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FARMS, FIELDS, AND GARDEN LANDS,

BY

WILLIAM E. PABOR.

ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF THE “COLORADO FARMER,’’ AUTHOR OF “ FRUIT CULTURE IN COLORADO,” ETC.

ILLUSTRATED.

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NEW YORE: oe ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 751 BROADWAY.

18883.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by the ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

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TO HON. JOHN 8S. STANGER, OF DENVER, : EDITOR OF THE ‘‘ COLORADO FARMER,”’ AND AN EARNEST ADVOCATE OF ALL THINGS PERTAINING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF COLORADO, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED, WITH SINCERE ESTEEM, BY

HIS CO-LABORER AND FRIEND,

THE AUTHOR.

AUTHOR’S PREFACH,

In preparing this volume 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. PABor.

Shady Side, Argyle Park, near Denver, Dec., 1882.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE CHAPTER I PRNICHANEY ls at eg es ee Ses eee 9 CHAPTER II. Sieaorical and Georraphical” = 22 222.27... ee 2 Se 19 CHAPTER III.

Pmicwiion in Co lorade.t 25. fae et eee 27 CHAPTER IV. Irrigation—Measurement of Water_-_..-------------------- 37 CHAPTER V. eae sce pinle Of Erricution: 890 so...) Ls Se eee 55 CHAPTER VI. ime Parma Payee ls is eee 3 ee oa ee 60 CHAPTER VII. eerie gudro. Valleys 222 ee oe oes one Soe 75 CHAPTER VIII.

Big Thompson, Little Thompson, St. Vrain_.-------------- 87 CHAPTER IX.

Boulder-and. Clear Creek Valleyse..2..-.-.5.--- 2-22-22. 93 CHAPTER X.

Runeeeeete eee, Webley so eg ae Se eS 99

Southern Colorado----__- Sy Ra: CTR a Oe a oe 110

s] TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XII. San Tims Park. oo. oooa52: ci eu adbasee ce caer Clee eee 120

CHAPTER XIII. Southwestern Colotado: 52-5 oes ee oe eee eee 142

CHAPTER XIV. ‘Artesian - W elis—KReservoits. 22 Sen 25 Soe eee 150

CHAPTER XV, Apiculture....----- Jes egek Uh oe 2 Ue CO 157

Bruit Agro wig 65553 2. SEE Ce ee US eee 164

CHAPTER XVII. Questions and Answers. - ---------------------------------- 173

CHAPTER XVIII.

Colorado Agricultural Colleze.: i221 2220 = eae ae ae 179 CHAPTER XIX.

Panning Jourials. =... tees. on. cL eee aes 183 CHAPTER XX.

Cattle-and Sheep. 2... .-2-225¢. 22 2 See a 188 CHAPTER XXI.

The Railway System of the State-----_......----....+.--.- 202

CHAPTER XXII. Garden Culture by inrigaiton + 2 sos. 5.22 Vieeee eee 207

COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE,

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INTRODUCTION.

‘‘ Far in the West there lies a desert land, where the mountains

Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and luminous summits. * * x x * % = * *

And to the South, from the Fontaine-qui-bouille and the Spanish Sierras, Fretted with sands and rocks, 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, Billowy bays of grass are rolling in shadow and sunshine;

Bright with the luxurious clusters of roses and purple amorphas. Over them wander the buffalo Lerds, 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

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10 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

changed, as by the hand of magic. Between Long’s Peak, sentinelling the northern border of Colorado, and the Spanish Peaks, marking 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,” has 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 cliff 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 hon, 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 asa 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

INTRODUCTION. 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, haying become weary of its routine in the East think of, and seek for, anew 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 notafarming 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, ** Aoriculture 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

12 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

than success. He has so much to unlearn. It is better to abandon all notions and beginanew. 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

INTRODUCTION. 1S.

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 ‘‘ preémption,” 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 still 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

dre, one of the earliest settled and best farming valleys 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-five 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 one 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

INTRODUCTION. 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 Ralston, 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- ville 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, and 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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. Butit 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 Fé 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 well, 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

INTRODUCTION. 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 Rio 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 preémption, 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 AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

with farms as well improved, with homes as firmly estab- lished. The Denver and Rio 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. Hspecially in the section until lately known as the Indian Reservation, 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 ?

a

CHAP Tiny tt.

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, Vasques 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 archeologists

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20 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 region of country lying north of the Rio Grand del Norte. Col. Wood in 1654, Capt. Bolt in 1670, and M. de la Salle in 1682. 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. Returning 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 Red River; but it is the opinion of Fremont and others

HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL Al

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 off.

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, Cache-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 River.

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 River. All beyond, east of the Rocky 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 AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

California, discovered gold in the sands of Ralston creek, an affluent of the South Platte River, 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 Representative 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 GEOGRAPHICAL 23

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 seventy-five square miles, or nearly sixty- eight millions of acres. ‘l'wo-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 thonsand, 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 Rocky 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,

24 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE,

following 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 im diameter. Out of it flows that Grand river which Pike reached and mistook for the Red River 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 River courses. San Luis Park, most southerly of all, is drained by the Rio 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 AND GEOGRAPHICAL. 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, stood 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 Azoic 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. MHere 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 .

20 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 dairymen’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 Kast, into the belief that Colorado and E] Dorado were one.

CHAPTER III.

COLONIZ:.TION IN COLORADO.

When Cecrops landed on the shores of Greece to found his colony, did his followers receive favorable impres- sions? When the Mayflower band 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 salt spray 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 modern 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-

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28 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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.

a

COLONIZATION IN COLORADO. 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 with a score or an hundred others. They go forth with 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. ‘he impressions made upon the mind at first are unfavorable, from the very circumstances of the

=e we a < eS

AN EARLY SETTLER’S RANCHE—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 here 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 tender 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 AGRICULTURAL 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.

AsI 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 Rocky 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 COLORADO. 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 experience 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? Whyin Colorado? The name itself was an augury. God’s Country it has been, and still is, cailed. 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 eve 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 fifty 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. No canals had been dug, no

Sita Pe ei

mi fet

COLONIZATION IN COLORADO. 33

water was runing, 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 beginning, 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 all.

34 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

Twelve years have passed away. Not twelve years of perfect success, for continually men find that there 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 expected, when settlement was first made. The grass- hoppers came down ‘‘like a wolf on the fold,” and every

Sy Wy a’ My WZ wv) WS ae Sr.) Bag, MM BLE

A COLORADO PRAIRIE 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 COLORADO. 35

And what has been 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 Rio 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 vailey, 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 hand the budding branches of the new

36 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

Christianity, met Nero, the young-old Emperor (young in years, old in vice), the fruit of the effete Roman civiliza- tion, and by his earnest gaze and sincere speech, shivered the scepter with which Rome 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.

CHAPTER IV.

IRRIGATION.—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 Romans 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. ven 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.”

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38 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 unde: 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 volume of water equal to one thou- sand eight hundred cubic feet per second. This large mass of water 1s conducted through the country by thousands of different channels, fertilizing and stimu- 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- dred thousand acres under this beneficent system. In fact, the history of numberless nations, ancient and modern, is full of facts connected with this interesting topic.

In this new subject, then, which after all is so old, every 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 many conflicting interests involved in

IRRIGATION.—MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 39

this complex question, that it seems as though the State must eventually 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. Now, 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 somany mulching agencies neutralized the drying effects of the sun’s rays and of the prevailing winds—have very largely contributed to cool and moisten the soil, and to lessen the necessity of frequent and elaborate watering.” Dr. E. E. Edwards, late President of the Colorado Agri- cultural College, in an address on the utility of trees,

40 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 Tio am. tic alee tsiste cle wavs. ce ate oleae eels mene eats 7,200 Acres. © Sandy digam S225. sccsas passe bee tess eae 5,000 er Loam and.Gravels 75.009 sei ase one tows ee 8,250) “4 Loam and. Clayesc5 cs ies Serem, oo dss seaeoees 3,500 ‘ Loam and Alias. oie... 226% aden cate me Gee eeaees 1,200" ° .* Clay and GRAVEL). cos. 2ssks oes se omeest ne Messe een oe 5,000" = * Clay aud Blasters. <.cnctd te. . ec geese sham ceeeee 3.000 2% Alkali [ron ang Sand, ifj<ctc0cind= acess egaaeeneeee 2,500 * Rand, Alka and~VOlGAIIC. « o< + oc done «aloe n ae ieee s 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,

eek 4 rant >getas

IRRIGATION.—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 codperative 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 asa 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. Corn espec- ially may very readily get too much water, and the result is small ears and a light crop. For corn 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 upon 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 sufficient 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 acrop growing upon it, and

IRRIGATION.—MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 43

as soon as it became sufficiently dry, he started his plow, and stopped only when freezing ground compelled him to do so. It took but a short time to do this 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 absorbit. 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.

Karly 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 need 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

sible, In studying the methods by which the greatest amount of land can be brought under the water supply of the State, this point is one to be taken into con- sideration.

An observant writer in one of the valley papers of the State—the Sagauche ‘‘ Chronicle ”—gives a few practical hints worthy of being embodied in this chapter.

‘‘Tn 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 inch forms a non-conductor of moisture from below, and the soil thereby retains the moisture in it for a long time.

‘‘Ags a rule, the longer the first application 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 ismuch 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.”’

IRRIGATION.—MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 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. Butit is not true. On the contrary, it is rather an advantage to ‘‘ hold the rain in the hollow of one’s hand.” It may adda 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. Corn 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 les 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 AN AGRICULTURAL 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 aspade 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 corn, cane, pota- toes, and vegetables. T'o describe the methods of irriga- 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. Itis 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 init. Itis astudy 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 us, and is accepted as the best. Water

IRRIGATION.—MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 4

is made to flow in furrows, reaching the roots by seepage.

MEASUREMENT OF WATER.

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- vestigation 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, and 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

secured the attention of the most distinguished hydraulic engineer resident in Colorado. Mr. KH. 8. 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 average unit of water for land in various crops. It is probable that the Water Right 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 Right ”—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 sufficient 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 company for a water right is one and forty-four hundredths cubic feet per second, which igs 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

IRRIGATION.—MEASUREMENT 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 flowing over the bottom of the opening, 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

XY

f wy = re) SS \ \\ vf MM} SA \ ASS

WEIR DAM, FOR MEASUREMENT 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, differing 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 AGRICULTURAL STATE.

The following will give some idea of the quantity and duty of the Water Right above alluded to : A water right=1*/,,, cubic feet per second, A water right=55 statute inches in equal time. A water right=one acre of land, 1°/,, 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.

Seto Vee.

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.

ANOTHER RULE. sxf x 15 15 2 Aa ee Px 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 followimg 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 :

IRRIGATION.—MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 51

Let h=head in feet on the crest of the weir. Let q=cubic feet discharged per second. Let 1=length of weir in feet.

Then— q / i > oe 33) > & L = f

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 DIVIDING WATER

a like quantity of water in a like time in any part of a ditch, without regard to different 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

The measuring gate must be a few inches above 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 LATERAL 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

IRRIGATION.—MEASUREMENT 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

—— — dl 4

UTS TTT i

DIVIDING WATER 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 under 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 AGRICULTURAL 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. 7

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 OF 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.

eE OUAR EP EVIGO S254 5 os ais) ws ce oe be ee cb Oded dee ok 933 Rea Aed Ee OMT a2) 7a'o sone Televi 'w's wloiala Gt tole coin 'u'u’cle's'e bv 5 174 PMUMMIMNMINIOM 22635 ecc<taa26s cas eaaes eae nettscrcé tte ieece 116 Little Thompson............. POET ee ee Ee Lee a ge at Been WaMe sec cosh ecssecds ocd See ckesehedctedaeteaesasice 87 NN et are Peace eR, kc Rovcltc sw aha eee at 8 Bleeds ape we 87 OED ENTE Tg ae aS a Ae 234 wo DS fet Sat eS SAS a gg ine oe en 58 Mery He Uatae PU .' Noca eaans dc odes cdacaavt scees ss 44 ADS a Oe a ee Pa on oat ek 72

oe Rates Sal Wes Se, Spl e ynto or et ape ns ee ee a 1,849

This gives one million one hundred and eighty-three thousand three hundred and sixty acres in the valley of (55)

56 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

the South Platte and the valleys of the streams empty- ing into it.

IN SOUTHERN COLORADO.

Square Miles.

AFUADAAS Sem Riva dee Pens eres oases aeuge ce eae Ne ema Ree 1,979 PorestOires.\. ssp neces Seem aes 2 See ae haa tele ei eee 145 A PIsh Part Mab Paka diac 'clas's 5 Fam se Ratan wasn e Mane ae bette eee 87 PA CROTERIIG 65 ioc <i aie'a dds averwrece att on alere alee aaa ARIA x ete nein eee eae 85 DUCRATAS. os oaycs vic wo'dk. do dee wale dh > cnet creas wisi Mages 145 St. Charies‘and ‘Greenhora e.g. ro cee Gees ve Sees 155 Rontaine gui Bouille . ¥5 . shisha is remes wear ne Perdana hee 145 SETUP IE OY 0 ics 5 kteid ig be ich s Blom le Sloe ee aha ie eof nna ree ae 30 TRORIGE ove, 0! c Ghigvccle nce Love Sra ae caine Med nino teas Man ah odes cis rani 15 ROBBIE | bcp bias oon pe ee Dek hae ae SRE RET eee wanes 30 OMS 22.36 Rt a AS ewe aa an as ee aes ee 45 GUI TOITE soars. taasbae » Siete 2 cage Sine dl 4 pees eee 15

Total: arash. chk. cps ad tenioh sels eles edocs Sees 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. .: . =o cw rie abs Came een Bice = eee 500 Alsmosa-and “La dais es feces otiwa scan caneoeh > omen ew een 100 COMEIOS.. a:05:s,- sins cose ss OS peewee esse se etapa aeee rete ees 100 "TPHIDCTHOID. .s o.o.0'c.0 vos aca ae pone a bbie hu beists Palen a aieReeene 2 Culebra ico as ccd nec adie s eee Ssccamente Sane ome eee 58 GlaBtHNS, cdnz ovale a oni cu. wetraiersw'sians 10s 40 aa eles Meee 29 MSE sw joe ote mo ow npn arb oie pu losin Sem Winn fe AR he ew ein le oe era 15

TOGA once ernie w 0: ten xis noo. o oe eco MW See ee See teeee eaeeeeee 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.

AREA OF IRRIGATION IN COLORADO. 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 River 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 Rio 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 River plateau, be- sides an enormous area of the broken plateau country far- ther westward.” In setting down the arable land on the Grand River, 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.

Square Miles.

RN SRAM ck aicntninhdabldiel ok wi 30 laa ep abeinaeicid wie wid a's 320 De EL AS 0 See ae ee ee eee ee ner 30 wer 2. ee See ee RE eee ees 30 Eee oe cemcas dv teapet aodea ecm soa eeeee ls ecees 87 pO Ee a Ee ee ee ee 15 Ganumon. and ite. branches < s .iss06 oecnsiccnsie et vedewsect veces 500 eI M RE ac il Pi Sica ciew n o ae was Sone me. clase owe 200 EMMIS Sk en a oc ies cc ce tleSie cert dat oe td dese das bee 145

ue Renee eS ae ae ee Pe nr 1,327

This gives an arable area of eight hundred and forty-

58 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE,

nine thousand two hundred and eighty acres, with eleva- 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 River and its branches amounts to one hundred and seventy-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 River 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 Rivers. 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.

AREA OF IRRIGATION IN 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 Convention, 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.

CHAPTER VI.

HOW FARMING 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 1862, there were so many raised in the territory that farmers offered 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 FARMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 61

ket. But, as a writer in the Denver ‘‘ Rocky 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 AGRICULTURAL 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 cost @ 10 per cent............ $ 80.00 $160.00 Interest on iWater. Bight, 5... .iicds.%.55% 40.00 40.00 PiGWiN Os 3 2S fos deen w aca shige naa eeRar 176.00 100.00 PISPROWINE.: «ss seioss haa successes peat - 80.00 80.00 OMe ian a Suniaisdtsctne Res 5 dis tal pean lela ts hate toca 75.00 75.00 Labor of two Irrigations. .........-scees. 80.00 80.00 Harvesting and Stacking..........seccsses 200.00 200.00 Threshing 15 bush’s on new, 25 on old land. 128.00 192.00 WariCerite Se .s. ot 's-ce u's Ceidiee ewe ea nian 48.00 72.00 GLA ccs ck sos Shs sm eape nee mee $907.00 $999.00 Estimated yield from new land............. 1,200 bushels. Estimated yield. from old.land ....5./05..5-.055.ssoree- 2,000 bushels. At 2 cents per lb., or $1.20 per bushel. ..$1,440.00 $2,400.00 WCE PLONE: ccass ashen ns ahs oaaee eee eet: 553.00 1,000.00 POE RETO. aicecds shoves ope she see sens le 6.67 12.50 Cost/per Rens! 25 ete stp ahaaarese esses 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............. La ataila bin Ade ReLaa stem tae eae $2.00 EPO WPT. 2's othasns cele Saaiae Seba peraad > 2 be we piepeacie hs piante ie 1.50 Reedine aud. Harvesting. 2. c<t.«ss-ant nen siecto mag see semen 1.00 BeGGa cw ssc these ck stan 2 Wien ween ced 2 cicero Meee. teen 1.50 PPVIPARING 6 cc. Co's 5) osiee Slee von tas eikh chisn Seite eae 1.00 Cattmeriand) Piacing 11, bs... h5-eeiepw saree ade bee ee 2.50 Threshing and Storing.............. ai we te tadss eal ters cocci 2.00

iota. «Sac aiais sete: eee ak eave ate eee ete $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.... .......ccccccce-scese $274.20 Harvesting and. Stackitg..<.: 2... .<<tenese<se Same eaie 243.30 GS AIIG 0020s cies « Beseaien s siae ole sive cin me ee eee ee 86.50 Two men, 7 months, @ $40 per month................ 560.00 Mister, 100 inches, @'$1.50.0. 25; .2-canasane wap ee setae 150.00 Booed. 240 bushels :(@ $1.60 2.0055. £2 os Sebi bee cee weet 360.00

HOW FARMING IN COLORADO PAYS, 63

Received 1,800 bushels of wheat, being an average of

143 bushels per acre. Sold @ $1.38. Total. ..... $2,484.00 Bat pron, from 120 acres i cio os eee oe on co ds weds $810.00 PRE ie GEC. me annie a = vie ve sa ha eiclce went « 6.75

Tt 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 FOR 1874.

EXPENSES. One hand, 5 months @ $25 per month................ $125.00 Board for same @ $15 per month...........00.. cece 75.00 Extra help Harvesting............0..... cst eceesccnes 50.00 Beppe ely Gi mom POtRtGes.. sie sss ake ou cnc ones coves 100.00 Wheat—75 bushels for Seed and Family use.......... 125.00 Seed-Potatoes—200 bushels. . 5... -'osawceegencavsceesss 200.00 Hay and Corn for Team one year... ....06000000-0-0006 150.00 Interest on farm land, team and tools, $2,000@18°,.. 360.00 Wear and tear ofeImplements -... 0.65.0... ccccccevese 25.00

64 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

RECEIPTS, 1,180 bushels of Wheat @ $1.50 per bushel........-... $1,695.00 900 bushels of Potatoes @ $1.00 per bushel.......... 900.00 Totals. Ty odes Metis Sateen tite ert eetesls coe oaa $2,595.00 NGtrOMt (1. feces. oats eh sl a Pe Sele oy sais $1,385.00 Net profit: per Acres. 5. S2) ww eak ont est ante 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 18%.

EXPENSES. bor for 6 monins ence. si:- a2 eens asin oaek ee oaae $210.00 Extra help Harvesting....... SE a ee eae 12.00 Extra help digging Potatoes... ......c00sccecsennce . 125.00 extradkelp busking ork. cess ar ese es ok see een eee oe 50.00 THCIAENT A) Hel py ts; «bs dee wrals coanulentaseinete Ae Aiba 20.00 Sixty-five bushels Seed Wheat...... Pinto a eae a 97.00 S00-bushels: Potatoes <2). : c<=acacan hese cutee seal mae 200.00 Hay and Corn for Team ‘one year..2...2..c.00.shs-eune 150.00 Interest on Land, Team, and Tools.............-.e0e- 360.00 Wear Of To oliagin si iiepicce.c es dines os n0b.s's Wns pie on waienye 25.00 OU) <.ce'c os cle cababrine > Paekwawans Seb neamn selene $1,249.00 RECEIPTS. 1 O50 ‘bushéls of Wheat. 5.42.02 015 sepcae baad cckeiten ams $1,575.00 1,500 bushels'of “Potatoes i. s5.c0sic0 5 cach sg noes tty 2 750.00 600: bughels-of ‘Shelled Com ..2.0. s 2 bods pu oteeus ante 360.00 "POtAH 35 .3's.4)5-05ke > cS ete «reas carve tn aeeeee $2,685.00 Met progt..<\.i22'. <5 .cueme pea ceea es ae ie late $1,436.00 Net provi Wer Sere. \2<is\isctacs ape Wot eae se eee 15.78

It will be seen that Mr. Clark’s farming got a little mixed, including corn 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 I have not included any returns from the garden, nor of between seven or eight tons of beets raised

HOW FARMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 6d

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 Kastern 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. Not 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 bushel, 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 otherside. ‘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 AGRICULTURAL 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 available 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 12th, 1880, ** Much has been said concerning 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 SIXTY-FIVE ACRES.

Eighty bushels of seed wheat............cccccccccccces $ 80.00 Plowing; 134 days, @ $4: per days... s.cec ch ccve ses cas 54.00 Putting in 25 acres with cultivator. .-......cecsseeeseee 20.00 se Of Rll TOY oo ACKER. 2. wtastees wane mse oe coeiae 2.30 Vitriolige seed wheats : i. 240s V-ASk SSS vals saree bet melee 3.00 days @pilline-@ Sli. so.6 5s ccigas waned ws ecpewadrics 11.00 Flay PLO WANS QULCHOS: <\i90- tausceo ne chcns she epee as 2.00 isvipating Go acres (@ 256: Mer Gere... .. oss pas sae eee 16.25 Cutting and binding @ $2 per acre... «2.0. ..es< os abeee 130.00 Six days’ shocking @/$1.50 per Gay... .. So. wesc. ccenees 9.00 Seyen. days’ stacking, 1 team, 2 Men. jose. scenes aeons 38.50 Threshing bill, including Hands... 5 .<<<<¢sop <= ose eshe 68.88 Cost:of 1,096 bushels in bin. «2.6. oc see oes $434.93 COSTES ACEO. :. oj. j.0ute wines Gmbete cites cma gee $6.62 Gast per bushel < ws. 052i ude cesta anc ee eee 0.40 MIB POR METS tac os wieihie ee Spe Geese See 163 bushels.

Mr. Buell at the time of making this statement had

HOW FARMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 67

not sold his crop, so he gave no figures as to profits. But presuming that he received 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 YEARS OF WHEAT CULTURE.

| No. bushels) Receipts | Cost Profit | Highest | Lowest | Average p

Year. | per acre. | per acre. per acre. per acre Pn ce a ‘price. rice. 1875. + | $33.71 | $14.50/ $19.20 $1.56 | $1.20 | $1.38 1876 26 36.40 | 12.00| 2440 1.80 | 1.50 1.46 1877. 26 32.24 | 11.00| 21.24! 1.50 | 1.00 1.25 1878. 163 12.60 9.00} 3.60 1.00 D4 F 1879. 26 23.40 9.40! 14.40! 1.20 60 90 Average! 234/;,bu. | $27.67 | $11.18 | $16.49 | $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 stuff. The entire crop brought eight thousand dollars cash, leaving

68 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

a profit of five thousand 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.”

Kyidently 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 acorn 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 will 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. 22% css 2 oletilten ds sotalol esate eeies awit ae 6.00 Eighty-five pounds of seed @ 5 cts...................... 4.25 Marking both: wage... tcc ides bh b- dea eee thee ae 4.00 Working both ways in May and June.................... 23.00 Hand “Weeding . i i340. 2a si<c gitinatenie eben ae ee een ae 7.50 Working 1% days with corm plow. 2. i: osume >. os es eee 6.00 Making irrigating furrows... 2:0 .35.<te snes bac eee ee Irrighting cost @ $2. periaere...\...22 25.56 25 eds eee wees 16.00

HOW FARMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 69

RECEIPTS. ane Duehels Of Corn, NENG... ecco ee cece ccceanss $237.00 Peet MUNUNCUN l iS tne sae wie ins © dienes os 23 bushels. Costiol cultivation, per Aere.. .. 6. occ. 5 oe beck eee cde $11.15 Reape CAPO ROTOS Ss 3). Swine ooo e vied nes so ywee de cciate. $147.75 OS a ee cn oe $18.47

In the above there is no charge for gathering the corn. 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 corn in Colorado in a year when all crops were below the average.

Six years later a farmer in Greeley gives his little corn story of the year as follows:—

EXPENSE. Speer ORAS SHWRS 1D Soke ona inal ohn a dada vase sawed secn's $24.00 One and a half day’s working @ $2.50.................. 3.7 Three days Plantin> @ $L.50 02. 2. css. Sec wala e ede 4.50 ee NCOMMEIN A Se ta PNT ORS isd Sinden Wap dwslethreS wmiioteae 1.00 TAR SEDO E 525 os ses Ge aoc sae bbeceeaddedes cu¥ se 4.00 Five days with cultivator @ $4...................0.000e 20.00 BRoardaye cutie furrows: ..<.....2 6. ck. decnecsue ot 6.00 Wive:daya irrigating @ $U.50. .:.. eien..5.6 sense peti, dee 7.50 Ten days eutime fodder @ 1.50... .. .... 2. evens vececsei 15.00 Twenty-five days husking @ $1.50...................... 37.50 me day bamlin™ fodder... 2.30: coh Sh Sashes tee. 5.00 PERN sclispele aca wiaiee = via ts eo en dig Ue hake eae Amiga $128.25 RECEIPTS. Ge) -bushels'of corm. @ Greta... occ. eo ae cee ccc cccetn $360 .00 Paamie OF SOMMEL/GN pi. - 55h 2 ake ldots ted totes tt: .. 50.00 RTE EP ie halt Seats frac PS SE eS ok eh Bed Bie $410.00 ager CEI ACEC teen. ran ae oe ine wees 19 bushels. Cost of cultivation peracre...............cccceee $ 6.75 SEM OG ae ee a 281.75 MRE NEE WUE a Dati aS sip pic vet clas a ok ve mae op ame 14.82

Corn, 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 neres 220 oo. k ae ne ect eetee se cee $250.00 Trnterest:on team and tools... tc. son cece emt he eee 80.00 owo mén’s work for Somos. :-.9- ab cxce usecase ee 450.00 Qne'extra team for pla wing 5.2564 <5 endian noe oes ae 25.00 Peed for teams: .5. 5.56 G:cs ved woe eae 4 ce cai kee Se eee 125.00 ged: FOF MICH ia). eek sakes acne eee Oe eee eee 200.00 DGG o SiG ated Soa oie a cles Bree eee ioe aus alee eee 25.00 Extrt CxpPensees.i: 25525 veces cseessaee acer bee 25.00 Sdaatetes: xp Wie Stoare clan « ouke ote ton Seams nase hoe eee $1,180.00 RECEIPTS. De MUSES (DARE. 5 sists wie. do aeketona st aebes Seon $2,500.00 REED OG OT ose eas «do 0 od wantees caewrecae oe ok teem 200.00 0 Fe en a eee tipi es aie es Coneini baatee aero $2,700 .00 Per ET ACEO «gio Shoei wise nem oe hitomi 25 bushels. Cost of ‘cultivation per’ aGre.... 2... 0266s see nee $11.80 Prost on 100 Heres. |; 1.05%... dace wean meee 1,520.00 Prolihs PER ACIS. psc acide ae cemieee sin se saaneee 15.20

These three instances are cited, covering a period of seven years, to prove that Colorado, after all, 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 FARMING 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 offered certain cash prizes for experimental acres in the culture of corn. In looking over the reports upon the two-acre tracts that carried off 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 cf 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:

G2 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

EXPENSE. . Plowing. 23. days @:$4.00 52 baw ines ce <5 bteoweonetemg $ 9.00

70 1bs. seed @ $1.70 pet Wumared).. sortase: y eee te aes ee 8.31 Use’ of arill. . ..42.ccscuas Fike baat ew ree wee ele .65 One dag drilling... 4.2. b-oe thc goin Gatca ee ae oe eee 4.00 Irrigation? 23.5 .3s = peasants wens as bien as ows abe tea mae 3.00 Cutting and binding @ $2.00 per acre.................06- 13.00 BV OGKING, | 5 i Sind mallow nce elma es hs Sot Sine pr a earn Somer et ae 1.00 Stacking .{y .:.u'cdsceG can gasteamas mectenna «ate Melts ae eater 5.50 Threshing bill; incl adie Nanda... cjcny dence es pa ciemes eee 11.91 BROKG soo wakae oe SBisie civ 1 ee pee ae hp a eb eee tees cree 6.00 Hauling two loads to market... 65 .cce ve. secu seen ereey = 3.00

DOGG, fois) s\aisikis sys ab 5A eget mam Ons nee ene $65.37 RECEIPTS. 6.353 Tbs, @ 41:70 per 100 Tha. , 2.2. Sa erate sa $108.00 1,880.ibs; retained for ‘seeds, : iiajic oo xi teeceane sons ees 37.60 Total... sesh enc te tae oles Win reap SN idee saat $145.60 Wicld Mer GT aet os ef ane sitde hw she tare 2m 1,266 lbs. Oost of cultivation per eres... oi. ssn cec ce es $10.00 Prone OF. Gr MCTOB 2 cic dsc c's. Sods cn tas Seale 80.23 Prous. Per acres... she as ee eee 12.34

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 Cache-la-Poudre Valley, this does not hold good. The Greeley potato is asynonym 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 FARMING IN COLORADO PAYS. 13

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 as figures can make it:

EXPENSE. fn bustiels of seed @ S0-cents. 2. es eee ee ees $ 90.00 Nine days’ plowing, 4 horses, 1 man, $6.00 per day...... 54.00

Seven days’ planting, 2 horses and 2 men @ $5.00 perday 42.00 Two days’ harrowing, 4 horses, 1 man @ $6.00 per day.. 12.00

Twenty days’ cultivating, 2 horses, 1 man @ $4.50 per

Riya Pont Mite Gn ata winless Mae tak cees aire a ee wee oH 90.00 Sixteen days’ irrigating, 1 man @ $1.25 per day......... 20.00 150 days’ digging, at $1.37s per day............-.....--- 205.50 Hauling to maker SPO iDEN. Stale oa seh oe o wcare'n Ss 12¢.00 CREME afer. hia Bird OPT orators She) Set Sboree cies <i qVorstesd} wal srehatm a 153.45 Interest on land and poitor $1,000 @ 12 per cent........ 120.00 inerest on teams’ and tools... 2 nse es oe cele a 0 50.00

LS OES OR SOR ae Roper eer Pee er en Oe Ee $956.95 RECEIPTS PUMMPMEE RHEE cock oregano Sho em alge cw! v'e Sie eauiony $2,985.31 By 400 bushels on hand, at 90 cents.................... 360.00 Me aa te AE wo isa aks oo ner Fe MARS Salad Ka iem aasals $3,345.31 Peete TE CHORE YONG. 0.15 o> ce 55 orate e'sie wn e 0s ohs $2,588.36

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:

EXPENSE. Six days’ plowing @ $1.00 per day.............eeeeeeeee $ 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..............ccceseeeees 7.50 Nive: days cultivating @ $3.00... 0.2. sce ce cee eee 15.00 Six days cutting weeds with hoe @ $1.50................ 9.00 Hive Gays irra l (S150. oe ccc eee eee ccs nesess 7.50 Bienty days: Giszine @ SL50 2. soe coe ce nie wees sense 120.00 Roriy ioags, Nawlins, (S100 ns. ace ek eee wcaes 60.00 Beet MIRE UWE aes soa ok hole eg fede ss wie owls es oe 110.00

4. COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

RECEIPTS. 2.456 bushels @'70-:@ TD cents. 2. i: sicdents rameene wnt $1,766.16 250 bushels in store, valued @ $1.00................. 250.00 Total: si.cteattouds taeee vane bai ees eee . $2,016.16 Cost of cultivation’ Per ares cai. \0 css occ 5.5 me eae $20.11 Prout Ver ACT! Sno: kasi ae eee oes eo EM ee 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 — 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 ruta 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 FARMING PAYS IN COLORADO.

CHAPTER VIL.

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 reath the channel of the main stream; but there isa 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,

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76 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

thirty miles below, the Poudre Valley is one vast net- work of irrigating canals, mainly taken out upon the north side of the stream. It was in this valley, 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-POUDRE VALITEY. rar

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 superimtendence 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 ablest Civil Engineer residing in Colorado, Mr. E. 8. 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

Hither 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 Fort Collins—distant twenty-five miles—is the dividing line between Weld and Larimer counties. At this point there is a settle- ment and post-office 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- ing 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-POUDRE VALLEY. "9

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 1862, was re-chartered in 1872, 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 T'wo, was projected by the Fort Collins Agricultural Colony in 1872, 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. Hight 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 ashare 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 COLORADO 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 Rocky 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 Rio 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 Fé. 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, coy- 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 hie along an undulating slope of country, stretching between Fort Collins and Greeley, a distance of twenty-five miles, on the upper side of the river, and above the lands coy- 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

—_ —_--

CACHE-LA-POUDRE VALLEY. S1

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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 sufii- cient to construct an expensive canal, and to live com- fortably until a crop is raised, an aflirmative 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 disaffected and the indolent—for such exist in every community—shake the dust off 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 difficulties 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 inte the in- vestment. Soit 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-POUDRE 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 amounts to.. $360 Cost of home of two or three rooms................ 100 His expenses for the first year may be about as follows: Mules or horses, harness and wagon...............65: $300 Pree at bbe 5613 ntl toads dove Skok wacle 45 Seven months’ feed for team........ SEs as cgalabia nisin abe vi) HMucmisire, peddiur, tach HONG... 0.0. oe cle vaaes sede s 75 Waray wed Parden miiplements..... 0002.22 ..-c- seen eeee 50 Seed—wheat, oats, corn, and potatoes for 40 acres.... 100 Garis Oy DARVERRINOOCLOD «5 crag cis's ids uc we 8S owe ane Sms vi 0s 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, 25 acres, 15 bushels to the acre, 375@$1........... $37 Oats, 15 acres, 20 bushels to acre, 300@50c................ 150 Corn, 10 acres, 15 bushels to acre, 150@60c................ 90 Potatoes, 5 acres, 60 bushels to acre, 300@$1.............-. 30C PMR ick oi sin 5G wie) fi clare Ws ale coats. gaia Quit esa ie 6 wine wis /SS iain os we $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 AGRICULTURAL 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 off 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 rapidly 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 asmall 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-POUDRE 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 anew 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 Hast, be continued in the West, under the broad, benignant shadows of the Rocky 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 codperation 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 aroad is now in course of construction, following up the entire course of the Cache-la-Poudre Valley into North Park.

CHAPTER VIII.

BIG THOMPSON—LITTLE THOMPSON—ST. VRAIN.

Three years ago, the tourist over the 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 piain. 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

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88 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

lands. It is six miles long, and some of the choicest hay lands of the valley he 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 cover twenty-five thousand acres; has a width of twelve 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 development of the resources of this valley, 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 rightsare sold ata 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. Reservoirs 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 THOMPSON—LITTLE THOMPSON—ST. VRAIN. 89

_ ten others, with a capacity for irrigating from three hun- dred to three thousand acres, so that mm all, about one hundred thousand acres are under canals built or pro- jected. That there is a sufficiency 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 under 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRIUCLTURAL 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 valley 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, Rough and Ready, 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. C. 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 THOMPSON— LITTLE THOMPSON—ST. VRAIN. 91

In the St. Vrain Valley there are more than twenty owners of farms over four hundred acres in extent, about twenty-five owning over three hundred acres, and seventy 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 valley. In ordinary seasons the wheat crop of the valley 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 heid 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 fora home. There is not an acre of Government or railroad land to be obtained. Undersome 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 les south of Longmont, about four miles distant, and is cultivated from the poimt where the

92 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STA‘E.

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 1862. 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

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94 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 he 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

BOULDER AND CLEAR OREEK 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, finding 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 Rock 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 Jefferson 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 Reno 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 AGRICULTURAL 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 five 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 yicld 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 affluent 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 intoa large lake, and, issuing from it, flows toward Lit- tleton, watering a fine area of land. From 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 Rio 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-

BOULDER AND CLEAR CREEK VALLEYS. 9”

ing used by the many mills located along its banks in and above Golden.

Alfalfa is raised to a Jarge 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

LUCERNE, OR ALFALFA (Medicago sativa).

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 favor, 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.

CHAPTER 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 Cache-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 codperative 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

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100 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 le 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 corn, and a proportionate amount of other crops were raised in the region stretching from Platte Canon to Ey- 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 1882, 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 afew years, the valley will be dotted with thriy- 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 land, which can be leased or bought on favorable

102 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE.

terms. But little if any of it is open to homestead and preémption.

Another, the Pawnee Canal, eighteen miles long, coy- 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 VALLEY. 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 invest- 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 Duff, the General Manager o= the Colorado Mortgage and Investment Company of London, whose office was at Denver, and after a careful review of the matter, an agreement was centered 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. 8. 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 River 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.

Reaching 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 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 construction 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 aday. 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 volume who may contemplate Colorado asa 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

COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL STATE,

108

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SOUTH PLATTE 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 afew years and anticipate the panorama that will then stretch out over the hitherto arid wastes of Hastern Colorado. Wherever the liimpid 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, ficlds, 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.

‘¢T 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 Jands 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 XI.

SOUTHERN COLORADO.

The first stream of any size south of the Divide is the Fontaine-qui-Bouille. A canal from this, constructed in 1872, 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 River, near Pueblo. It is generally supposed that there is a lack of water sufficient 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

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SOUTHERN COLORADO. La.

body of water, there is but little agricultural develop- ment. From Canon City east of Pueblo, a goodly part of the valley lands are cultivated, but eastward, the agri- enlture 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 soil 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 afew 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- ations. 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 ahalf. 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 AGRICULTURAL 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 isa 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 corn, 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 willthey? 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 Fé railway runs through the valley, giving a western home market and a south-westerly, going down to Santa Fe.

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

SOUTHERN COLORADO. Lis

unfettered by, with an abundant volume 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 haying 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 Rocky 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. Itis twelve feet wide, thirteen miles long, and covers over twelve thousand acres of land mainly given up to meadow, and all under fence. Beyond Rocky 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 willelapse before the case is settled, so that the canal is useless, the lands le idle; brown and barren prairie land that might be green and gold in the sunlight if open to settlement.

114 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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, 12th, 21st, 27th, 29th. February 23d, 24th. March Ist, 14th, 18th. April 7th, 10th, 24th, 25th. September 2iIst. November 4th. Total, 16.

Below Zero.—January %th 2°, 8th 8°, 9th 18°, 10th A°. With 4°, l3th 28°, 14th 22°, t5th 4°; 16th 4.0 Vaan 6°, 18th 6°, 22nd 8°. February 3d 4°. November 3d 4°. Total, 14.

1876.

Snow Storms.—February 26th. March 10th, 11th, 15th, 19th, 31st. April 12th. December 22nd, 23d, 0G) dist. Lotal, gi.

Below Zero.—January 27th 2°. 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.

aw a TS ee oe

SOUTHERN COLORADO. 115

Below Zero.—January 8th 6°, 23d 15°, 24th 4°. No- vember 29th 2°, 30th 4°. December 4th 4°, 5th 4°, 6th 4°. th 2°. Total, 9.

1878.

Snow Storms.—January 12th. February 2nd. March 8th, 28th, 29th. December 12th, 13th, 17th, 25th. Total, 9.

Below Zero.—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 Zero.—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. November 4th, 11th, 15th, 16th, 20th. December 16th, 19th, 28th.. Total, 18.

Below Zero.—March 10th 5°. November 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 AGRICULTURAL STATE,

great deal of corn 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 west, 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 Fé, and the last one of the terminal points of the Denver and Rio 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 codperation in the construction of larger canals.

SOUTHERN COLORADO. Tt?

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, oraclean one. Yet despite these drawbacks, Las Ani-

118 COLORADO AS AN AGRICULTURAL 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 les 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

SOUTHERN COLORADO. 119

advance 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.

CHART ER: ATE 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