Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1878-07-19
WESTERN WANDERINGS.
DENVER, COL, July 9, 70.

NOp He
DENVER, COL, July 8, 70.
Mr.. EDITOR Col, is an old
Spanish town, built in the first instance
by Mexicans, and many of the old houses
are adobe. 1t is now the western term
mus of the A., T. 4 S. F. r. r., and is
an intermediate station on the Denver
and Rio Grande r. r. From this point
the D. Il r. G.. have road up the can
on Of the Arkansas to Canon City, 40
miles. This is a narrow guage road,
which is the road for these mountains;
but why they could not have built a
road Of the ordinary grade up the valley
from Pueblo to Denver is not so plain.
There is nothing in the lay of the coun-
try that would have prevented it.
We left Pueblo at 2 P. NJ, Denver
time. On our right extended out as far
as we could see, dry country 1t look
ed as desolate as desert. The buffalo
grass was ripe, aud is about the color of
the soil, and thus presented the appear
ance OF land destitute of verdure. In
some places the prickly pear showed its
green leaves, with the red blossoms at
the apex of the leaves, giving variety to
the prospect and adding charm to the
scenery. To the left were the noun
tains. [ presume the foot hills inter-
vened, but to one who sees these noun
tains for the first time, when he looks
at them with only the foot hills between
he forgets the foot hills; the mountains
are all he sees when he looks in that d.
rection. After having looked at the
mountains for some time, l noticed that
along the cultivated fields there were
little bitches in which water flowed, and
sometimes the road crossed larger
bitches in which -was running quite a
body Of water A little further on
saw man standing in a field in which
was growing corn, smaller than that
seen in Iowa, with a spade, and the wa
ter running through small ditch to
near where he stood and then spreading
itself out over the field. 1t occurred to
me that l had heard that they had to
irrigate their land in order to raise q
crop, and that these bitches and the wa
ter was part Of the system of irriga-
ton adopted. Then comes the inquiry
by whom. and how is it done. Further
observation showed me that along the
sides of the foot hills, winding in and
out with their advances into the plain
and retreats toward the mountains, had
been constructed large bitches that took
the water from the streams at higher
point and carried it out on to the lands
beyond the rainfall; that these bitches
are several miles in length and carry a
flow OF water several feet wide and from
two to three feet deep; that from these
large bitches at certain points is taken
out water into smaller bitches, and these
carry it along at an intervening level;
and from these lesser bitches again is
taken still smaller amounts of water in.
to bitches that run along the upper sides
of fields that are under cultivation; and
down through the fields at convenient
distances are constructed other still
smaller bitches; that when the farmer
wanted to irrigate his field, he went to
the ditch on the upper side of it and
with spade or shovel cut place
through the bank where one of his
small lateral bitches impinged upon it
and let out as much Of a stream of wa
ter as he needed then he went down the
lateral ditch distance such as suited
him and with spade cut out one OF
both sides of this ditch, using the earth
to make dam across the channel. The
water flows out over the land among
the corn, wheat, oats, grass, or whatever
crop he is raising. When it is watered
sufficiently, he removes the dam, builds
up the banks at that point and goes fur
Their down, cuts the banks, dams the
stream and waters that ground; and sc
on until the section traversed by this
ditch is completely watered. Then he
repairs the ditch on the upper side Of
the field where he had cut it and went
on to his next lateral ditch and repeated
the process. This he does until his
whole field is watered. If he has Other
fields they are watered in the same way
This process is carried on by all who
raise grain, vegetables, or anything or
this land east of the foot hills. If q
man wishe7 to grow trees on this land
he must provide them with constant
stream of water running along near theil
roots. In this way, and in no other, will
anything that is useful grow on these
lands.
When these lands are properly irriga
ted the people claim that they will pro
duce abundant crops. AS far as ou1
observation extended, should say thai
with proper irrigation, the lands lying
east of the mountains would be as fer
tile as any of the lands in Iowa, Nilsson
ri or Eastern Kansas now are. Without
it nothing but cactus, buffalo grass anG
&C will hn
there are several bitches carrying water
for irrigating purposes out on to these
lands. The companies constructing the
bitches charge for the use of the water
There are lying beyond the reach Of
these bitches, millions of acres of lanG
now uninhabitable. There are hundreds
of millions Of barrels of water coming
down out of these mountains that run
away to the gulf without benefting any
one, that might by proper system be
distributed over these thirsty lands and
drank by them, and thus these now arid
hills and dales would be made to bud
and blossom as garden. To do this is
such an undertaking as no corporation
would be likely to 60 into, and it ought
not to be left to private corporations
1t ought to be done by the State or gen
eral government. This water can be ia
ken from these streams long after it has
served the purpose of the miner and the
smelter, and be used for irrigation. 1t
would damage no one if three fourths OF
the water now running into the Platte
and the Arkansas was thus used. The
Platte is not navigable and the naviga-
ton of the Arkansas is of but little use
to the world, and even the Missouri, be-
low Sioux City, has ceased to be of any
Importance to the commercial world
So it would be putting these waters to
some useful purpose to turn them on to
this dry land and allow it to be benefited
by the contact. The manner of accom-
plishing this I will not now discuss.
But permit me to say to our Greenback
Antimonopoly Reform National friends
that here is field on which they can
60 before the country with an assurance
that the world will be benefited by the
results of their labors, in case they &C
complish the object. But the question
comes up, who will ever see the works?
and won't the parties appointed to SUI
perintend it grow suddenly as rich as
the canal commissioners of New York?
or the cotton commissioners of the late
unpleasantness time? or some of our
Indian agents? In case, however, the
new party should get into power, it is
presumable that they would appoint
none but honest (?) men to Office. Hav-