12 
Bulletin 77. 
depended upon if given extra care. Upon this subject very little 
can be added to what was said in Bulletin 59. 
Fruit. Of the thousands of orchards planted, only a few trees 
are alive to show what kind of fruit can be raised in the country. 
Continued observation has merely confirmed the statements made 
in Bulletin 59. Gooseberries, native currants, plums and cherries 
are reasonably sure to produce crops if given especial care. Apples 
will give crops periodically if not irrigated, and if irrigated are as 
sure as in other localities. Fruit gardens with facilities for irri¬ 
gating from wells are growing in numbers year by year. 
Irrigation from Wells. As wells are from 80 to 260 
feet deep, only very small areas can be profitably irri¬ 
gated from them. Bnt nearly every settler now tries to have 
a few square rods of irrigated garden near the well. Some were 
extremely successful and some were failures; but each succeeding 
year shows an increase in the number of successful ones. If the 
sun-motor which is now being worked upon is ever perfected, it 
may revolutionize the problem of irrigation from deep wells. The 
main problem will then be to find enough water underground to 
supply the pumps. 
Irrigation from Streams. A few hundred acres are irrigated 
from each of the main streams. Engineers who have made sur¬ 
veys claim that the flow of the streams is not sufficient to pay for 
taking the water out onto the flats, and the regular flow is already 
appropriated for land in the valleys anyway. The fall of the 
country is so great that ditches two to five miles long would carry 
the water out onto the flats most anywhere in their courses. If 
irrigation is ever developed in this region, it must be by catching 
and holding storm water for use. If a system of low dams for 
turning the flood water of these streams into reservoirs could be 
built, beginning at the sources, 5 to 10 per cent, might be irri¬ 
gated. But this would involve a large outlay of money and labor, 
and it is to be thought of as a long way in the future. The coun¬ 
try is developing along lines of least resistance now, and it is 
likely to continue in the same way. 
Neighborhoods. Kiowa, Cheyenne and Kit Carson comity, 
south of the Rock Island railroad, are quite thinly settled, and 
stock raising with very little winter feeding is the rule. Only a 
small quantity of this land has been homesteaded. Settlers live 
from two to ten miles apart. When claims join, they try to divide 
the range. Along visible streams and known underground water¬ 
courses the land is usually all taken and the stock range over the 
unoccupied land on each side of the settlement. 
