The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-01
Age-Herald Man Writes Im- pressions of Trip Through
 Eastern Colorado
FACILITIES OF THE
 UP-TO-DATE CORRAL
Visit to Arkansas Valley Towns Where Cantaloupes Are Shipped by the Hundred Car
 Loads
BxC. M STANLEY


 Ordway. Col, August S1.-(Speciall 1.-The
 most striking change noticed on the
 ranches of this eastern section of Colo rado during the past few years is the character of the cattle. No longer is found the lean, ianky, long, horned kind l so often pictured in the romance of the plains. Now they are all short-horns of fine blood and if it were not for the branding marks every animal would make a fine showing at the Alabama State
 F'air-with their fat sides and glossy coats.
 Facilities on Modern Ranch
 "The old-time cowboy is thing of the past" said Judge Patrick, whose ranch, 12 miles from Ordway, I visited the other day. Handling a herd by brute tactics has given way to handling them by supe- rior head work"
 l And the arrangement of the corral bears out what he says. Every facility is at hand for dipping, dehorning, in ! oculation and the many other things that have to be done in their times to get the highest efficiency in cattle raising | The Patrick ranch covers three town ships. A township contains S6 sections and a section comprises GAO acres There are S7 bored wells on the place. I went out to see them inoculate herd of about 1000 cattle against blackleg-a peculiarly 1 fatal disease sometimes brought on by poor water and improper food. 1 A little pill is inserted in the needle" of an instrument made like a hypodermic The end of the needle is then dipped in vaseline and stuck into the animal A trigger is snapped and the ''pill is shot under the animals skin to be absorbed. Each pill costs 10 cents
 Led Through Crowd tenderfoot with visions of being tossed on the horns of wild western steer was naturally little timorous about being led through all parts of the corral when steers to the right of him, steers to the left of him. steers in front of him bel lowed and thundered.
 When I asked how many were in there and was told a little less than d thousand was amazed. and felt sure it looked more like a million.
 To show the modern trend of ranch life, I stepped from the corral with it's hundreds of cattle into low building and there. side by side with saddles and har- ness, was big, high powered, seven- passenger automobile. Yes" said the host T keep three of them-one here, one in Ordway and one in Pueblo. If the od-time cowboy with his arat is now unnecessary. the cowboys who tend the herd out on the range and drive them in whenever any new dose of medi- cine or surgery has to be administered do not bear very close inspection. They are rough lot. I was shown new brick bunk house with concrete floor. This is where the herders live. Three wooden bunlxhouses had been burned by | careless handling of matches and some thing had to be built that wouldn't burn Cantaloupes by the Million | Ordway is the county seat of Crowley county, famous for the Crowley pink meat cantaloupe and has contributed it's part in making the Arkansas valley re- nowned for the luscious melon. Each community in the valley devotes it's at- tention to a particular kind of melon. While it is pink meat here over across tine river it is Rocky Ford Gem" or "Manzanola Indian"
 The cantaloupe men are rather de- pressed just now, however. The mar ket appears to be slutted. During the past week little more tan 25 refrigera- tor carloads a day have been leaving this little town, but it was expected that about 1000 carloads would be sent from here during the season. A carload averages 700 crates.
 In the words of the old prophet, '.the grasshopper shall be burden" and it has been a real burden in this section this year. The county gives away free poison When the grasshoppers get in a field the poison is placed around the edge of the field. Rags are then tied to long pole Two men carry the pole across the field and the dangling ends of the rags brushing against the vines drives the grasshoppers ahead toward the poi son. Millions of them have been killed in this way.
 What Irrigation Can Do | Good roads are the rule in this sec tion and automobiles are plentiful in the towns and on the farms and ranches. The road from here to Sugar City. where one of the big beet sugar factories Is located, is like speedway.
 l Every acre of land in this. entire sec | tion is dependent on irrigation. I drove l by automobile to Manzanola, 13 miles
 away. and the entire route is along beautiful fields of alfalfa and other crops. l Twelve years ago. when I took the same l trip. it was desert waste without l fence and not a sign of human habita- tion for mile after mile. Last week at several points along this route one could stop and count a hundred stacks of al- | faifa hay in sight. It is marvellous what l irrigation can accomplish
 
 lDADT MENTT ETNnC