1908 



DOMINION OF THE LONE CONE 



33 



enty miles of his journey unaccom- 

 plished. He carried a bundle of silver- 

 leafed poplars to adorn the new home 

 he had just secured, where large hopes 

 were already planted. Buoyed by 

 eagerness, he decided he could walk. 

 The road lay over a mountain top, 

 down through the San ]\Iiguel Valley, 

 across the river, and up the hill to the 

 mesa. The snow came and blinded 

 him. He lost his way and nearly froze, 

 yet he never faltered nor dropped his 

 burden. In the end, he reached the 

 waiting welcome. The trees were duly 

 set out, and grew. This is only an in- 



are vigorous vitality, and the means of 

 its sustenance. 



The first crop was planted in '88. It 

 was oats, forty acres of them, and they 

 yielded eight hundred bushels, which 

 was threshed with flails. This was fol- 

 lowed by alfalfa, which is still the main 

 crop, though timothy is being intro- 

 duced now. Then came other grains, 

 and they thrive in abundance. Pota- 

 toes also form a great crop, rivaling in 

 excellence the output at Greeley. Ex- 

 periments in fruit have begun. Straw- 

 berries, gooseberries, raspberries, and 

 currants are raised in quantities. Sev- 



A typical round-up dinner 



cident in pioneering ; but to-day a num- 

 ber of fine, tall trees, their silver 

 leaves whispering hopeful secrets in 

 the air, on his own and neighbors' 

 ranches, stand as monuments to the 

 influence of endurance. 



The resources of this, as of many 

 another spot in Colorado, have been 

 barely touched. It is not the lure of 

 gold that attracts. The products, 

 though more commonplace, are more 

 substantial. The toiler, instead of delv- 

 ing deep, digs on the surface, under 

 the gold of sunshine ; and his returns 



eral orchards have already yielded a 

 harvest of the finest of apples. Some 

 of the ranchmen just now are begin- 

 ning to realize the possibilities in rais- 

 ing honey. 



The most up-to-date machinery is 

 to be found on nearly every ranch : the 

 manure-spreader, disk-harrow, mower, 

 reaper, binder, and thresher, the latest 

 cream separator, and even washing- 

 machine, are all here. 



In 1886 the first schoolhouse was 

 built, though not used for that pur- 

 pose till the following year. In 1888 



