La Junta tribune., 1912-07-27

~
Il the courtesy Of J. Z. Lewis.
| we had the pleasure Of q
thiry.five mile automobile
ride through the Holbrook country.
taking In the entire domain
OF that agricultural territory
from center to circumference. and
from both ends to the middle. The
Holbsook country u an agricultural
paradise this year Of grace and We
never saw anything like Il during
the whole course Of our fifteen year. Z
residence In this section.
The Holbrook country has devei-
oped amazingly In fifteen years.
When We first visited It the houses
were very few. very unpretentious.
and mighty Tar between. II appeared
to be a wilderness Of haystacks. and
hay was drug on the market even
though It was selling for 81 per ton
In the stack. There were also acres
and acres and hundred OF acres Of
unueNeiopeu lanu.
! Conditions are quite different to-
day. There are fine houses and big
barns everywhere. and there are
still many haystacks. but not SO
many as there were In the days Of
long ago. IL isn't so very many
years ago since there was nothing
at all in the Holbrook country Mr.
Lewis tells us that II WAS tw,Nty
years ago this summer that he took
up claim OF 100 acres In the Hol-
brook country. lie could stand In
the door OF his claim shanty and
look for miles and miles In every
direction and not see house. or
Z living thing-not even q hAystack.
tie still owns the claim that he t0ok
up twenty ysars ago. although at
0s - ~ only eaDn1od l1nshs1l
Ae-Sss . nv nonths an1 tAen -
the REIMBURSEMENT TO somebody that
was land hungry. A few months Il.
ter he went to work for the Ia
Guna Canal Company, or the Hol
brook ditch as II In familiarly known
and has been with the company ev.
er since. being transferred with the
other property when Il was merged
into the Holbrook Irrigation Dis
trict. and now holds the position OF
manager for the district He still
owns his original claim OF 100
acres, too. and II is AS fine farm
as there is In that section. with
every acre producing either wheat.
oats. alfalfa or sugar bee,s. Dave
Rich is the tenant.
These days the llolbrook country
Is succession of AS fine farms m
there are anywhere ou, OF doors
and one Joins right on 10 the other
There is very little waste or unoc'
cupied land. but n succession of field
OF wheat. oats. alfalfa and sugar
bects. Crops lock fine cyefyahC re
and on the entire trip We saw only
two fields OF beets that did not
look first.cla.s The beets were to-
tally obscured In one field by weeds.
but there was = bIg gang Of men nj
work In the field cleaning them out.
the owner not having been able To
secure the necessary help In time Ia
take care Of them. There Was one
other field Of beets that had Just
passed through . similar ws~dy cx-
pertence. and thouvh quite clean. the
bsets looked wiltcd. faded and sickiy
and hardly worth saving. Mr.. Ls~is,
says. however. that in another month
you won't ~ able 70 Distinguish sar1
from other fieids. having learned
this fact through observation and
experience.
The big show Of the Holbrook
country. however. u tho one hun.
dred acre bcct field Of Bert Shelton.
who owns the old Forder sheep
ranch. Il would be- hard to find
the equal os this field Of bce,s any.
where on this mundane sphere. II