THE UNOCCUPIED LANDS OF COLORADO. 



119 



IV. VALLEY OF THE GUNNISON AND 

 UNCOMPAHGRE. 



Forming part of the valleys of the Gunnison and 

 Uncompahgre rivers of the western slope of Colorado 

 is Delta county, a rich agricultural and fruit growing 

 region. The county was originally part of the Un- 

 compahgre Indian reservation and has only been the 

 abode of the white man for about twelve years. 



LOCATION AND EXTENT. 



The county lies almost entirely in a basin, with 

 ranges of mountains averaging 10,000 feet high on all 

 sides except to the west. The county averages about 

 forty-eight miles in length from east to west, thirty- 

 six miles in width from north to south and contains 

 752,640 acres, of which about 32,000 acres are bottom 

 lands, 268,500 acres stock range, 100,000 acres timber 

 and 112,000 desert lands. 



CHARACTER OF SOIL. 



While the soils vary in productiveness they are, 

 for the greater part, of alluvial matter mixed with 

 mineral elements of peculiar fertility. For centuries 

 these lands were being formed gradually from 

 deposits of disintegrated granite and calcareous rock 

 mingled with potash, lava and volcanic ash. In this 

 soil are found all the elements which have made the 

 grape and peach growing districts about the foot of 

 Mt. Vesuvius, Italy, the wine producing areas of the 

 Danube in Germany, and the Kern valley in Cali- 

 fornia so famous. The soil is deep, mellow and easily 

 worked. The bottom lands are a dark sandy loam, 

 impregnated with vegetable mold and the silicates 

 held in solution and carried down by the mountain 

 streams. They are usually devoted to vegetable 

 culture and gardening and to the growth of apples, 

 pears and plums. The second bottoms, or lower 

 mesas are largely made up of volcanic ash scoriae 

 and are rich in the potashes and sulphates of lime, 

 elements so necessary to fruit culture. On these the 

 peach, apricot and prune have yielded large and un- 

 failing crops of exquisite flavor. 



AGRICULTURE AND LIVE STOCK. 



Agriculture and stock raising are carried on in 

 Delta county without encroachment one upon the 

 other. Cattle and horses are ranged on the immense 

 open ranges along the mountain sides enclosing the 

 county and are profitably fattened on alfalfa for 

 market in the early spring. 



There are in cultivation 3,000 acres of wheat, 2,000 

 acres of oats, 1,000 acres of corn, 1,000 acres of 

 potatoes, besides smaller acreages of buckwheat, rye, 

 timothy and clover. Of alfalfa there are 6,000 acres 

 yielding 19,000 tons annually. There are 1,500 stands 

 of bees, making 45,000 pounds of honey. The average 

 crops, are as follows : Alfalfa, three and one-fifth 

 tons per acre ; corn, twenty bushels per acre ; oats, 



PROPOSED TUNNEL AND CANAL TO RECLAIM 200,- 



000 ACRES OF LAND IN DELTA AND 



MONTROSE COUNTIES. 



thirty-two bushels per acre; wheat, eighteen bushels 

 per acre. 



WATER SUPPLY. 



The Gunnison and Uncompahgre rivers and their 

 tributaries form the water supply for irrigation pur- 

 poses in the county. There are in the county 500 

 miles of irrigating ditches of which 200 miles are in 

 ditches less than two miles each. There are com- 

 pleted thirty reservoirs covering 1,200 acres of land 

 and storing 600,000,000 cubic feet of water; these are 

 on the Grand mesa, overlooking the valley and lower 

 mesa lands. The ditches in the county are almost 

 entirely owned by the ranchmen, only two ditch 

 companies selling water to the farmers. 



RECLAMATION OF MORE LAND. 



A project is now under way for the reclamation of 

 an immense area of the best lands of the county now 

 lying above ditch. Surveys are being made of the 

 plan which is to take the waters of the Gunnison 

 river by a tunnel through the range of hills, sepa- 

 rating it from the Uncompahgre valley, and thence by 

 large canals throughout the entire valley, from above 

 Montrose to Delta, a distance of thirty miles. One 

 hundred and eighty thousand acres of lands adapted 

 for general agriculture and fruk raising would be re- 

 claimed by the completion of this project, and ample 

 water furnished to cultivate every acre of it. It is a 

 project which might be carried to completion by 

 state or national aid with great propriety as a great 



