Agriculture.—Wherever irrigation can be obtained the soil of eastern Colorado is well fitted for agriculture. Wheat, oats, and barley afford heavy crops; potatoes succeed except in the extreme south, and owing to the dryness of the atmosphere are easily kept; onions vie in size and flavour with any in the continent; beans might be grown more extensively, but they suffer from the attacks of a small insect, possibly a species of Haltica; and almost all the garden products of the same latitude in Europe can be satisfactorily cultivated. The wheat affords a very white dry flour, and competes with the finest in the markets of the world. The yield often reaches forty or fifty bushels per acre, and in exceptional cases considerably exceeds this amount. In the higher districts—the parks and the mountain-valleys—a greater proportion of ground is devoted to pasture either of sheep or cattle. The native grasses are of excellent quality as fodder; and during the winter the natural hay that has withered where it grew is preferred by the cattle to the best that can be furnished by the labours of the husbandman. In certain districts the pastoral departments of husbandry have had to be abandoned, owing to the presence of poisonous plants, the most important of which seems to be Oxytropis Lamberti; but these districts are of very limited extent. The cost of pasturing is merely nominal, as the cattle can be driven over extensive districts, under the charge of Mexican or Indian herdsmen. Wool can be produced for ten cents per lb., and a four-year-old steer for ten dollars. The chief plague of the agriculturist is the locust, or grasshopper, as it is called in America. This insect is usually hatched in the month of June, when the cereals are well advanced; but occasionally in dryer and warmer seasons it appears as early as April and does great damage to the young crops. Another insect, the Doryphora decemlineata, popularly known as the Colorado Beetle (see p. 134 of the present volume), has recently become famous for its attacks on the potato, not only in this State but as far east as Ohio. It appears formerly to have fed on the Solanum rostratum, but to have found the new tuber a better habitat.
History.—Recent explorations have shown that the western parts, at least, of the Colorado territory were at one time inhabited by a native American race of considerable civilization, who were perhaps connected or even identical with the Moquis of the regions further south. The first important European mission was that of Vasquez Coronado, despatched from Mexico in 1540. In 1821 the Rocky Mountains were visited by S. T. Long, the American engineer; and part of the northern district was pretty fully explored by Captain J. C. Fremont during the great expedition of 1843. It was not till 1858 that the Indian tribes were disturbed in their sparsely-peopled hunting grounds; but in that year the discovery of gold by W. G. Russell, a Georgian, on the banks of the River Platte, near the present city of Denver, attracted general attention, and bands of pioneers poured in from Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. During 1860, 1861, and 1862, there was a continuous stream of immigration; Denver, Black Hawk, Golden City, Central City, Mount Vernon, and Nevada city were all founded in 1859; next year saw the rise of Breckenridge, Empire, and Gold Hill; George Town and Mill City were added in 1861, and Ward District was settled in 1862. In 1861 the region was organized as a territory in accordance with the wish of the inhabitants, who had held a convention at Denver in 1859; its area was declared to include 47,657,000 acres previously assigned to the territories of Utah and Kansas, 10,262,400 from that of Nebraska, and 8,960,000 from New Mexico, making a total of 66,880,000. The first governor was William Gilpin, a Pennsylvanian by birth and a Quaker in religion, who has done a great deal for the development of the territory, and was the originator of the scheme by which it was made to include part of both slopes of the Sierra. From 1862 to 1865 the natural progress of immigrational movement was checked, partly by the great national struggle, and partly by the local Indian war which broke out in 1864, and for a time rendered the routes extremely unsafe, and even threatened the existence of the new settlements. Many of the sites, indeed, were deserted, and large numbers of the miners left the country. In this way Empire greatly decayed, and Gold Dirt and Bakerville absolutely disappeared. Happily it was only the Indians of the plains who took part in the attacks, and though they numbered from 10,000 to 15,000, they were quickly quelled. In 1865 the immigration again flowed on; and it was found that at the census of 1870 the population was 39,864 citizens, distributed into 9358 families, and inhabiting 10,009 houses. The proportion of males to females was 24,820 to 15,044. Since that date the population has very rapidly increased, and it was estimated at 120,000 in 1874. Colorado was received into the Union as a State in 1877.
See Fremont, Narrative of Exploring Expedition, 1846; Capt. Stansbury, Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, 1852; Edward Bliss, The Gold Mines of Colorado; Hollister, Flying Trip to the Silver Mines of Colorado; Bayard Taylor, A Summer Trip to Colorado, 1867; Bowles, Summer Vacations in the Parks and Mountains of Colorado, 1869; W. Blackmore, Colorado: its Resources and Prospects, 1869; Greatorex, Summer Etchings in Colorado, 1874; Porter and Coulter, Synopsis of the Flora of Colorado, 1874; and as the main source of all topographical, geological, and botanical details regarding the State, the Reports of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey, which have been published from time to time by the Government.
COLORADO RIVER, or Rio Colorado, a large river of North America, which rises in the Rocky Mountains and falls into the Gulf of California. The main stream, known as the Green River, has its source in Fremont's Peak on the western borders of Wyoming, so that the whole extent of its course must be upwards of 2000 miles. After receiving the waters of the Yampuh and the White River, it flows south for about 150 miles without any important augmentation till it meets with the great rival stream of the Grand River, which by means of its numerous confluents drains so large a portion of the western versant in the State of Colorado. The united stream continues to force its way south, till at its junction with the Colorado Chiquito, or Little Colorado, which takes its rise in the Sierra Madre of New Mexico, it turns almost due west, and cuts right athwart the line of the mountain ranges. Its southern direction is resumed after the confluence of the Virgen from the Wahsatch Mountains, and it only receives one other tributary of real magnitude, the River Gila, before it reaches the sea. The enormous cañons or ravines through which the Colorado and several of its confluents force their way, render this one of the most remarkable river systems of the world. The Grand Cañon alone extends for a distance of about 200 miles westward from the junction of the Colorado Chiquito, and its walls rise almost sheer from the water's edge to a height of from 4000 to as much as 7000 feet. Further down is Black Cañon which, with a length of 25 miles and a height of 1000 or 1500 feet, would be considered a magnificent phenomenon, were it not so completely thrown into insignificance by its more stupendous neighbour. These very features which give the river its uniqueness prevent it from being of much use as a means of navigation; but steamers can proceed upwards as far as Callville, about 612 miles from the mouth.
