Rocky Ford enterprise. (Rocky Ford, Colo.) 1887-1950, 1911-10-06
ROCKY FORD COLORADO FRIDAY, OCTOBER e. l9ll.
JAPs LOCATING HERE.
Colony of Five Hundred Settled on
Neighboring Farm Land.

Investigation discloses the truth
fulness of the following article. which
appeared under Rocky Ford date
line in last Sundays Pueblo Chief
tain and occasioned considerable sur
prise to the majority of those who
read it:
"One of the largest Japanese set
Elements in the United States outside
of the Pacific coast states is now To-
Gated in Rocky Ford. So quietly and
SO unostentatiously have the Japan
ese been settling here that very few
realize the rapidity with which the
colony has grown.
Trust the willy Jap to know good
thing. Two years ago there were
hundred or so Japs in the Rocky
Ford district. Today, according to
+. X. Okamoto, secretary of the
Construction and Maintenance COM
pany and one of the leading Japan
ese of he district. there are at least
500 of the race in the Rocky Ford
district and next year this number
will be doubled.
The Japanese are coming here
principally from California. There
they have made wonderful success
of Intensive farming and they expect
t.. duplicate it here. As an evidence
oi the strength the race has here now,
it is only necessary to look over the
field they occupy.
From the West ranch to Swink,
there are fifty-seven Japanese farm.
ers. These Japanese farmers depend
on men of their own nationality Tor
labor.
There is a japanese restaurant in
town run by Sam Nishimura excius-
lively for the Japanese. This week X.
Taguchi of Pueblo opened up a
wholesale and retail japanese store
in the Steele building back of the
Peoples Home bank. This store will
deal exclusively with the japanese.
At 7o2 north Sixth street there IS
boarding house exclusively for the
Japanese. In addition to this there is
the Construction and Maintenance
company with Offices in the Maxwell
This company is one OF the
largest contracting firms in the state
1t handles anything from beet thin
ming contract to million dollar ir-
rigation scheme. 1t constructed the
Canon City water works system, the
Hotchki water system, it took over
in a lump all of the cantaloupe pick
inc on Sam Mathews land this year
and it has under way now half
million dollar irrigation project in
New Mexico.
Frank Okamoto, who is at the head
of this company, is typical exam
pie of the better class of Japanese.
He is only "a years old now: Eleven
years ago he landed. in San Francisco
unable to read or speak a word OF
English. He worked his way through
school and high school and then
a scientific school, where he
studied engineering. In six months
he took all the work necessary for
two-year course. He worked little
while longer and then completed his
course. For year or so he worked
with contractors, then he started out
for himself And now at the age OF
"a he is at the head Of one of the
largest contracting concerns in the
country and will tackle anything
from grading n road to clearing a
thousand acre ranch.
Okamoto hopes to found regular
Japanese settlement here. What he
wants to see is some of the new pro-
jects taken over by the japanese.
who will own all the land. settle
it with japanese and keep it for the
Japanese"