DENVER'S AGRICULTURAL EMPIRE

"A goodly land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and melons and fruit trees; a land where thou shalt eat bread without scarceness; thou shalt not lack anything in it.-- Deut. viii: 7-9." (Revised Version.)

     The development of agriculture in Colorado since 1880 has been the wonder of Western civilization and has been accomplished by means of artificial irrigation.

     In 1880 there were only 600 miles of irrigating canals in the whole State and Colorado in that year imported from Kansas and Nebraska 500,000 bushels of wheat, 2,000,000 bushels of corn, 500,000 bushels of potatoes, 1,000,000 bushels of oats and 100, 000 tons of hay.

     Since 1880 12,000 miles of irrigation canals (i.e., canals actually tapping the streams) and another 12,000 miles of laterals have been constructed at a cost of over $12,000,000, and under them over 2,000,000 acres are now cultivated, while another 4,000,000 acres are also capable of being irrigated from the same canals, if supplemented by
storage reservoirs.

     The valley of the Platte and its tributaries (in Arapahoe, Boulder, Jefferson, Larimer, Weld and other counties) has by irrigation been developed into a magnificent farming and fruit country, while the valley of the Arkansas (in Chaffee, Fremont, Pueblo and Otero counties), the valleys of the Rio Grande, the San Juan, the Grand, the White and the Bear rivers are simply in their agricultural and horticultural infancy with certainty of great future.

     In 1897 Colorado shipped 800 carloads of flour into Texas alone. The wheat crop of 1897 in Colorado was 5,000,000 bushels of which, within one short period, 500 car loads were exported to foreign countries via Galveston and New Orleans.

     The average yield of potatoes in Colorado per acre is from 200 to 250 bushels on irrigated land, whereas in Maine it is 94, Minnesota 92, California 86, Wisconsin 83, New York 80, Pennsylvania 73, and Kansas 66.

     From August 1, 1897 to March 31, 1898, 5,500 cars aggregating 66,000 tons of potatoes were carried by the railroads out of Weld, Larimer and Boulder counties, mostly to the Middle and Eastern States, some of them as far East as New York City, 2,000 miles distant.

     There are now 100,000 acres planted to fruit in Colorado, of which 60,000 acres are in bearing. The value of the crop of 1897 was over $5,000,000, estimated as follows: 50 per cent. apples, 25 per cent. peaches, and 25 per cent. cherries, plums, pears, apricots, nectarines, grapes, strawberries and other small fruits.

     During 1897 Colorado apples in car load lots were shipped to California, Utah, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

     During 1897 the A. T. & S. F. Railroad carried from Otero County 600 cars aggregating 7,200 tons of watermelons and musk melons, mostly to the cities of the Middle and Eastern States.

     Denver is the great live stock and fat stock centre for Colorado and the adjoining States and Territories.

     The total value of the annual product of the agricultural, horticultural and pastoral industries of Colorado exceeds the total value of the annual output of all the gold, silver, copper, lead, iron and coal mines in the State.

     The Colorado farmer is learning that more intense cultivation and less land is the true key to successful farming and that a diversity of crops is the best policy.

     Farming immigrants from other States in increasing numbers are constantly arriving in Colorado, some in colonies and others individually.

     Colorado irrigated farming districts are especially adapted to the growth of sugar beets, the average crop showing sixteen tons to the acre, 15.5 per cent. sugar and 81.6 per cent. purity. By the year 1900 at the farthest, there will probably be $1,000,000 invested in the sugar beet industry in Colorado.