THE IERIGATION AGE. 



371 



SAN LUIS VALLEY ORGANIZED. 



Business Interests Plan Association Similar to That of 

 Arkansas Valley Commercial Club. 



The success -of the Arkansas Valley Commercial Asso- 

 ciation, a central body of commercial clubs of the valley, has 

 been so pronounced and the idea has taken so well that 

 various other sections of Colorado are taking the matter up. 



The San Luis Valley has recently held a conference and 

 decided to form such a central organization in the near future. 

 Tin- conference was held at Alamosa and was largely at- 

 tended. It was addressed by Arthur Hooker, secretary of the 

 National Irrigation Congress, who has been very much in- 

 terested in the work of organization in these various sections, 

 and particularly in the San Luis Valley, and by R. H. Faxon, 

 secretary of the board of control of the Eighteenth National 

 Irrigation Congress and president of the Arkansas Valley 

 Commercial Association. 



The San Luis Valley offers a splendid opportunity for 

 concentrated work. It comprises four counties, hemmed in 



(Continued from page 357.) 



Many new settlers are coming into the North Platte Val- 

 ley each year, and are engaging in ranching, with stock rais- 

 ing as an adjunct. This arrangement is particularly suitable 

 for this locality, owing to the great ranges on the mountains 

 and foot-hills. Many sheep are raised in this section, and 

 ranch. 



As previously stated, we have arranged with Mr. Craw- 

 ford, editor of the Saratoga Sun, who is a pioneer in that 

 section, to write for us, a series of stories and reminiscences 

 of his early experiences, as well as that of many of the older 

 settlers in that territory. We believe that this matter will 

 be most interesting to our many readers. 



Saratoga has an active Commercial Club, with Mr. Lon 

 A. Tuttle, cashier of the First National Bank, as president. 

 Mr. Tuttle is known as one of the "live wires" of that sec- 

 tion, and it is said that he and Mr. Crawford have done 

 more than any other two men, to attract attention to the 

 North Platte Valley. 



In this connection we will call attention to an oppor- 

 tunity which is offered to those who would be inclined to 

 go there and enter into the hotel business. 



Mr. F. G. Wolf, who is proprietor of the Hotel Wolf, 

 and who has been there since the early days, developed this 



Dam in the Arkansas River. Arkansas Valley Sugar Beet & Irrigated Land Company's Project. 



by mountain ranges, of the most promising and fertile nature. 

 Irrigation is very largely from the Rio Grande river, which 

 flows in a southeasterly direction through the valley. There 

 a probable pumping future in the valley, although 

 this would mean a change of crops. The crops mostly 

 raised are wheat, barley and peas. The San Luis Valley is 

 getting to be a great hog raising section on account of the 

 vast quantities of peas and the nutriment contained in this 

 product. 



One of the reasons for the organization of the central 

 commercial association of the valley was to bring the pos- 

 sibilities of stock fed on peas to the attention of the farmers 

 of the middle West. 



The San Luis Valley also has a beet mill prospect and a 

 >ui:;ir company is now organized and at work at Monte Vista 

 getting the acreage necessary for next year and experiment- 

 ing in the various sections throughout the valley this year. 



The valley is strongly backing the irrigation exposition. 

 A comprehensive representation and display from the valley, 

 as n whole, will be made at the exposition, September 

 2<5-:',0, 1910. 



property, and informs us that the necessity for keeping an 

 invalid member of his family in a lower altitude, compels 

 him to turn this hotel (an illustration of which is presented 

 herewith), over to some one, who will conduct it along the 

 right lines. Mr. Wolf will either sell the furniture in the 

 hotel and give a lease on the property, or will sell outright. 



The property is located on a prominent corner in the 

 town of Saratoga ; is in easy walking distance of all the 

 springs and bath houses, and is the best equipped institution 

 of its kind in the North Platte Valley. The half-tone shown 

 herewith was made from a photograph taken during the old 

 stage days, before the advent of the railway. It shows one 

 of the old time overland stages drawn by six horses. This, 

 in those days, was considered a luxurious method of traveling, 

 as compared with the old freight wagons or cow ponies, on 

 - which the majority of the early settlers reached that section. 



In a future issue, we will present statements from Mr. 

 Tuttle, and others, concerning the crops which may be profit- 

 ably produced in that section. Facts will also be given as to 

 the profits to be obtained from the sheep and cattle business 

 conducted on either a large or small scale. 



