Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-16
FUN ON THE FRONTIER
Gambols of Correspondents
Crossing the Continent.
SUGAR BEET GROWING
SOME OF THE BOYS TRIED BRON
CLIO RIDING AT CHEYENNE.
Gov. Chatterton of Wyoming Recalled
His Happy Days as Proofreader
on The Evening Star.
Special From n STAFF Correspondent.

New England TOOK his ADVICE ana came 10
this spot, which at present bears the name
of their adviser. This was in 1870. The
site of the proposed colony was at the ter
minus of the Colorado Southern railroad. a
veritable jumping off place. 1t was cattle
range. supposed to be available only for the
grazing of herds, drifting between Montana
and Texas
The old cattle men said that the colonists
were plumb locoed." which, translated,
means that they were crazy. No crops
could be raised on those brown plains. To-
day they are raising crops which are phe
nomenal even in this country for richness.
On tract of eighty acres of land they
raise potatoes which bring in the market
$4,000 How is it done? BY irrigation.
Each original colonist put in $50 That
gave him a building lot in the town. a bust
ness lot and five acres or ten acres of agri
cultural land, according to location. An
irrigation ditch. was constructed from the
Rocky mountains, which stretch in mag
nificent snow-capped grandeur just off to
the westward of town. Today these irri-
eating bitches, with their lateral branches,
stretch in every direction. A water right
is worth 50, 500 The land cannot be bought
for $3.50 an acres. beautiful little city
of 5000 Inhabitants has sprung up. They
have parks, lawns, shade trees, electric
Lights and all modern improvements.
The original settlers decided that they
would shut out whisky. Every deed to
property stipulated that in case whisky
should be sold on the premises the proper
ty should revert to the city. A saloon was
established just outside the limits of the
colony The colonists went out one evening
in the dark of the moon and burned the
saloon. There has been nothing doing
In the rum line in that vicinity since.
Agricultural Paradise.
The Washington correspondents were
driven over the adjacent country. 1t is a
scene of unparalleled pastoral richness and
beauty. Vegetation fairly riots. The finest
potatoes in the world are grown here This
season they will ship 5000 carloads, for
which they will receive from 65 to 80 cents
per hundred pounds.
Alfalfa, species of clover. used for feed
ing all kinds of stock, Is raised also The
farmer cuts three crops between June and
September getting five tons of cured hay
to the acre. He then turns the alfalfa I'M
der with pillow, puts the water and
the land IS ready next season to produce
potatoes. Wheat IS grown and makes a
heavy crop. The land is too valua BILE for
corn, and there are very few hogs and
cattle. The raising of sugar beets is being
encouraged and a million dollar beet sugar
factory is being pushed to completion
There are four others in operation.
We were brought to Greeley because 1t
affords the most notable example of the
Ing of small, prosperous homes. The dem
onstration has been convincing. When one
sees the gloriously green fields of potatoes
and alfalfa. the towering stacks of yellow
wheat awaiting the thresher, the comfort
able homes and the solid and prosperous
city. he must be convinced of the possibili-
ties OF irrigation upon this soil.
The demonstration is enhanced by con-
trast. Standing in the midst of this won
drously fertile region, the eye wanders but
short distance to the scorched and arid
plains which surround it upon every side,
marking the limitations of the water
bitches
Trusts in Harmony.
The developments in Colorado show that
a huge joke was perpetrated upon the
country when the cartoonists pictured Mr.
Henry Oxford and Mr. Henry O. Have
meyer in mortal combat Here in Colorado
the beet sugar trust and the refiners' octo-
pus dwell together In beautiful harmony,
with the farmer at this time cooperating
There Is profit of anywhere from fifty
to one hundred and fifty dollars acre
in raising potatoes. The sugar trust must
believe that equally as good a profit can
be shown from raising sugar beets. 1t
goes without saying that If there is more
money to the farmer in raising potatoes
than in producing beets the farmers will
not continue to supply the factories Should
the farmers quit raising beets the owners
of the factories will necessarily either have
representing millions of dollars.
The managers of the factories have con-
WINGED the farmers that the greatest profit
comes through a rotation of crops. Here
tofore the product of this section of the
irrigated district has been potatoes The
farm of hundred acres, according to the
theory, should raise neither potatoes
nor beets continuously from the same soil.
After a few years of beet raising the pres
ent project cOntemplates the return to po-
tatoes on the ueet land and the raising
of beets on the potato land.
Before a beet sugar factory is operate
here an agreement is entered into for five
thousand acres of land to be devoted
clusively to the cultivation of beets. At
this time the contracts with the farmers
run for three years and the total acreage
for the six factories in operation is forty
thousand. In round numbers three hundred
and fifty thousand tons of beets will be
raised for the factories now in operation.
The production of sugar from a treatment
of the beets will be approximately one hun
dred million pounds The estimates
far made show that the profit to the farmer
varies from s45 to 800 acre. The sig
nihcance of the beet sugar invasion is that
the men who have studied the conditions
and are backed by almost unlimited capital
determined that the best irrigated dis
trict in the state of Colorado shall serve the
purposes of the sugar maker.
Weld county. of which Greeley is the
county seat, is the greatest agricultural
county in Colorado. In area it is larger
than Delaware and Rhode Island combined.
Whatever farming there Is is done by ir-
rigation. Small farms and individual own
ership have been the rule. The marvellous
stories which have been told of the profits
from agriculture in Weld county have not
been exaggerated. The prosperity of the
people longer be questioned So
confident are the representatives, of the
sugar interests that beet sugar growing
will prove even more profitable than potato
raising that they have not up to this time
taken any steps to protect themselves in
the event of a refusal of farmers to con-
tinue in the production of beets after the
expiration of the present three-year con-
tract.
From Colorado the party was taken north
to Cheyenne. the capital of Wyoming.
This is the country which Gen. Phil Sher-
idan and his frontier cavalrymen ranged
for a thousand miles north and south in
the Indian fighting times. Then these
plains were infested with the warlike
Sioux the Comanches. who wandered north
in search of game. and the local tribes OF
Indians. Fort d. A. Russell four miles
east of town, was one of the extreme from
tier posts of the army 1t was among a
chain which General Sheridan established
for the protection of the immigrants.
Old Fort Russell.
Old Fort Russell is there today, but in
quite different aspect. We found some ct
the original uuartera of the froopers uhtcb