New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1871-12-07
Letter from Denver, Colorado.


To the Editor Of the New National Era !:
The pressure of business since my return
from my lecturing tour has delayed my article
on the agricultural prospects and resources o.
Colorado; and fear that want of time VIII
prevent me from doing justice to this important
subject. l shall, however, endeavor to give
you the result of my experience of sevsrai years
in Colorado, and my observations during my
recent tour through the Territory.
regret to say that during my Trip never
saw. met. or heard of any colorcd farmers, and
the only ones that have any knowledge OF
are in the vicinity of Denver, aud there are
only four or five of them. As surprising as
this may be to your readers, it is, nevertheless
true; aud there are good reasons Tor the same
When Colorado was settled, which was about
twelve years ago, colored people were excluded
from the right of presumption OF Government
lands. Again, Colorado was sought as
mineral, and not as an agricultural country
Thousands flocked to the mines hoping to
amass fortunes in few months, or in q year or
two at the furtbest. The result was that agrl'
culture was almost entirely overlooked and me-
elected. Those who turned their attention to
il were confronted with the most serious obsta-
cles to success. In the first place, the almost
total absence of rain during the summer season
makes irrigation indispensable. No prudent
farmer in this country will neglect to supply
himself with the artificial means Of raising q
crop, by the digging Of canals and bitches,
through which he can conduct from some
copious stream sufficient water for his farm
and this is generally attended with great deal
of outlay of capital. Some seasons here are
sufficiently wet to raise good crops without
resortpg to irrigation, but they seldom occur.
Dry weather is the general rule, wet the excep-
ton.
The reader will readily perceive from the
above statements that farming in Colorado
is attended with many difficulties and ex-
penses, and it will also be seen before the con-
clusion of this article, that when the farmer is
blessed with q good crop that his reward is
great The above facts are the excuses offer
to the public for so few colored farmers in Colo.
RADIO. In the State of Kansas, where the same
causes do not exist, there is a better state Of
things among our people IS agriculturalists
In my travels saw no colored men as mer-
chants or grocery dealers, but found them in
almost every other avocation belonging to the
industrial departments Of lfe-carpenters,
blacksmiths. miners. plasterers, masons, paint
ers, BARRIERS, stewards. porters cooks, walters,
teamsters, and common laborers.
There is not a colored shoemaker or tailor in
Colorado, and colorod mechanics of all kinds
are scarce, and in good demand.
As an evidence Of the thrift and prosperity
Of the colored people of this Territory, give
the following figures Our population is about
five hundred in this Territory, and our prop
erty, in the aggregate, is estimated at $500 900,
which makes an average of thousand dollars
to each colored inhabitant of the Territory.
From two hundred and fifty to three hundred
thousand dollars worth of this property is
owned in Denver and its suburbs, the remain
der is owned in Central City, Georgetown, and
in Summit county, consisting mostly Of mining
property and some real estate. As colored
citizen of Colorado, am proud of this show
ing of the thrift, industry, and enterprise Of
her colored people, and I will venture the
assertion, at the risk Of being called boaster,
that it cannot be excelled or surpassed by any
colored community in the United States, of
the same years Of standing and the same
population.
AS the colored people of the South are now
the victims, and have been ever since the war,
of the most cruel and bitter prejudice of the
rebel portion of the whites, by whom they have
been outraged and prosecuted in the most in.
human and fendish manner, their churches,
lighthouses, and barns burned, their crops
destroyed, and hundreds murdered, and who
are now looking with longing and fearful eyes
to the broad and distant West, whose virgin
soil is untrod by the foot of the oppressor or
the assassin, and unstained by innocent blood ;
where millions of untitled, fertile acres invite
the busbandmen to come and cultivate them,
and enjoy the fruits of their hard and honest toll
and to lay the sure and solid foundation Of a
glorious empire in the West-to all such ]
the Switzerland Of America, whose blue Italian
sky is the brightest, whose climate is the pur-
est and healthiest, whose soil is the richest and
most productive, whose resources, mineral and
agricultural, are boundless and inexhaustible.
only awaiting development, and whose noun
tain scenery is the grandest and most sublime
10 the world.
1t is not my aim or intention to exaggerate
or misrepresent Colorado, or its inducements
to emigrants. l shall simply state facts, and
allow the intelligent reader to form his own
opinion and judgment from the same, and act
accordingly. While do not urge any to come
20 this part Of the West unless they deem il
to their best interest, there is q class that
would insist upon staying away; and that is
all idlers aud drones the West is no place for
such persons. But for the selfreliant, indus.
trious, and enterprising, who are willing to
undergo the hardships and privatious of a
Western frontier life, the prospect is bright.
Those who contemplate coming to Colorado
to settle on Government lands will naturally
inquire for the best locations, the best soil,
and the best watered sections. All such lands
near Denver, and other towns of less import
ance, are already occupied and improved, and
are, therefore, beyond the reach of poor set
tiers But down in New Mexico, the southern
portion oil Colorado, in the Arkansas valley.
tnere are thousands of acres OF Government
land lying vacant, and this is considered the
best agricultural portion Of Colorado. and i.
rapidly Milling mp. A colony from Gsorg;s.
conposed of whites has