The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1874-08-29
Superior. Auw. %. ISL

oupeIlOI, Aug. ~, . T.
The Times :. At the close of my
observations on Colorado &c, last
made, | alluded to the ample pas
lures controlled by individual stock
owners-why? because Of water, or
rather the want of water.
Not much moisture falls any way
snow or rain, away up at the top of
the watershed. Some of this gets
/ fixed as ice and snow in mid air
and never thaws and the wind
takes up some-often all-with its
hot breath. Whatever is left trick
les through the plains in feeble
streams, OF issues from the ground
IN few poor Sprlngs-wlde apart
and often tinctured with mineral
substances-a supply at its best sub
.iect TO be seriously diminished, and
III places often exhausted during
seasons Of drouth, as for instance
the present.
1t is clear then that acater is the
chief, and land a secondary consil-
Grafton. Only let your fiocks come
to drink once Il day and they may
Craze the Ienceless pastures at sweet
will without stint or limit-nobody
will disturb the possession after
questions Of water are settled.
The law of these matters is in
great part underlined and open yet.
A great many points vital to the
comfort, nay even 10 the existence
of dwellers upon the plains have
still to be fixed by the Supreme
Judges of the land. First in pos
session, best in right will be the
rule, think.
Take the people Of Greeley who
in 1870 sat down on the Cuche Ia
POu DIRE 80 miles from the mount
aims. The stream was fine, large
and ample for Greeley then, is now,
and would be for all time. But
since 1870 other colonies and set
Elements have moved in above, and
are using up the water, so that the
city Of the philosopher, $500 strong.
has gone dry; nor is their thirst
even tantalized by the conditions OF
the good rhyme 4" water, water all
around and not a drop to drink"
I One o. the inhabitants writing
says, "the Great American desert
crowds up to the furrows, being
9 brown, dry, desolate, covered with
:" Jhe short gramma grass, AID emil
"vened only by the prairie dogs, as
"they sit barking by their dwell
"lings. Although the sun shone
g day after day with a fierce glare,
IA pail of blackness seemed to cover
Gus, and with inexpressibIe sadness
"we saw tender vegetation withel
"and recent paintings Of young for
'est trees perish"
BY the law of priority the city OF
Denver is ahead Of the farmers i'll
the Platte valley below. Denver at
%, 900 is pinched for water. What
will lit be at 30, 900; and what then viii
/ become Of the rancheman and his
rancho, when not even a thread OIL
thrum of water shall escape past the
city?
So Colorado springs, Il beautiful
place Of 5000 inhabitants depends
upon two rivulets, and requires so
much water, that a little gristmill
further down has applied for an in
junction to restrain the towns Peo-
pie from diverting the water.
! I have said enough to suggest to
your mind the pricelessness of wa
ter in this region for all purposes and
uses that ear be named, whether for
the pastures, the fields or the towns.
The aqueous, being least Of the four
prime elements, nevertheless strange
ly gives laws, methods, institutions
and character to the country.
Though the great cutters, as the
Mississippi and the like, are filed
to overfowing, and the people along
side are happy for the chance Of a
chimney or Il tree top to cling to, III
{ flood time, vet in Colorado we read,
"Many are the instances where men
"were ont 20 hours in the "A IN or
" der to divert little water from
"the canal on to their parched