8 THE IRRIGA TION A GE. 



Colorado has increased in population so fast during the past eight 

 years that the present estimates give about one half million inhabi- 

 tants. The increase is due largely to mining and climatic conditions 

 drawing those in search of fortunes and health, but many hundred 

 sturdy farmers have yearly sought the irrigated valleys for creating 

 homes of peace and plenty. The gold and silver output will reach at 

 least $40,000,000 every twelve months, and the men and families en- 

 gaged in and around mining camps create an enormous demand for all 

 kinds of farm products at remunerative prices. With these local 

 markets, abundant water and excellent soil that produces wonderful 

 crops of everything suited to a temperate zone, the inducements for 

 home building are numerous and many have abandoned their rain 

 farms of the east, for the certainty of harvests in the irrigated realm 

 of never failing reservoirs. 



Irrigation began in Colorado in 1870, with the settlement of the 

 Union Colony, bearing the name of the famous journalist, Horace 

 Greeley. This colony was practically the beginning of American 

 irrigation on an extensive scale, being a few years later than the set- 

 tlement of Utah and California, where no great colonial plans had 

 been attempted. The canals were built upon a plan of co-operation, 

 labor being reckoned as a basis of wealth, but the company held the 

 money sufficient to meet anticipated expenses, and each farmer was to 

 own his land in fee simple, but the irrigation canal was to be the 

 property of the community. The cost, however, was far beyond ex- 

 pectations, but time has overcome all difficulties and land is worth 

 $100 to $200 an acre in this colony, while the annual maintenance fee 

 for keeping ditches in repair is almost nothing. The colony has been 

 a complete success and Greeley is known throughout the commercial 

 world as the home of the potato and the land of contented people. 



The Arkansas Valley is a most prolific land suited to the growing 

 of fruits and vegetables and new homes are being made in different 

 sections every year. The melon output of Otero County for 1898 will 

 be more than 600 carloads, being marketed principally in St. Louis 

 and Kansas City. A few years ago this district was a wild, desert 

 land, unknown except to roaming Indians, nomadic hunters and trap- 

 pers and primitive gold seekers, but today it is the land of paradise to 

 many happy, rural families. Every important place large or small in 

 this valley and elsewhere throughout the state, is reached by some of 

 the twenty-four railroads ramifying the mining and agricultural divis- 

 ions. These highways of commerce have a combined trackage of 

 about 5,000 miles and include sucTa important lines as the Denver and 

 Rio Grande; Union Pacific; Atchison, Topeka and Santa Pe; Colorado 

 Midland; Union Pacific; Denver and Gulf; Rio Grande Western and 

 other prominent roads. 



The Western Slope includes all that country lying west of the 

 Rockies, and is a most prolific land, especially in the valleys of the 



