The Land of Enchantment: From Pike's Peak to the Pacific

by Lilian Whiting

The Swift Packing Company of Chicago propose investing one and a half millions in further irrigation in this county. The products of the Greeley district alone, for 1905, were five and a half millions,—a fact that suggests the wise foresight of Hon. Nathan Cook Meeker, the founder of the town, in selecting this location, in 1869, for his colony.

Of recent years a remarkable feature of agricultural progress in Colorado has been developed by the "dry farming" system, the discovery of which is due to Prof. H. W. Campbell, who has been experimenting, for some twenty years past, in Eastern Colorado, in the scientific culture of the soil without benefit of irrigation. Professor Campbell says that he had been assured that corn would not grow at an altitude of three thousand feet, as the nights would be too cool; but that he can refute this, as, during the past five years, he has averaged from thirty to forty-two bushels per acre at an altitude ranging from five thousand to nearly seven thousand feet. Successful agriculture is, in Professor Campbell's belief, based on the fundamental principle of soil culture, and in an interview he said:

"While the great work now being done by the government in promoting irrigation enterprises in the more arid portion of the West and the using of millions upon millions of money for the building of mammoth reservoirs have value and virtue, and means the development of many sections that must remain almost worthless without them, and the spending of thousands of dollars in traversing foreign countries to secure what some have pleased to call drought-resisting plants, will undoubtedly play their part in promoting the welfare and prosperity of Colorado, ... yet there should also be an understanding of, first, the necessary physical condition of the soil for the most liberal growth and development of roots; secondly, the storing and conserving the entire season rainfall,—not only the portion that falls during the growing season, but from the early spring to late in the fall; thirdly, the fact that air is just as important in the soil as water, and that it is the combination of the elements of air and water in the soil, together with heat and light, that is most essential; and that when these conditions are fulfilled, Eastern Colorado will come to its rightful own, and little towns and cities will spring up along all the great trunk lines, while the intervening country will be dotted with ideal farm homes and shade trees; orchards and groves will break the monotony of the now bleak prairie, and present a restful, cheerful, homelike, and prosperous condition."

While agriculture in Colorado is regarded as in its infancy, yet the product of Colorado farms alone contributed almost fifty-one millions to the world's wealth, in 1905, exclusive of wool, hides, or live stock. Professor Olin of the State Agricultural College estimates that there are over two hundred thousand acres in Colorado which produce crops without irrigation, by the application of Professor Campbell's "dry-farming" system. The so-called dry land, consisting of millions of acres in Eastern Colorado, averages now four dollars per acre, where one year ago untold quantities could be bought for an average of two dollars per acre. The speculative value of this land has gone up wonderfully under the impetus of the Campbell system of dry farming. If this system comes anywhere near proving the claims of its advocates, it will vastly increase the wealth and population of the state. With a greater understanding of the science of dry culture it is certain that the farmers of the state and the state generally will experience immeasurable advantage. In the eastern plains of Colorado are embraced more than fifteen million acres of land which are now lying practically useless, only a small amount being utilized for ranging cattle. The claims of dry-culture enthusiasts and those who have been experimenting with seed imported to meet the dry conditions are, that this empire will be made to yield harvests which will support many thriving communities. In proof of their claims they point to so-called model farms established at various places on the plains where the hitherto unyielding soil has borne substantial crops.

One important feature in the agricultural development of Colorado is the extinction of the bonanza ranch of thousands of acres. Instead, farms are reduced to manageable proportions, and are carried on far more largely by intelligent thought and scientific appliances than by mere manual labor.

The present day Colorado ranch is an all-the-year-round enterprise. The ranch owner is a careful business man, who watches his acres and the products thereof even as the successful merchant or manufacturer acquires close knowledge of all the details of his business. He sows his land with diversified crops, rotating hay, grain, and root crops scientifically for the double purpose of securing the greatest yields and preserving the nourishing qualities of the soil. Keeping in touch with the market conditions of the world, and with the advancing developments of science, he is easily the master of the situation, and in no part of the country is the condition of the farmer better, or perhaps so good, as in Colorado. The agriculturist of the Centennial State who is the owner of two quarter sections, or even of one, is altogether independent. The returns from his business are absolutely sure, and with the certain knowledge of substantial gains at the end of the season he plans improvements to his home, and comforts and even luxuries for himself and family, which far exceed those usually secured in the Middle West or by the small farmers of the East. In Colorado it will be found that almost every young man and woman of those who are natives of the state are college graduates. Co-education prevails, just as does the political enfranchisement of women, and the results of this larger extension of the opportunities and privileges of life are very much in evidence in the beauty, the high intelligence, and the liberal culture that especially characterize the women of Colorado.

Irrigation enterprises in Colorado are far more widely recognized than is the Campbell system of dry culture; but in 1905 these enterprises appealed with increased force to capitalists outside, as well as within Colorado, as a safe and profitable means of investment. Land held at ten dollars per acre is, by irrigation, instantly increased in value from twenty to fifty dollars; and it was seen that the most favorable localities within the state in which to raise funds for further extension of irrigation were among the farmers in the older irrigated sections who have won their ranches, improved their places, and made large deposits in the banks through the use of the productive waters trained to make the soil blossom with wealth.

Irrigation is developed to its highest excellence in Northern Colorado and in the valley of the Arkansas River. These regions have been the longest under irrigated culture, and their value is increasing rapidly. Each year sees the agriculturist grow more conservative in his use of water, and the quantity thus saved has been applied to new lands. Thus, in an interesting and quite undreamed-of way, a problem that incited discord and dissension, that promised only to increase inevitably as larger territories of land and their correspondingly increased irrigation should be held, was brought to a peaceful solution. Continued litigation, and a great pressure to secure legislative restrictions of the use of water supply, and the constant irritation and turmoil involved in these disputes, were all, happily, laid to rest by the discovery of the farmers themselves that extravagance in the use of water was not conducive to their own prosperity. In the matter of flood waters the irrigation experts of the state are quite generally meeting the condition in their own way. Storage reservoirs are dotting the irrigation systems at frequent intervals, and in the dry months the supply piled up behind the cement dams is drawn off to furnish the final necessary moisture for the maturing of the crops.

Another possibility of irrigation that is receiving the attention of engineers is the utilization of the streams for power purposes. In many cases the power thus generated will be made to accomplish marvellous feats in the way of construction, as in the instance at Grand River, already described.