Rocky Ford enterprise., 1897-09-09

IHE BEAUTIFUL
,0RDWAY COUNTRY
An Afternoon In Its Grain and ALI
alta Fields.
, When in Ordway recently e. @.
Graham, secretary Of the Colorado
Land and Water Co., took US a
drive to the northeast of town.
Water was plentiful in the ditch
es and everything looked prosper
Gus. Our first stop was at the
Greeley farm on which we found
alfalfa harvest in full blast, 100
acres being cut. This farm has
turned of q big lot of produce this
year. About $50 acres were in
oats and wheat, the former yield
ing 80 the latter 25 bushels to the
acre.. One thousand bushels of
oats had just been threshed. One
select spot in the oats field
threshed 80 bus. per acre. This
portion of Otero county has soil
which is specially we'll adapted to
the production of a high grade of
grains of all kinds.
They get the most possible good
out Of the soil on the Greeley
farm. Alfalfa is turned under and
a wheat crop sowed. After the
wheat is cut and stacked the field
is well watered and the alfalfa is
found to have maintained its vital
ity to such an extent as to allow q
good crop of hay to be cut the
same season that a big yield of
wheat was secured from the field.
And occasionally two crops Of alf-
alfa seed are secured. When q
new field is to be seeded this work
is done at the same time the grain
is drilled in.
From the Greeley farm we drove
to Lake Henry, or reservoir No.
!. This is q fine body of water.
abounding in fish and covering
about two sections Of land. A dam
is proposed which will raise the
level of the water, and when COM
pleted the lake will be nine miles
in circumference, by far the larg-
est body OF water in southern Col
orado. The Colorado Land & We
ter Co. have under this lake 15, 1000
acres Of rich land for which the
reservoir can be made to furnish q
reliable water supply. The COM
pany's lands are offered for sale
for hom $50 to S45 including a
perpetual water right. Most of
the lands offered by the company
are fenced and have been seeded
to alfalfa. The water right carries
with it an obligation to pay a
proportion of the annual operating
expenses of the canal. The maxi
mum amount of this expense is 20
cents per acre.
Lake Henry is one Of six reser-
voir sites owned by the company
along the line of their canal. It
is these and similar reservoirs
throughout the valley that are to
be relied upon for such a water
supply as shall every year insure
bountiful harvests.
On the return trip we came by
the farm of the late w. F. Boyd
which had evidences of large yields
of wheat and alfalfa. The farm
of VIM. Farr of Greeley came next.
He also has big stacks of wheat
and alfalfa. From this point We
had a fine view Of q splendid body
Of land to the south and west. In
fact all of the Ordwsy region 10 a.
handsome a country from an agri-
cultural standpoint as can be i'm
,agined and it lays at . gentle slope
most favorable for irrigation.
d. O. Roberts was not 1t home
and We looted some very fine
plums from his orchard. But the
trees were 80 heavy laden that he
never missed tine fruit taken. Mr..
Roberts has q promising orchard,
but in his farming he is especially
strong ON dairy COWS and wheat
and has had uniform success.
Ordway is now supplied with
water from q reservoir connected
with the canal, which gives good
pressure through q system of
pipes. But this is soon to be i'm
proved upon. A fine artesian well
has been drilled at great expense
and q generous supply Of the fin
est water secured. Unfortunate
ly the underground strata is such
that the water does not flow. This
difficulty is now being overcome
by the erection of q large wind
mill and huge tank. These i'm
provenSents will soon be completed
and the town have water supply
hard to excell. The benefits Of
the artesian we'll will be enjoyed
not only by the town but facilities
will be provided 90 that farmers
can easily fill tanks for conveying
to their homes. So great has been
the expense of the we'll that the
companv can not consistently fur.