The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-04-21

t state can do Colorado seems able
to do.
'It has been admitted by Andrew
Carnegie that no mandatory in the
, United States can manufacture steel
more cheaply than it can be manu-
factured in Colorado. Colorado pos
sesses every advantage of the raw ma
terials and will in the day of large
manufacture possess superior advant-
ages of access to the markets of the
west
The industries that are carried on
extensively and which give employment
to thousands of men are such as the
wheat and flour industry, in which
forty-five Touring mills are engaged in
the state, having a total grinding ca
pacity of 1900 barrels per day. Paper
mills, which furnish a large part of the
market throughout Colorado and the
adjoining states. Cotton mills, which
have demonstrated the possibility of
successful manufacture of cotton fab
ric in the west.
Agriculture in every branch -four
| ishes and is today the foremost indus
| try, Offering particular inducements to
people of moderate means who ought to
follow an outdoor life.
The total area of the state is &c, 100000
! acres. Oh WHICH 1.JUU.UVU dClO CO 1t llOh
, under irrigation bitches and only 2,000,-
600 are under cultivation. There are
! 81. .O00, 900 acres of grazing land; 100000
acres of wooded land; 100000 acres Of
forest land, and about 100000 acres
Of arabic land which is susceptible of
! irrigation.
Under irrigation, with a constant
sun, there is no failure of crops, but
! large and abundant harvests are the
rule.
Fruit raising is becoming an i'm
portant industry, and the rare quality
of Colorado melons and peaches is
opening a large market for them in
! Chicago, St. Louis and all the large
cities of the country, including New
York.
Development of agriculture in Colo
RADIO since 1880 has been the wonder of
western civilization, and it has been
| accomplished by means of irrigation,
/ together with unequaled climate and
| soil.
Colorado, with an average annual
precipitation of rain and snow of only
about fifteen inches and considerably
| over 300 sunny days is, except close to
the streams too dry for agriculture, un-
/ less its naturally rich soil is artificially
/ irrigated. Since 1880, about 1900 miles
| of main irrigating canals, with an equal
mileage of lateral or distributing canals
have been constructed at a cost of $12,-
! 100000, by means of which the waters
of the rivers of lesser streams fed by
the melting snow and perpetual springs
of the mountains have been diverted to
supply the soil with moisture.
"First-Positive security against
drought.
'Second-Water supplied when need
ed and in stated amounts, regulated
amount being particularly necessary
with certain crops and certain soils.
''Third-Very frequently irrigating
water is great fertilizer.
"Fourth-Insufficient rainfall RENE
died by irrigation is of immense ad-
vantage to farmers in harvesting grain
and hay.
Great and vast as are the material
resources Of Colorado, and energetic as
are her people in following material
pursuits, it should not be concluded that
material things are paramount in the
minds of ColoradO's people.
Attractive gold and silver are to be
sure. and these, together with other
vast possibilities in industrial pursuits
which 1 have hastily sketched TO you,
have no doubt attracted worldwide at
tention to Colorado and Den
ver-Queen City of the Plains
indeed she is, but that which is
her chiefest glory and her unalloyed
THE people of Denver, and. indeed,
of all the state, have realized that there
are higher, nobler and ioftier a6pira-
| tons than the pursuit of precious met
ais. As a consequence, there has been
builded in Colorado public school sys-
tenn which, from the material and in
tellectual point of view, stands unsur-
passed in America. The school build
ings themselves stand unrivaled and
unsurpassed; the best and most pro-
gressive teachers that can be secured
find employment in the schools of the
state.
"Colorado's climate is noted for it's
dryness, its sunshine and it's temperate
ness. Put in a professional way, these
characteristics are diminished baro-
metric pressure, dryness of the atmoS-
phere, almost complete absence of fog,
great amount of sunshine, attenuated
atmosphere, moderate wind movement
and large amount of electricity
The average number of sunny days
is extremely high. The sun shines sixty
four hours out of every 100 it is above
horizon: $40 out of 365 is the average.
ChicagO's average is 1S9, 56 per cent of
all possible sunshine; Philadelphia only
81 per cent.
The drynees of the climate is pro-
verbal. The average mean relative hu-
midity is only % per cent. Its absolute
moisture averages but is grains of
yapor TO the cubic foot. While the an
nual rainfall of Chicago iG 34.42 inches,
of Denver it is 145, and of Colorado
Springs 14.4, and of some places much
lesls. There are never periods of pro-
longed cloudiness or rain. In fact
cloudy day is welcomed as a change
from the brilliant sunshine. And rainy
days 10 Colorado children are never the
bugbears they are elsewhere. Colorado
has more sunshine than any state in
the Union except Florida.
Il am probably rehearsing an old
story in telling about Colorados won
derful climate, but there is. on the
other hand. a great amount of ignor-
ance about US. For instance, it is a
common belief that our winters are ex-
tremelY cold, and that Denver is city
Of hills and ravines. People often ex-
press surprise in the east to learn that
one can bicycle with more comfort in
Denver than in many localities else
where, because it is level. Why, l
thought you were in the mountains
And so it is about the winters. You
ought not to feel the cold, you come
from Denver Now, the fact is, we
have very open, pleasant winters, with
a modicum of bad weather. People can
be out Of doors with comfort almost
every day. Our storms come up quick
ly and are violent while they last, but
they are just as soon over with. There
is none of that disagreeablenese which
makes winter in the east a long period
of staying indoors and bundling up
when going out II never rains in Win
ter in Denver And the day after a
heavy fall of snow the dust may be
flying in the sunny parts of the road.
No slush. 1t is marvellous how quickly
the snow melts and evaporates, owing
to the dryness of the air.
Like those Isles Of the Blest that the
ancients located in the western seas.