Delta chief., 1884-12-24
DELrA-pREsENr AND FUTURE.
A Visitors Impressions of the Pros
poets OF Our Town.


| the landscape when first we set foot on Delta
soil, and as the ever-obliging conductor
handed us off the train, the impression on
our mind was quite in accordance with his
consoling remark, every lonesome place to
be landed in the night" Taking the time to
! investigate the prospectus of the town and
country around about, what do we find to
make Delta desirable place to locate? The
town is but as yet in its infancy. l have
| learned that it is scarcely three years since
| the camp-fires of the savage Utcs were seen
cleaning in the valleys. Some towns, like
children, are slow of growth, but slow and
sure is better than great boom with little to
back it. You would scarcely expect that "A
three wear old would have little more than
learned to walk.
Delta, rightly named, and beautiful in sit
uation, is located on wide plain at the juno.
tion of the Gunnison and Uncompahgre riv-
ers, under the very shadow of the Rockies,
and closely surrounded by mesas which will
in time make the finest possible places of
residence With great facilities for mills and
manufactures, with a rich farming and graz
ing country around, with the well-timbered
valleys along the river basins, with its many
noted and rich mines within radius of from
fifty to n hundred mics, making good home
market; with a climate so mild and health
full that sickness is scarcely heard of, what is
to discourage the new settler from thinking
he has at last hit upon the right spot for
making "his pile" and going back to his 'ain
countrie," if he wishes to, in the distant fu-
ture; or what is to hinder him from settling
here with the intention of growing up with
the place and helping to make it, living and
dying where he made his fortune? He will
find as warm hearts here to make him well
come as anywhere; he will find people ms
well educated and refined, though living, it
may be, in the most uncongenial surround.
ings. What it wants in man or woman is a
little faith in the future, good deal OF pa
tience with present surroundings, plenty OF
backbone and willingness to ''put the shoul-
der blades to the wheeI," !" and then, as the cow
boys say, "get the men here that are chock
| full of sand" which may mean, / suppose,
the men of large brains, clear grit, and plen-
| ty of capital to back it, and there will be no
need of boom to make things grow.
| At the present season of the year we al
ways nd the prospects for the new settler
look the darkest. The first crops IN new
soil are not much to boast of, and there is
chance for one to come out "spring poor"
| and when the larier is liable to give out then
indeed rs the time when person needs strong
encouragement, especially if he is paying
| large interest on borrowed capital. Then is
the time when he will begin to think there
are better places to live in. How often in
my own experience, when changes seem to
come, have / learned lesson from the faith
ful sculptor of Lucerne, of whom the poet
wrote:
We often fail, by seeking far and wide.
| For what lies close at hand, TO serve our turn;
| We ask fair wind and favorable tide,
| From the dead Danish sc:ilptor let US learn
| To make occasion not to be denied;
| Against the sheer, precipitous mountain side,
| lhorwalsdcn carved his Lion ut Lucernc.
| We have visited u number Of the ranches
| in this section and we find the people, almost
without exception, in hopeful frame of
mind in regard to the future of Delta. The
| crops have been as good could be expect
| ed, considering the incomplete state of the
| bitches for irrigation, of which a large num-
ber are being put through or repaired the
| present winter. The climate being so mild
here renders it possible for the farmers to do
n large share of the work at this season, 80
there is little time for "playing off" with
the busy ranchman.
/ At present there is a light fall of about
three inches of snow, which old settlers say
| is the heaviest they have known since COM
ing here. 1t is o well known fact that chang
es in climate are produced by changes in the
country. Irrigation in any country produces
greater fall of rain or snow year by year.
Old settlers of Utah have told me the climate
| was much colder there in winter than !. used
to be, and the rainy season is longer.
Will the citizens Of the county seat Of Del
ta county fail to reach the Ultima Thule Of
their hopes, lose their ambition and settle
down to u mediocre way of carrying out their
plans? Should that be the case they might
wake up some fine morning and find an en-
terprising ranchman ON the North Fork, or
some other unthought-of place, had induced
the newly formed town to "move over" 1t
does not take long to "pull up stakes"in this
| country. We have in mind sad instance Of
this kind In town we once lived in, where,
to the great surprise of the old settlers, and
especially to the 'big man" Of the town, who
had his university, church and school lots all
located, to seeathe houses rapidly ~springing
up on the opposite side of the river, where
| thei1 0itncss part was afterward located. His
f1jll for sale, and are likely to be for
II Bneration. A melancholy instance
| slle that "vauIting ambition may some