The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1920-11-11
Shipped Much
Agricultural
rod uce

Sundays edition of the Pueblo
Star-Journal contains. under a West
cliffe headline, the following write-1p
by Clarence J. Martin. of the ranch
ing and agricultural importance of
the Wet Mountain valley that will be
OF interest to Canon City readers. He
says:
About 40 years ago the Wet Moun.-
tain valley, In which westclfffe is TO-
Gated. was enjoying a wide reputation
as a mining country. Silver Cliff
was the center Of population. and 81
one time 1000 people lived there.
housed in the temporary domiciles
typical Of all mining towns.
Movies were unknown and the
public dance hall. where the gentle
men never had to be introduced" 20
the fair lady to secure the pleasure
OF waltz. was the only form OF
amusement. Saloons were plentiful
and liquids shipped in from ST. Louis
and Denver were sold without any
question as to the alcoholic content
they carried. or as to their power 10
produce a kick There was plenty
Of water. in Texas creek, but about
all the use the miners had for il was
to use just enough Of it to properly
mix drinks. Some times the inhabi-
tants had little personal differences.
but as the nearest court was some
distance away. disputes were settled
right on the locations where they
q a ad .hr
foothills surrounding the valley there
are still to be found little unmarked
MOUNDS of earth or stones that indi-
cate the manner of settlement then
in vogue.
Agriculture had no place in the
plans OF those early inhabitants and
IL was some years after that the pos
sibilities OF the Wet Mountain valley
as farming country became known.
When the hopes of paying quartz
dwindled. most OF the population Of
Silver Cliff scattered and the small
portion that remained began TO think
OF other ways of making livinr
Some of them had horses and cattle
and they discovered that their live
stock willingly ate the native wild
grass that grew everywhere about
them In fact grass was about al
the feed the stock had during the
entire year. Ultimately the farmers
cut the grass and stacked it and soon.
on the occasions when they went
down to Canon City to trade. when
talking to the crowds in the grocery
stores, they spoke Of Il as hay Then
later on a market developed for the
hay and II began 10 he in demand n
Pueblo and Denver and even as far
away as Kansas City. Now the an.
nual shipments of native hay from
Wet Mountain velley amount to over
500 cars The climate of the Wet
Mountain valley favors the production
of hay as the weather. is usually fair
during the cutting season. Irrigation
insures an unfailing crop every year,
and while only one cutting Is secured
each year, the production is from one
to three tons an acre. Five buyers
are engaged in handling hay in West
cliffe and many farmers in the valley
are also shipping hay at W-estcliffel
The firms buying hay at WestcliTe
are Mercier & Menzel. westciire
fiHfuNdfS tuiHHdAs. oHulNl hcENaH-
tile Company, John SAKE and Farmer
Jones
''It is the opinion of those familiar
with conditions in the territory alons
the lower slopes of the Sangre le
Christie mountains in Custer county,
that by the use of proper fertilizers,
that the production of hay in that sec
ton could be largely increased A
w. Schultz says that he kuews of
certain tracts of land along Texas
creek that had produced a hay crop
annually for 50 years. Such land. ne
says. could be made TO produce better
and more hay by the use Of fertilizer.
Oats is also a paying crop in the Wei
Mountain velley. In addition to what
is used by the farmers in feeding their
work horses. 25 cars of oats are being
shipped from Westcliffe, each year.
There are about so tons OF oats to a
car. About Inn cars o. c-s,:la are also
sh!PTed from the same point
FWestcliffe is a soNh of 500 peo.
pie, is 5000 feet above the sea. Tour
lists are earning of its splendid eli
mate and are visiting il in increas.ng
numbers each season, 1t has reg
ular public school and a parochial
school. There are four churches. the
Presbyterian. Episcopal Catholic and
Lutheran. Members OF the Lutheran
consresation have built church cost
ing S15.500 and have just compile, Ell
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