7 HE 1RRIGA 1ION A GE. 7 



To remove this obsticle in the way of settlement we determined to 

 locate a town thirty or forty miles over the line in Colorado and then 

 to try to secure the erection of a new land distrit with the United 

 States land office in the eastern part. 



Accordingly a quarter section of land crossed by the A. T. & S.P. 

 track was secured thirty miles over the line in Colorado and the town 

 of Lamar located thereon. 



Our plans prospered, the town of Lamar, within sixty days after 

 the platting was completed, had a population of about 1,000 people, 

 and many good business buildings and dwelling houses were started 

 and rapidly pushed to completion. The members of the Colorado 

 delegation in congress were quick to see the value of this move in its 

 bearing upon the agricultural development of their state, and a bill 

 was introduced in congress and promptly passed creating a new land 

 district, and locating at Lamar the United States land office where en- 

 tries could be made, and the great volume of immigration which then 

 poured in exceeded our greatest expectations and resulted in the next 

 few years in the construction of the magnificent systems of irrigation 

 which now serve the fortunate farmers of that region, 



Lamar is now a well built, prosperous little city of 2,500 people. 

 At the time it was founded there were no irrigating ditches in that 

 region except one or two small ones constructed by small farmers for 

 private use, but farming up about Rocky Ford had been making good 

 progress; the Rocky Ford canal had been enlarged and the Catlin 

 Canal constructed and the little oasis started by Senator Swink had 

 been constantly extending its borders and was already becoming known 

 in Colorado. 



Rocky Ford melons even then were eagerly sought for in the 

 markets of Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo. 



About a year after the inception of Lamar, Mr. Godding who had 

 frequently spoken to me of the splendid farming advantages of the 

 Rocky Ford region, over which he was wont to wax eloquent, induced 

 me to make a trip to that point to meet Mr. Swink and to acquaint me 

 with its splendid agricultural advanrages with a view to platting a 

 town and accelerating the development of that district. I then met 

 for the first tme Senator Swink, the Nestor of that place, and now 

 for years one of my most valued friends. 



Rocky Ford was then merely a hamlet containing a few small 

 dwelling houses and an adobe hotel and one or two small adobe store 

 buildings, and a blacksmith shop. 



I had never before made a personal inspection of the country there 

 except from the car windows. 



I was greatly impressed with it and was quickly convinced of its 

 superb advantages and its great possibilities. Senator Swink owned 



