THE NEW DAY IN COLORADO 



which slopes eastward from the foot-hills and merges into 

 the Great Plains of Nebraska and Kansas. 



For a period of nearly twenty years, beginning in 

 1870, canal construction and the settlement of lands 

 were actively carried on in this part of the State. The 

 scene of action was principally in the valleys of the 

 Cache la Poudre, the Platte, and the Arkansas. Here the 

 farms are of large size for an irrigated region, though 

 the present tendency favors a smaller unit. These dis- 

 tricts, prosperous in ordinary times, have not escaped 

 the evil effects of the general depression in recent years. 

 The products are diversified and largely disposed of in 

 the home market. In the upper Arkansas Valley, where 

 the foot-hills furnish shelter from the high winds pre- 

 vailing at certain seasons, fruit-culture has been notably 

 successful. Prices of unimproved lands on the eastern 

 slope range from twenty to fifty dollars per acre, while 

 cultivated lands are valued at one hundred dollars an 

 acre and upwards, according to the extent of improve- 

 ments and location with reference to cities or large 

 towns. The glimpse we have had in an earlier chapter 

 of the agricultural industry of Greeley Colony may be 

 accepted as true of the entire region east of the moun- 

 tains, for Greeley has been the model to which other 

 districts have looked for inspiration. The experimental 

 farms which surround the agricultural college at Fort 

 Collins undoubtedly represent the highest type of irri- 

 gation results in this part of the State. In the Arkansas 

 Valley the altitude is lower and the climate more favor- 

 able for small farming and fruit-culture. 



The San Luis Valley is an elevated plateau lying be- 

 tween parallel mountain - ranges in the southern and 



155 



