The Delta independent., 1910-01-14
Della County Rivals
the Great Northwest.
BY E. W. TAYLOR.

county was part VI oil Ahui'" W
tion-practically untitled. chiefly re-
gardedias good grazing ground by the
few persons who knew where it was
located.
In the fall of the present year, 1909,
it shipped to market more fruit OF all
kinds than any other single county In
the United Sta'es-more than the en-
tire output of some of the great fruit
growing states of the Northwest. This
is the story of community's growth
told in sentences. as true as they are
startling.
The figures compiled by the railroads
will show that Delta county shipped to
market in the year 1909 about 2, 700 car
loads of fruit, but even these figures,
big as they are, by no means tell the
whole story. All over the Western
Slope. because of the immense crops.
there was a car shortage this fall. For
this reason cars that were supposed to
carry 5O4 boxes of apples were packed
with 300 boxes in many instances. Un-
der ordinary methods of loading. ship
ments from the county would have to-
tailed over 8, 600 carloads.
Yet it is only recently that the county
has started to gain recognition. Here
tofore it has been vaguely referred TO
as ION the Western Slope" and to a
great many persons this has meant the
Grand Valley. Today, with only ad-
miration and praise for its successful
neighbors, Delta county claims place
of its own.
The fruit grown this year came from
about 27. 900 acres of bearing orchards.
In addition there are IL 900 acres planted
with young trees which will come into
bearing at the rate of several thousand
acres each year. and which will thus en-
able Delta county to maintain its place
at the head Of the procession.
When it comes to question Of 1uali-
ty. Delta county also claims supremacy
For several years it has taken first pre-
miums on all its most important horu-
cultural exhibits at the State Fair held
in Pueblo, and at other important expo
sitions throughout the country. Its
fruit is paid for at the highest prices
on eastern markets and the demand eN-
ceeds the supply. Statements like these
sound boastful, and perhaps exagger-
ated. but they are facts and without
them the story of Delta county would
be incomplete.
There are other sections of the
county which are rapidly attaining equal
Importance. and in which are now To-
Gated some of the finest orchards on the
Western Slope.
These orchards were not grown with
out hard work and self denial on the
par. of the men who first settled the
country. First the waters in the vari-
Gus small streams were appropriated
Then. as il was seen the land was i'm
mensely valuable. the pioneers pushed
farther and farther into the mountains
in search of the precious fluid. Now on
Grand Mesa they have chain of big
reservoirs from which the water is car
ried many miles TO supplement the wa
ter system of the famous Surface Creek
Valley
Starting at Delta and driving up TO
the pretty little town of Cedaredge, the
center of one of the best orchard coun-
tries in the county, one passes through
an avenue lined with trees for the
greater part of the ls-mile drive. 1t is
from some of the orchards in this sec
ton that the prize-winning fruit is gen.
erally taken, and where many of the
record outputs are made.
Other famous localities are within n
mile of the town of Delta. where the
fruit grower can have all the comforts
of town life in the midst of his orchard.
On some of these mesas records of
81 500 an acre have been made; $500 an
acre has been the average profit on n
4o-acre orchard.
The men who grew these orchards
passed through all the usual tribula-
tions which are bound to come to the
farmer who experiments with horticul-
ture for the first time. The knowledge
that some of them brought from the
East, where irrigation was not neces-
sary, had to be forgotten. Sometimes
their trees died for lack of proper care; !;
they had to learn how to combat insect
pests, and to deal with the numerous
problems that are constantly arising.
but they persevered and finally tri-
umphed. There are no healthier, finer
orchards in the country today than
those which are found in Delta county.
and the most stringent measures are
adopted by the growers to keep them
free from attack from any injurious
scourge.
The grower who comes into the coun-