APPENDIX SS. 1763 



a most mottled facial appearance resulting. Tile worst case ever noted was an Eng- 

 lishman of title, witli whom the writer was hunting for rive weeks in the upper parks 

 of Colorado. To his facial appearance, while heing " acclimated/ 7 the old simile of a 

 11 boiled lobster" would be inadequate. 



The enjoyment of traveling is occasionally marred by high wind-storms, with accom- 

 panying dust, chiefly in the lower regions. These were noticed mainly in the spring 

 months. 



The many sunny days, the possibility of outdoor sleeping without liability to cold, 

 and the great clearness of the atmosphere are charming realities, that must be seen, 

 that must be experienced, to be fully appreciated. The wonderful atmospheric clear- 

 ness is especially to be remarked, rendering distances exceedingly deceptive ; mount- 

 ains that seem but ten miles away will often be found more than double the distance. 



The sojourner in this region is apt occasionally to suffer from a troublesome malady, 

 known locally as the "mountain fever." Though so called from its prevalence in the 

 higher altitudes, it extends to the lower regions, and at least part of the plains be- 

 yond. As severe a case as was ever observed was that of a resident of Pueblo, below 

 5,000 feet. Unless aborted at its start, this fever is of a continued nature, with regular 

 stage, chills and remissions occuring. While at a mining camp in Upper Colorado in 

 1875, the writer was troubled with an attack of this malady and treated by the old 

 miners with copious doses of tea of the sage-brush (Artemisia tridentata), afterward 

 taking quinine. Dr. Smart, U. S. A., who has devoted much time and study to this 

 obscure malady, has demonstrated its origin as due to the organic taints contained in 

 the mountain streams from vegetable matter therein; that these airy substances, 

 arising in microscopic forms from lowlands, are swept by prevailing winds to the 

 higher regions above, where precipitation from the upper atmosphere, with falling snow, 

 occurs.* 



CHAPTER II.— AGRICULTURE AND PASTORAL PURSUITS. 



The agriculture of the San Juan, like the rest of the State, can never be of a very 

 extensive character; that Colorado can ever produce sufficient cereals for home con- 

 sumption is as yet a matter of speculation, scarcely now affirmed by the most enthu- 

 siastic inhabitant. Owing to the great rarity of the air, the increased dryness of the 

 atmosphere, and the lighter rainfall, with alkaline constituents more largely in the 

 soil, the moisture precipitated immediately disappearing, the amount is not adequate 

 for the sustenance of vegetable growth like that existing in regions nearer the level 

 of the sea, and save along water-courses the vegetation is of a limited nature. Such 

 obtains upou the great prairies east of the bases of the mountains and near its foot- 

 hills. 



By irrigation alone can agriculture thrive, and, despite statements to the contrary, 

 the amount of arable land or tracts that can be cultivated without the expenditure of 

 enormous sums for irrigating-canals, the total area producing marketable amounts of 

 cereals must, when compared with the territory of the entire State, bear but little 

 larger proportion than does the flower-garden of the housewife to the great acres of 

 the farm. At present the main supply of grain comes from Kansas, destined to be- 

 come the great granary of the West. 



The soil in the valleys and near the foot-hills adapted for agriculture, being the 

 result, of denundation from the mountains above, is generally dry and sandy, and 

 owing to the alkaline depositions which frequently appear upon the surface of the 

 ground, there results a marked effect on the vegetable products. The crops and pro- 

 duce of the soil of all kinds are very rich, more particularly noticeable in the cereals. 

 The flour of Colorado is remarkably fine, and the visitor will at once observe the un- 

 usually fine and white appearance of the bread. 



It is said there are tricks in every trade, and to the wheat supply there is no excep- 

 tion. The supply of Colorado flour being unequal to the demand, a large quantity of 

 Kansas production is ground at the flouring-mills, and, in Colorado sacks, is sold for 

 the genuine domestic article. 



The cereal area is limited to lower elevations, the high valleys possessing seasons 

 too long and severe for the perfect maturing of the grain. The exact altitude to which 

 this is limited varies locally, and is, of course, higher in the San Juan in general than 

 in Northern Colorado, and higher also in the lower region, where its northern flanks 

 are sheltered by the main range, than in the upper country. Then within each sec- 

 tion of similar elevation the summer season may deviate or alternate within a range 

 which, permitting a harvest during one year, might the next prevent the perfect 

 growth of grain. In Northern Colorado, along the Upper Boulder, in a narrow valley 

 of about 8,000 feet, less than 10 miles to the east of the main range, in 1875, a crop of 



*Sniart, Mountain Fever and Malarious Waters. Am. Jour. Med. Sc., July, 1878, pp. 17-43. 



