Semi-weekly herald., 1909-05-27

In Pine River Valley. twenty mile
east of Durango, Colo, on the Denver
and Rio Grande railroad. the land
scape gardeners who are adding to the
acreage of irrigable land and increas
ing the great family OF husbandmer
and fruit growers, are about to re
deem 10000 acres of the most fertile
soil in the west This land has lain
is,e since the beginning of time, and
for half century its progress has
been checked by the fact that the
goyerYnent set this land aside for the
Southern Ute Indians as their reser.
vation.
The romance of the red man. enters
intdSae story of Pine River Valley. In
1868 the government set aside the
whole western half of Colorado as the
reservation for the Ute Indians. Four
years later, when the tribes showed a
lack Of harmony and utter hopeless.
ness of ever reaching it, the Northern
Gtes and the Southern Utes, with
nothing in particular in common be
tween them, divided up, the Southern
Utes taking the pick of the reserva
ton, which includes Pine River Val
ley.
II is an. established fact that the In.
dian is lazy He was too lazy TO de
velop the rich soil of the valley that
has long been an unclaimed reward
for enterprise; but this same Indian
did not overlook the boundless posi-.
bilities of the climate, the abundance
OF same-the quail, the grouse, the
deer, bear and the elk He picked that
part of the state which appealed to
ehim most, and he landed in Pine River
Valley
But It would have been all right
for the Indian to remain there If he
had developed some OF the resources
that lay at his feet. When 1t was
Shown to the congress of the United
States that 5000 acres of rich, loamy
soil lay undeveloped in the western
part of Colorado. the congress did not
hesitate to take It away from the res
ervation and give 1t to the state OF
Colorado TO sell at Sf.75 an acre, with
the provision that the Indian fund
get the benefit of part of the proceeds.
Congress further required OF the state
that the land be opened for settlement
nrntiuinU tho n
private capital would reclaim II by
putting enough water on the land TO
transform it into a veritable garden
The march of civilization is across
Pine River Valley. The Indians failed
to make the best of their resources.
would not stay on the reservation
liked other game because II required
some wandering TO find it--and now
the government and the state, guar
anteeing the proper development of
( AHe tract by private capital, win on
July 10 open the land to settlement
There is moral in that story of
Indian lassitude and white man enter
prise, and the moral viii be all the
more forcibly shown when after the
land Is disposed Of. along in July, they
traH$form what was once mere aunt.
ing ground OF the indians into new
farming and fruit community. where
crops and fruit win form the nucleus
Tor new cities and new industries ard
wealth
Here is the story In Grief: The state
of Colorado has entered into con
tract with the Department of the In
terror to construct costly irrigation
works to supply water to IS 600 acres
of land. This land lies in the Pin,
River Valley in La Plata county. Colo
rado, In the former Southern Ute In
dian reservation, bordered by the ri,
Grande railway on the noral and i'm
nIediately surrounding the new town
SJsite OF lgnacio. The state OF Colo
RADIO has, in turn, contracted witt
the Colorado Water Supply compan
10 construct an enormous reservoi
and bitches to thoroughly irrigate tn
land. The state of Colorado fixes tn
price at which perpetual water righ
shall be sold 05 fhe settler at 81
per acre; which is their actual COS
OF construction, payable, however, 1
such sums that the entryman ca
make his payments out of the crop
and leave him nice balance beside
In fact. the payments on the land al
less than one-half what land In th
Immediate Vicinity IL renting for.