Delta chief., 1883-04-18
wHAr Will. Grow mERE?

WHAT WILL. GROW HERE?
To this question there is but one answer to
make: Almost anything in the agricultural
line and in the way of fruits, a possibility
that all kinds can be successfully grown.
The frst assertion his been practically
demonstrated. On one ranch was raised
corn, al:alis, potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots,
parsnips, cabbage, onions. tomatoes, beans,
squash, peas, cucumber.. lettuce, musk and
watermclons, and radishes. The domestic
grasses all grow by irrigation-timothy, blue
top, clover, Hungarian millet. etc. Potatoes
weighing six and half pounds we're raised
on the North Fork, and green corn and mel.
cns were furnished to the Gunnison market.
Last year Odessa wheat yielded over 80 bush
els to the acre, oats from 80 to 20 bushels and
potatoes from roo to 400 bushels Ii can be
safely asserted that all the cereals and vegc-
tables suited TO a temperate zone may be
raised. II may be that here, as in the valleys
on the eastern slope Of the Rocky Mountains,
that the intense winter warmth followed by
sudden extremes Of cold, may be fatal to fruit
culture; but soil and climate matching that
soil and climate where the peach and apricot
flourish to perfection are thought to be here.
Young apple trees set out last spring grew
from fif,een to ,hirty-siS inches during the
season.
STOCK.
The pla;caus, or grand meSaS, as they are
commonly called, drained By the tributries
Of the Gunnison and uncompahgre rivers, is
fine cattle country. There are great mesas
sluping down from the foot of the ranges,
containing hundreds of thousands of acres OF
fine, rich, alluvial soil, which in summer, as
far the eve eau reach, is one great waving
sea Of grass resembling bluc,joint, but in
reality gramma grass. Here are vast ranges
vet To bc occupied, and TO become thp stock
growing paradise In winter stock can be
run in the valley country below these high
mesas, where bunch.grass abounds and but
little snow il met with, save in exceptional
winters Last year profit of 50 to 100 per
cent. was made on stock. Mich cows are
from $50 TO SIS; stock cows, SS5; work oxen,
Sio0 to SIPS per yoke beef, 5 to 10 ccnts per
pound; sheep, $3.50 TO 81; horses, $75 to
500; mules, 500 to $3.50; ponies, $50 to $50.
GAME.
Gamc.can he found here in great abuud-
ancc. 1t is estimated that last winter fully
5000 deer were killed within few miles of
Delta. Rabbits, ducks, geese, plovcrs, cur
lews grouse and lrairie chickens, beside the
larger game, such as elk, deer, and several
varieties of bear, are found in every direction.
Mountain sheep can be found ON the higher
mountain ranges. The streams are full of
spccklcd trout and salmon, affording fine
sport for the manipulator Of the line and fly,
COAL.
Delta is in the ncighborhood Of twenty
miles from Smiths Fork, North Fork, and
Surface creek, where coal deposits are cxtcu.
sivc, and the quality equal to tina, of Penn
sylvania. by analyses make by experienced
mctalurgists in the East, the bituminous coal
contains 15 per cent. of carbon aud but u
small percentage of.ash and moisture; the
anthracite coal contains from SIS TO 9S per
cent. carbon. For 800 miles east and l 200
west this coal is not found. As has been well
must depend upon these deposits. A country
larger than all the States east of the Missouri
river, the future millions must look to this
area for their supply of anthracite" Some
day the Pttsburg of the West will he found
within easy distance of Delta, furnishing
market for the produce raised in the valleys
and mesa lands adjoining the town. Coal
outcrops all the way down the valleys.
THE MARKETS,
All the mining camps west of the Divide