The Greeley tribune., 1904-10-19
: TOAST TO KING SPUD :
c. j. O'CONNOR.

AT the recent banquet of the
Rocky Mountain Hotel Mems asso-
ciat ion, c. j. O'Connor, proprietor
of the Oasis hotel at Greeley, spoke
on Greeley potatoes as follows:
The peach came from the al
mond, the apple from the sour and
knotty crab, but the potato came up
from Chilli and Peru in search of its
station and regal home, till now
its royalty holds court at Greeley,
| Colorado.
Gentlemen, refer to what was
once called the Irish potato, better
and more popularity known in modern
times as the Greeley Spud.' have
said that the potato came from the
South American Andes. Right here,
that l may give proper credit to
men, let me explain that nature in
her blind cropping succeeded in getting
a little knobby, hesitating tuber, as
| far north as New Mexico, and there
she stranded, within bare few hun
dred miles of the chosen land, and
resigned the plant to qualified and
miserable existence. Gentlemen, its
poor relations still lead that starved
and Sallow existence in outlying
parts of the world, to mark the
progress and improvement in the
comforts of man. Taken from
within sight of these towering peaks
that have so faithfully pointed the
way of opportunity, the poor little
spud in embryo was carried by Span
ish ships to the doors of Europe,
and planted in every valley of the
then civilized world. And of all
the booty that was jostled in those
Spanish holds, not all the rich gems
stripped from the necks of the sub
jugated lncas compared in value
with those bruised and little appre-
ciated forefathers of the Greeley
Spud. But after three hundred
years King Spud has come into his
estate in his imperial home in the
valley of the Cache la Poudre.
why, my friends. no ancient
god ever built to him such evil
dences of worship and lasting regard
as the Greeley country shows to
Prince Potato. Last spring the
Sunday schools were skimped and
the very children opened their little
boards of pennies and nickels, to
furnish the remaining funds for the
completion of $500, 600 reservoir
and canal, the latest great work in
a series of irrigation enterprises in
the Cache la Poudre valley aggre-
eating not less than four million
dollars.
| Yes, Greeley is a loyal worshipper
whose constant thought is of her
agricultural saint. If we talk of
the weather it is with regard to
the welfare Of the spuds. When we
read of railway combinations it is
not with concern for ephemerial
railway kings, but for the effect
on our means of moving five million
bushels of potatoes to their markets
and hauling back exchange on New
York. We have worshipped at the
shrine of Potato and we have been
repaid: he looks gratitude and pros
perity out of all his eyes
Greater than any compound lever
that comes from the brain of your
famous mechanics is the aid the
Greeley potato gives to his yassals
We have put him on his throne and
he is grateful. He helps us to help
him, to help us to make our mil
lions every wear. He has always
done his part-he has never failed.
Methinks his wide-open eyes see a
vision of the Greeley that is to be
a city of fine homes, beautiful streets
and great public buildings: a city
where all have plenty and none too
much; city surrounded by gardens
and farms of such fertility as was
never known in the valleys of an
ancient Egypt at her best. hear
the gurgle OF the water in her
canals; | hear the buzzing of the
bees above the sweet smelling alfalfa
bloom, and / know that they are all
conspiring for the greatness of the
potato that makes Greeley famous.
Gentlemen, in drinking to this
sentiment it is fit to remember
Greeley to be the place where more
money is spent for water and less
for wine than any other city in the
world. Gentlemen
GREELEY AND HER POTATO. -