New-York tribune., 1870-10-18
UESFERN KANSAS COLORADO - INMJGR..
UON-THE UNION COLONY.

daylight on tuesday yesterday morning There ias
been ram at intervals throughout the past mouth
from the Rocky Mountains eastward while Kanss.
! 20 far westward as her settlements extend had !,
wet August and frequent rains since converting ts
dust OF her trodden ways into black, taIry mud.
very credtabe to the fertility OF her SOIL but most
revolving to human feet-in fact 10 all feet what
ever. Kansas has had no thoroughly dry Summer
since that of 1906 and though her last July and ,art
of August, quite dry she has suffered far leos
for water this year than New-England or southern
Ncw-YOrk. Her early vegetables especially potatoes,
are a light crop: the late ones have done well ard
were green and growing when | passed them. and
80 remained II presumed mp TO this mGning
when Colorado has had her first f1r-t
save on the river and creek bottoms a. I pre-
sumo has Kansas also.
passed through the Buffalo reVion on MONDAY;
and my best impressions of the average fertility of
its soil were fully confirmed by the testimony al
iOrded by the excavations for the Railroad. Water
only is needed to make This vast expause Of rol Z,
prairie yield abundant crops Of the small grains
vegetables and Of the most nutritious grasses. Aud
water may be had extensively by the simple process
of danming the many allucnts Of the Smoky Hill
Republican and Arkanaa,, and holding the abundant
floods OF Winter and early Spring TO nigate th,
plains and gentle slopes in May and June; an,
which. most crops viii take care OF themselyc,
Wells sunk to an depth OF hundred feet on
the crcss Of the frequent divides and each pumped
by the force Of windmill, will subserye the same
end in thousands OF localities where streams are
available And, when these fail, Artesan wells "
often be Tesorted to- each Of them su icing 10 NOISE
adequately square milo Of cultivation. OF cou
these will not be generally employel while milio
of acres remain vacant which cln be rendered are'
at far less cost but the child is tom who will
the Buffalo region whence the buffalo have
all but exterminated pretty thickly dotted y
dwellings surrounded by extensive farms, out-id
and between which wide ranges, less eliyibly :.
uatcd Will be pastured by eve multiplying herdst
| cattle.
Denver is better built but not larger than u
peoted to find her. Brick block. are rather the ro
than the exception and there is more trade in pro
| gress, more teams in the street trans
guests in the hotels, than / had anticipated. "
growth has been substantial, not rapid, since
her first log cabins were erected in the Autumn
of 1853 When ! first visited her, in June,
| | Judge that she had over one hundred Of Il
cabins: all of which have passed away or bee
| transformed, and she now has about 1000 house.
! and 1000 people. She has long made her ovf
| Flour ian excellent articel exclusively from
orado Wheat ground in mills run by water
| the South Platte; her first large Woolen Factory
inst gone to work and Is soon 10 be supplemented a.!
others; while her Coal is brought from ample mines
scorceIv twelve miles distant near which Iron Ore
| in abundance invites the attention Of industry and
enterprise. Our country has few beds OF Coal more
extensive than that which skirts for hundreds ot
miles the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains ana
proiferS cheap source OF power Tor every klhu oi
machinery. Denver Is Just beginning TO grow. ,
For the Mines OF Colorado, after long baiing the
| hopes they early excited, are at length begin
! ming fully to justify and realize them. 1 cannot
| doubt the testimony so amply pIOIered that very
rich veins of Silver as well as of Gold have recently
lo.y ont no fgT
| other streams heading near Longs Ieah, ana lha'
their Weld in 1870 very far exceeds that OF any pre-
vious year. vet will almost certainly be doubled In
1871. believe most OF those who WORK thelT own %
! mines are doing well: so are those who Work tha
mines of others; but as to the owners OF these itf
the writer hereof prefers to say nOthlng lneS are
recei wing handsome dividends, they VIII douDttssIet
| their friends know il. i conclude, however, that
nOn-resident stockholders in Colorado mines are not
| now being sWindled nearly 50 much as they lOIherp
| were. .e,,L, -,
Apart from herdsmen there is plentiful lack ~
| farmers throughout this territory holth ~, ~.
| Arkansas, and for an excellent reason. Inc sOll,
though rich needs irrgaton and irrigation IL an arr
which refuses to lend itself to retail operations 10
tap "A river, and divert portion OF ITS waters as ~
m0isten fields mile from its bank involves an out
lay of thousands of dollars; and such outlay very
few pioneer farmers are able to meet. \ tn0nSana M
of them may be able to pay 500 each wllle SlOOWO
well expended would secure 10 each all the water ne
needed but this involves Cooperation, for which lev
pioneers az yet thoroughly ripe; so lne fisn len
! delta between the North and South Plates ana tue
eastern base of the Rocky Mountains has, for tao
most part, yielded little except dry grass TO SATISFY
| human needs.
Union Colony las most of my readers are already
awaTel first organized by meetIi III Cooper H.
stitute last Autumn, whereby sett ment m the lar
West resolved on, and a committee OF three sent
out to explore and locate. location on one OF the
sources OF the Arkansas somewhat east of the base
| of the Rocky Mountain range. had been previously
| contemplated; but the committee, after extensive
travel inquiry and Obsery atiOn decided TO lOcae at
| the crossing of the Cache la POudre River by the
Denver Pacific Railroad, half way between Cheyenns
and Denver, and reaching from the South Platte up
| both sides of the Cache la Poudre for about Ten
miles and extending nearly as far north and south
along the railroad. Several older settlers, Wlthn
this of nearly one hundred square miles were
bought ont some Joined the colony Others were
simply let alone. while the land around them was
| bought of the Railroad Company or OF the Govern.
| ment payment by several hundred members Of
s. each for expenses and $3.50 for lands to be equit-
ably divided among the coOnists, formed the nnan-
| last April before any building but seventy
nine post-ofce had been erected members began 10
arrive some of them accompanied by their families.
! There was and isl railroad depot; there was no
| lumber no brick no lime and never tree IN sight
but few miserable cOton-woods sklrtlng the Cache
| la Poudre and the Platte, ana fading away In the
| distance Many failed to realize that no time had
| been allowed for erecting hotel ana other con-
veniences and that il was not possible 10 ouy every
thing with $50 per head; they wanted thelr moneys
| worth i'm land and then wanted II over again III
divers comforts and ACCOMMODATIONS. MOI hhdiie
ready made Eden, they speedy uocailPed, 9 aIIe
and fomenting all possible dlscOntent among III
| resident members. The colony has not yet realize
! its loss by their departure
| Of confse the far greater rnumberremaned. bougb
| and moved over habitatiOns from nelghb0ring Vi
agc called mp timber fIom every side, built in haste
and as well as they might accepted the profered
resignation OF the officers, and at reelected them
| by an overwhelming majority; ratified their uIl-
Authorized act in contracting for an uigating canal
ar ditch six miles long, whereby water from the
Cache Ia Poudre was brought into the embryo village
some time in May divided the land into building.
lots a the center. more lots surrounding these and
filling oui the mile square whereOn the village 10
planted: then liye-acre lots surround these for
mile on every side, beyond wE;ch are forty, eighty.
and one hundred -and-SiNtv-acre allotmcuts Tor