The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1885-04-24
Letter rom Colorado.
April 12, 1885.


April 12, 1885.
EDITOR CoLuMBrANi-The spring which is
the time when people generally look about
for something TO do or employment for the
summer season or lay their plans TO emf
CRATE, has arrived, which naturally makes
one feel more ambitious, moro like doing
something and looking for something to do.
Such is the case with every one though
more especially with farmers and common
labor classes than with the tradesmen who
generally have employment the whole year
round. The shifting about Of the people
in search Of employment or to better their
condition in the Western country is much
more noticeable than in the far East, so when
the people break up their homes in the
East TO come West they generally do II
with view OF betterng their condition
financially and when they come West they
find the West so large that they cannot
visit 1t all in day and so keep on roaming
from place to place, sometimes locating for
q year or two, then on learning OF some
other place which they imagine they would
like better sell out, often at great sacri-
fee to go hence. Such is the experience of
thousands OF men who who have disposed
OF good comfortable homes throughout the
older states of the East and come West and
by their shifting and roaming about have
lost all their means. An experience of eight
years in the different parts of the West has
taught us that the West is no better than
the east for one with roaming disposi-
ton. Colorado is full of that class of peo-
pie who have lost all their means by bad
speculation and by shifting from one place
to another in search of something better
and still continue to do so with the hope
that their luck will change by and by.
We wish to say to the many readers of the
COLUMBIAN more especially to the farmers,
that good comfortable home all paid for
in the beautiful valleys of Pennsylvania
where all the large and small fruits COM
mon to that climate grow and where fuel
and good pure sparkling streams of water
are in abundance and where want in real
ity is unknown, they have that which
thousands of people throughout the West
do not have or ever will have, but to those
who can afford to take trip through the
West CWest of the Missouri river we wish
to say that it would afford them much
pleasure to see how the people do their
farming and how they get along generally
under the many Inconvenience which they
have to put up with With many it is Il
matter of make e-shift sort of getting along
the whole year round. Many of the farm
ers and even villagers live in shanties that
would not be considered fit for pig pen
in Pennsylvania and many even live in
dug.outs. A dug.out is an excavation
made like cellar for a house without be-
ing walled up and a roof is placed over the
excavation and is generally all in one room
and of course comprises the kitchen, din
ing room and bed room.
There is very little government land left
for settlement whcie the climate is fit for
white man to live the whole year round
and where there is sufficient rainfall to
grow crops. There is still some good land
left in some of the valleys of Colorado, New
Mexico, Utah and Oregon but it is quite
expensive to open out ranch, Qarm) as
the land must be irrigated in order to pro-
duce crops of any kind. Farming in co..
orado and in the valleys of the Rocky
Mountain ranges is much more expensive
than in the East as the ground must first
be irrigated before it can be plowed and
the crops must be irrigated twice and often
three times before they are matured, but
where the soil is rich good crops are always
assured. The principal crops grown are
oats and potatoes for the market.
In some parts of the country where there
are mills established tor grinding wheat
anu making flour there is considerable
wheat grown. Peas are grown to a consi-
derable extent for home use in feeding
and fattening hogs. Some of the ranch
men of this valley make a specially of
raising hogs and feed them on peas princi-
pally and upon which they thrive and fat
ten rapidly. The pork fattened on peas is
of fine flavor. The peas are sown broad
cast on ground well prepared early in the
spring and when ripe the ranchman drags
them together into windrows with a team
attached to II drag g-rake which pulls the
vines up by the roots After being thus
gathered into windrows they are left to
dry thoroughly, when they are drawn to the
feeding ground and stacked in ricks from
which they are fed on the vines Of course
during the gathering process they shell
off great deal, but as there is no rain and
very little snow during the winter they re-
main firm and good, lying on the ground
and are gathered up by the stock hogs
which are allowed to roam over the fields
all winter For want of time will close
hoping to give you longer letter next time.
In my next will give your readers some
idea of the mines in this vicinity and how
the mining is done. H. G. FoULK.