THE NEW DAY IN COLORADO 



dollars and upwards per acre each year. This is due in 

 part to the marvellous quality of the fruit, and in part 

 to the extensive home markets offered by mining camps 

 in the mountains, and by large towns such as Denver, 

 Pueblo, and Colorado Springs. In view of the severe 

 limitations which nature has placed upon the territory 

 suited to the highest culture of delicate fruits, and of the 

 steady growth of the consumers in mountain districts 

 and large towns, there is, perhaps, good reason to hope 

 that profits will be well sustained for a long time to 

 come. 



These conditions make the western slope choice ground 

 for settlement. They are by no means limited to the 

 lower valley of the Grand, but exist in the numerous 

 smaller districts scattered through the mountains in the 

 western and southwestern part of the State. On the so- 

 cial side the possibilities of the country have not been 

 much developed, as there has been a lack of organized 

 effort in settlement. But the extraordinary fertility of 

 the soil, the extent of the water supply, the proximity of 

 mining camps, and the charm of the climate must some- 

 time combine to lend a powerful impulse to the highest 

 development of these favored valleys. 



The scenery presents not merely pictures, but pictures 

 that are painted and tinted and wrought into fantastic 

 shapes. To the ever-changing aspect which the moun- 

 tains, buttes, and mesas gain from light and shadow, from 

 sun and cloud, new and strange beauties are added by the 

 reds, pinks, yellows, and grays of soil and rock. From 

 the vivid cliffs and bluffs which stand guard upon river 

 banks to the purple and shadowy peaks which lift their 

 pointed heads on the utmost horizon, the scene is one of 



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