkler attached. But the flooding method was pur- 
 sued this last summer with good success. 
 
 Lying west of the flower garden is a newly made cur- 
 rant and gooseberry plantation : one thousand bushes of 
 the first, one hundred of the last. These are in rows of 
 twenty-five each, four feet apart. To irrigate these, the 
 volume of water is allowed to flow past the south end of 
 the flower garden, turning north at the corner of the 
 currant rows, and running along their eastern edge. 
 Here the water, dammed at convenient distances, fills up 
 furrows thrown up with a ten-inch plow, and flows off 
 into plot 37 — an afalfa bed. 
 
 When these are well watered, the dam is removed and 
 the current carried further north, where over a hun- 
 dred rows of seed onions are growing. Here the 
 ground is kept fairly level, though there is a slight 
 slope to the west. Eows are made eighteen inches apart, 
 and at every tenth or twelfth row, sectional dams are 
 made with earth, into which the water runs until it 
 flows into and fllls all the channels made in the rows; 
 then the first dam is removed and the process repeated, 
 section by section, until the bed is all irrigated, the sur- 
 plus water going into the afalfa patch. 
 
 Plot 34 contains rows of winter cauliflowers and cab- 
 
GARDEN CULTURE BY lEKiaATION". 213 
 
 bage, and takes the water next, the same method being 
 pursued. It then passes on until it reaches plot 33 and 
 22, where raspberry and blackberry bushes are set in 
 rows. As these are as yet young plants, the large space 
 of ground they occupy has been utilized by planting 
 cucumber pickles and squashes between them, in a line 
 with the bushes, so that the water, as it flows past, is 
 made to do double duty. 
 
 As has been noted, all the waste or overplus of water, 
 from 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26, flows into the strip of alfalfa 
 on the western side of the garden, which, from this 
 cause, generally gets moisture enough without any further 
 labor on the part of the gardener. 
 
 The time and labor involved in thus irrigating a plot 
 of four acres is neither long nor tiresome. It is more in 
 the nature of a pleasure. In one day a thorough satura- 
 tion of the ground, sufficient for a week, can be given. 
 The only implement required is a long-handled shovel, to 
 break and fill up banks, check laterals, and guide the 
 rapidly running water into the furrows provided for it. 
 Through the season some rainfalls may be counted on, 
 so that two or three weeks may pass without requiring 
 irrigation. 
 
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