The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1871-07-28
GREELEY AND IRRIGATION.

GREELEY AND IRRIGATION.
The establishment of a colony in
Colorado, in pursuance of the pet
scheme of Horace Greeley, and to de-
monstrate the truth of what he knows
about farming, the leading idea of
which is irrigation, according to the
account given of the colony by A. p.
Miller, of the Toledo Blade, in the is
sue of that paper of the 10th inst, Is not
likely to prove successful. Of the town
of Greeley, Mr.. Miller says:
A little more than \ year ago there was not
q house Of any kind in sight OF where 1 am
writing-not q tree nor shrub nor any living
vegetationSexcept q little half-starved looking
tus, and you would have said that any one
proposing TO locate q town and q colony on
such desert site as this was crazy.
Were they!
Let us see: On that desert site there stand
to-day not less than three hundred houses,
among them = neat and commodious church,
good school house, town hall, three or four
hotels, and printing office, from which is is
sued weekly the Greeley Tribune, paper
largely devoted to the interests OF the colony.
Many miles Of canals have been dug from
which water is carried through every street
and into every garden and lot in the village.
The cactus, the sage brush and the starved.
looking prairie grass have been turned under,
and in their stead, we see potatoes, cabbages
and other garden stuff, and small fields OF
corn, oats and wheat. There is an intelligent
and moral population here Of not less than fif-
teen hundred, and there is not shop, store,
saloon or any other place where Intoxicating
liquors Of any kind are sold, and 1t is the only
town or village have seen in the west Of
which this can be said. Generally liquor
shop is among the first, If not the very first,
building erected as soon as town Is laid out,
and often they can't wait to put up building,
but stretching some cheap muslin over pole,
and writing in rude letters, SALOON" over
the door, they commence business. / have
seen scores Of just such concerns in these new
western towns.
But there are none of them In Greeley. They
have made several attempts TO get foothold
here, but have always been met in such q way
as to assure them that 1t would be very I'M
healthy for them to come. ''They shall be
kept out-peaceably if we can, forcibly II we
mus" is the platform unanimously adopted,
OF the people Of Greeley on this subject. And
thus far they have lived up to this platform
religiously. 1t would be n glorious thing for
many other, indeed all, of these new towns
If they would adopt the same platform, and
live up to it as the people OF Greeley have
done.
1t has been said by those who sneer at Gree
ley that sit is a town built on moral ideas and
agriculture" Well, that's good foundation
to build a town on, isn't it? At any rate /
wish more of our towns were built on the same
foundation. If they were their prosperity
would be more lasting, and we wouldn't see
so many Of them exhibiting signs OF decay, or
at least Of being finished.
But after circulating among the people and
talking with large number of them, l am
compelled to believe that the prevailing feel
ing among them Is one of doubt and discour-
agement as to the future, and that this feeling
is rapidly growing. And what is worse than
all their fears seem to be well founded.
Plainly stated, they have attempted to build
town on "moral ideas and agriculture" and
the agricultural part Of the foundation has CIV
en- way-failed.
They have SasYn Of fifteen hundred inhabi-
tants. 1t Is what you would call q nice town.
These little rills OF clear sparkling water rum
ming through all the streets. have most re-
freshing appearance, and you feel like stop
ping every block or oftener, to gaze upon them
and listen to their gentle murmur. But hf
teen hundred people can't live ON that sort of
thing, and have not been able, among all the
people have talked with, to find one who
could tell me where the business Of the town
is to come from. They can't live simply by
trading among each other, they have no manu-
features, and there isn't land enough in culti-
walton around here to support one-fourth the
people who somehow have got to be sup
ported.
The general opinion is here that q man can
irrlgate about one acres per day.-Some say
more, but the prevailing opinion Is that this is
about the average. All crops grown here re-
quire irrigation at least twice during the
spring and summer, and sometimes oftener.
Now, in the corn 81 owing States 1t Is colculat-
ed that one man can cultivate forty acres OF
| that crop and do it well. Suppose he UNDER
takes that here. H0 gets his corn planted by
| the 10Th of May and begins to irrigate, and 1t
will take him every day until the Sd of August,
| without deducting Sundays, TO irrigate his
| crop twice. If you talk to any sensible Ohio,
| Indiana or Illinois farmer about raising corn
| in this way, he Will laugh at you and set you
down as a simpleton. He knows that no man
can afford to do It,.
| In conclusion on this subject have only to
add that for farming on very small scale, If
| men can be content to farm in that way, and
/ for gardening, irrigation may be used with
success. potatoes and all kinds of garden stuff
/ thrive wonderfully under it, and those who
| want to 90 into this business can do well at 1t
here. But 1t is at least hundred and hfty
years too soon to attempt it on other crops in
i this country.
| While there are still unoccupied millions OF
acres of as good land as ever was ploWed, and
| which needs no irrigation except that which
/ is furnished by the generous rains OF heaven,
| 1t Is folly for people to come out mere and
spend thousands of dollars upon canals and
bitches, and when these are all made spend
| more time in getting the water over theiI
l crops than an eastern farmer will spend III the
entire cultivation Of them.
Thus the people of Greeley find them
selves in sad condition. Remote from
all that makes community happy and
prosperous, they have worked and are
working hard, their means invested, land
for a poor return for their labor, te
make homes for themselves and theiI
children. If their theory OF irrigation
shall prove success, even, what have
they in their life time to hope for il
the matter of wealth and commercial
interests? Men see that farms may b
made and crops raised with less labol
in localities less expensive to reach
within easy reach of markets for theil
produce, where the soil will respond Il
its simple overturning with tho pillow
and dropping of seed with bountifu
crops-where farms will scarcely b.
opened until farms on all sides shat
be opened and add to their value, ant
the owners can have the assurance o
spending the latter days of their live
in ease and comfort, and at their dealt
know that their children are heirs t
something to ''set up" in business o
housekeeping with. Instead of exilinI
themselves like the Greeleyites, let emf
grants turn their faces to Kansas
where they can get farms and put u
houses on them for the difference be
tween the cost of moving to and put
ting up houses in Kansas and Colorad
: respectively, and at the same time rea
y 1 - Is,,o -. -oo,~ A. oo-,1