The daily sentinel., 1900-09-13
Continued from Third page.

Orchards, 4,1SI acres, ulNiueu Anso
apples that yielded 23,642 bushels,
pears 5,91s bushels, peaches 41,766
bushels.
Acreage in small fruits, 19A.
Blackberries, 4, 145 quarts.
Currants, 1901 quarts.
Gooseberries, 1859 quarts.
RaspberrIes, II, ,144 quarts.
Strawberries, 1869 quarts. 900
The report on cheese shows oVo
pounds made; on butter, II, ,SS6 pounds
In bees there were 1890 hives, yield
ing 6O,559 pounds of honey.
The wool report shows 4,o3Z sheep,
with wool shorn of 16SO5O pounds.
In live stock the report shows 1,5oS
dairy cows, Ass horses, 12O mules
II, ,492 cattle and 932 hogs.
People everywhere have dislike TO
giving information to the assessor, and
it can be said with assurance that
twenty-five per cent. could be added to
acreages and yields ana stlll De "ltnih
the limit of fact.
The property valuations on which
taxes are levied fixed the values in
Mesa county for last year at S2,6O4,-
475. This, on a one third basis, would
give nearly eight millions of dollars
as the actual value of lands and i'm
proyeNents-all created in eighteen
years.
But we are getting away from the
valley proper. of which it is desired to
give clear statements, although only
in outline, as fair sized volume could
easily be filled with the story of its
progress from barren lands to fertile
farms and productive orchards.
1t is probable that there are one
hundred miles of running water under
the canal system of the valley, count
ing the main canals, laterals and
branches These, since the extension
beyond Fruita, in the lower valley, of
a canal west of the Salt Wash, cover
10000 acres of land, less than one
fourth of which is in actual cultiva-
ton. From Palisades on the east to
Fruita on the west, distance OF
twenty-three miles. there will come
time when the entire area will be oc-
cupied by settlers on small farms OF
ten and twenty acres, raising decidu-
Gus and small fruits to supply the
markets of the state and to ship to
eastern points; raising sugar beets for
the one factory now in existence and
for others that are yet to be con-
structed; raising vegetables and berries
for the canning factories that should
even now be in existence, one at
Palisades and one at Fruita; for, while
large farms have about them a certain
fascination for man, still it is in evil
dence that smaller areas, under in
tense culture, can be made more
profitable. And 1000 families, each
with twenty-acre home from which
to derive subsistence, could easily be
placed upon the unOccupied lands now
under canal, and thus prepare the way
for still further subdividing the waste
places that stretch backward to the
Little Book Cliffs. by a high line
canal which, when constructed, will
put the best land in the valley in the
possession of the settler. The warm
sandy loan soil above the present
canals will hold the great fruit
orchards of the future.
The $1,000 acres of bearing and non
bearing trees could easily have an
other cipher added to them in ten
years If the fruit-growers in Eastern
states could be brought to realize the
advantages possessed by Grand valley,
aside from fertility of soil. The quail
ity of fruit raised is of so fine a
flavor as to surprise the pOmOlOgtsts
who investigate the matter. Why was
it that in 1888, five years after the first
eeplanting Mesa county captured
first premiums for apples and pears
at the National Horticultural fair held
that year in Chicago? Quality ruled,
and the almost unknown valley on the
Pacific slope came to the front in a
way which, more than any other, led
to the great increase in the orchard
acreage during the Immediately sue
ceeding years.
There was once an active board Of
trade in Grand Junction that heralded
abroad the opportunities there We're for
securing lands at low prices, the eli
matte advantages that ruled, the Sc
curity that followed cultivation by ir-
rigation, the openings for business. and
above all, the many undeveloped re-
sources and industries that waited the
coming of the business man with capi-
tai, the former with energy, the fruit
grower with experience. The city, now
more than ever, has need Of such an
organization in which, for one common
purpose, the business interests will
stand together and its representative
men act in harmony for the general
good of all and not for the advance
ment of particular cliques. Holding to
one common purpose, what factor for
progress such board of trade could