GAZETTEER OF COLORADO. 
AGRICULTURE. 
Of the four great branches of industry, namely, agriculture, manufacture, mining, 
and transportation, the most important, as measured by the value of its product, is 
mining, while agriculture and manufacture follow closely. 
Owing to the location of the State within the arid region, agriculture is in large 
part limited by the supply of water for irrigation. It is true that in some localities, 
which by reason of local topography enjoy an unusual rainfall, dry farming is car- 
ried on. The total number of farms in the State in 1900 was 24,700, and their total 
value was $161,045,101. This value was made up of four items, as follows: Land 
and improvements, $90,341,523; buildings, $16,002,512; implements and machines, 
$4,746,755; live stock, $49,954,311. The average value per farm was $6,520. The 
value of all farm products in 1900 was $33,048,576, an average per farm of $1,338. 
The value of farm products averaged about 20 per cent of the capital invested in 
farms. 
In the farms of Colorado there are 9,474,588 acres, of which 2,273,968 acres or 24 
per cent were improved or cultivated. This cultivated area is only 3.4 per cent of 
the entire area of the State, and yet it is a larger proportion than in any other State in 
the arid region. The average number of acres per farm was 384, which is more than 
twice the size of the average farm in the United States. About 77 per cent of all 
farms were owned by their occupants, 14 per cent being rented on shares, and 9 per 
cent rented for cash. Of the cultivated land, 1,611,271 acres or 71 per cent were 
under irrigation. The area irrigated was 2.4 per cent of the total'area of the State. 
The following table shows the production of the principal crops and the enumera- 
tion of live stock in 1900: 
Statistics of farm products and of live stock in 1900. 
Produc- 
tion. 
Number. 
CHOP. 
Wheat 
bushels.. 
do.... 
do.... 
do.... 
.......tons.. 
5,587,770 
4, 465, 748 
3, 080, 130 
1,275,680 
1,647,321 
LIVE STOCK. 
Neat cattle 
1,433,318 
Potatoes 
236, 546 
6,784 
Oats 
Corn 
2, 044, 814 
101, 198 
Hay and forage 
The value of all domestic animals in 1900 was $49,359,781, and the value of animals 
sold in 1899, $9,570,952. 
MANUFACTURES. 
Manufactures are assuming great proportions in Colorado. In 1900 there were 
3,570 manufacturing establishments of all kinds, with a capital of $62,825,472. They 
employed 24,725 wage-earners and paid them $15,146,667. The cost of the materials 
used was $66,886,016 and the value of the production $102,830,137, showing a net 
increase in value produced by manufacture of $35,944,121. This figure, which 
measures the importance of the manufactures, is slightly in excess of the value of 
agriculture. 
The following table gives the number of establishments and the gross value of their 
product, including custom work and repairing, of a few of the most important 
industries. 
