120 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



portion of the land is subject to entry under the 

 government land laws. Both Delta and Montrose 

 counties would be the direct beneficiaries of the suc- 

 cessful outcome of the enterprise. 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 



In common with the entire western slope of the 

 Rockies the climatic conditions prevailing in Delta 

 county are particularly favorable to agriculture and 

 horticulture. There are in the year about 200 days 

 of sunshine, 60 partially cloudy days and only. 45 

 cloudy days. Frosts do not appear until October. 

 The growing season is therefore along one, affording 

 abundance of time for ripening of all cereals and 

 fruits. Very little cold weather is experienced in the 

 winter season; orchards are never damaged, the dry- 

 ness of the atmosphere preventing injurious effects. 

 Hailstorms are no menace in the well-protected val- 

 leys. The elevation of the principal agricultural and 

 horticultural areas ranges from 4,800 to 5,600 feet. 



FRUIT CULTURE. 



The altitude, soil and climate of Delta county are 

 peculiarly adapted to fruit growing and the acreage 

 in fruit is growing rapidly. In 1893 thirty-five car 

 loads of young trees were planted, while during the 

 present year fifty-three car loads have been set out. 

 There is no fruit grown in the temperate zone which 

 does not flourish in these valleys. Apples, pears, 

 peaches, grapes, quinces, apricots, plums, nectarines 

 and smaller fruits are in bearing and there has never 

 been a crop failure since fruit growing has been an 

 industry in the county. 



Of the six fruit prizes awarded Colorado at the 

 World's Columbian Exhibition, Delta county has the 

 honor of having secured four. The individual awards 

 were: 



No. 12,828, W. S. Coburn Stone Fruits. 



No. 12,829, G. B. McGranathan Stone Fruits. 



No. 12,830. Samuel Wade Apples and Pears. 



No. 12,831, W. S. Coburn Apples and Pears. 



Trees bear at from two to three years from planting, 

 and full bearing orchards pay from $100 to $500 an 

 acre per annum. 



Prof. H. E. Van Deman in his report to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture for 1893 says of the North Fork 

 country in Delta county: " In all my travels I have 

 not seen a more profitable or delightful place to grow 

 fruit than the North Fork of the Gunnison river." As 

 to the state of Colorado he says : " All things con- 

 sidered there is perhaps no state that offers greater 

 inducements to the energetic and industrious, whether 

 possessed of large or small means. 1 ' 



EXPERIMENTAL FARM. 



During the past month a state experimental farm 

 has been located in Delta county. Suitable buildings 

 are being erected and the farm consisting of 40 acres 

 of mesa land will be put under cultivation under 



charge of an expert superintendent. The farm will 

 be of inestimable value to agriculturists and horti- 

 culturists of the county. 



PRICES OF LANDS. 



Prices of unimproved Delta county lands range 

 from $15 to $40 per acre, lands set in fruit from $125 

 to $250 per acre. Full bearing orchards are rarely in 

 the market. Men with energy and a small capital 

 can make a good profit from stock, hog raising, 

 poultry, bees and market gardening while their fruit 

 trees are growing. Markets are close at hand for 

 everything that can be raised, in the mining towns of 

 Ouray, Telluride, Rico, Lake City, Crested Butte, 

 Aspen and Leadville. 



V. THE GREAT SOUTHWEST. 



An empire in itself is southwestern Colorado. It is 

 composed of the counties of Ouray, San Miguel, San 

 Juan, Dolores, Montezuma, La Plata, Hinsdale, Ar- 

 chuleta, the western portion of Conejos and the 

 southern L T te Reservation. 



Within these counties are rich gold and silver 

 mines; coal crops out from almost every hillside; 

 there are immense tracts of pine timber; the entire 

 region is abundantly watered by numerous rivers 

 and countless creeks; the soil in the valleys 

 and on the mesas, or table lands, is rich and pro- 

 ductive; the climate is superb. Nature seems to 

 have bestowed upon this chosen corner of the great 

 State of Colorado every good gift in her command. 



That these gifts of nature have, some of them at 

 least, been appreciated in former ages is evident from 

 finding traces in several places in the southwest of 

 great cities of a prehistoric race. Near Marcos, in 

 Montezuma county, the streets of a city may be 

 traced and countless stone heaps may be seen in reg- 

 ular rows, telling mutely where once stood the habita- 

 tions of man. These yield curious mementos of their 

 former occupants to those who now take the trouble 

 to dig a few feet below the surface. A few miles south 

 along the canyon of the Marcos are countless evidences 

 of the former existence of a skilled and cultivated 

 race. For in the solid walls of the canyon are hewn 

 palaces and temples and homes. 



Nor are the gifts which nature has showered upon 

 this favored region unappreciated by those who live 

 in the present. But a dozen years ago the southwest 

 was the home of the Indian, and to all, except a few 

 explorers and gold hunters, it was a land unknown. 

 Within a short time civilization and enterprise have 

 built railroads over its highest mountain ridges; cities 

 with all the conveniences of modern civilization have 

 been erected within its borders; immense smelters are 

 turning the ores from its many mines into the circu- 

 lating mediums of the world's commerce; the waters 

 of its creeks and rivers have been turned on to the 

 thirsty lands, and farms and orchards now flourish in 



