The Delta independent., 1909-08-27
DELTA COUNTY'S
BRIGHT FUTURE
Every Industry Certain to Be
Doubled Within the
Next Five Years.
Irrigation Of 10000 Acres Will
Make Population Grow, and
Stimulate Every Line Of
Human Endeavor.
lPueblo Chieftainl

Pueblo Chieftainl
When citizens of Delta county are
asked by outsiders what they think of
the future prospects of the community
they are apt to talk in the most con-
servative manner. We're they to say
what they really think, and to make
the predictions to others that they do
when talking among themselves, they
would be accused of wild dreams and
visionary exaggerations.
First of all must be considered the
vast area which the water from the
Gunnison tunnel will bring into state
of fertility The tunnel will provide
water for the irrigation or $50. 900 acres
and will more than double the present
irrigated area in Delta county. AS the
land for which water is to be furnished
is of good quality and all capable of
producing fine crops it is easy to i'm
agine the increase in the county's out
put, but this also will be enlarged in
another way.
The early settlers believed that any
where from so acres up to 100 acres of
land was necessary for the farmer who
wanted to make good living for him
self. Some of them have been surprised
since to learn that the man with fifteen
twenty or forty acres was making more
money each year with less effort than
they were with their large tracts. This
was accomplished by careful cultiva-
ton, which the owner of a small tract
is able to personally oversee, and the
development of the soil to its utmost
capacity Many of the men who owned
large ranches are selling off part of
their land and devoting their attention
to intensified farming. thus increasing
the area open for settlers.
BETTER TRANSPORTATION.
With the increased output there must
naturally come better transportation
facilities The railroads at present are
taxed to their utmost capacity to move
the crops and such marked increase
in the output would mean traffic that
other raods would bid for. and enter the
territory to secure. The result of this
would be competition, which would
mean lower freight rates and better
service in every respect.
The larger output also would mean
better markets and better prices for
crops Although Delta county this
year will ship 1000 carloads of fruit it
cannot begin to supply the demand,
and the result is that its apples and
peaches are very little known in the
far east 1t is seldom that the buyers
will allow them to get beyond Chicago.
On the west San Francisco demands
some of the fruit because of its super
ior quality. With the larger production
the fame of the county would increase;
it would become recognized factor in
the calculations of every buyer in the
country. and the prices naturally in
crease, for Delta county will not take
back seat for any district in the
world as far as the quality of its fruit
is concerned. And that is true of
everything else that it raises.
There are large areas of land in the
county which will not be supplied with
water from the Gunnison tunnel, and
which have not yet been irrigated by
systems built by private companies.
In the nearby mesas are reservoir sites
and in the mountains supply of water
ample to irrigate all the unoccupied
land in the county.
As the district is settled up this land
will become so valuable that it will not
be allowed to lie idle. The skill of en-
gineers and the money of capitalists
will be united to bring the water to
the land, and again the output and
wealth of the county will be increased.
The thickly settled farming commun-
ity will mean that the towns also must
share in the growth to meet the in
creased demands upon them. New
stores and new industries would of
necessity be established.
With the enlargement in every
branch would come a greater revenue
to the towns and the county at large
which would mean that greater sum
would be available for public improve
ments without increasing the burden of
the individual taxpayer.
One might 60 on and prophecy in
definitely rs to the future of Delta