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<br />Huerfano County Area, Colorado <br /> <br />There is a nearly perennial shortage of water suitable <br />for irrigation relative to the amount of irrigable land in the <br />survey area, and in most years there is insufficient water <br />to adequately irrigate land now in production. <br />Precipitation and snowmelt provide an adequate supply <br />of water in the mountainous areas, but the supply is <br />inadequate for areas of irrigable land in the eastern part <br />of the area, particuiarly in the latter part of the growing <br />season. <br />Some abandoned mines collect and store large <br />amounts of water; however, the water is very high in <br />mineral content and must be significantly improved for <br />most uses. <br /> <br />agriculture <br /> <br />Beef production was the most important agricuitural <br />enterprise of the early settlers. Sheep, hogs, and poultry <br />were also raised but in much smaller numbers. Much of <br />the early settlement was along stream terraces. The first <br />right for surface water from the Huerfano River was <br />appropriated in 1861. Irrigated forage crops, small grain, <br />corn, and vegetables were grown. <br />Nonirrigated farming was at a peak about 1925, <br />following a period of homesteading. Although forage <br />sorghum, corn, pinto beans, and spring grain were <br />grown, winter wheat was the most adaptable crop. It is <br />now the principal non irrigated crop. Since 1925, the <br />number of farms has decreased and much of the <br />non irrigated cropland has been seeded to grass. Today <br />about 25,000 acres, including fallow areas, is <br />nonirrigated cropland. Much of the winter wheat is used <br />as winter feed for livestock. Wheat-fallow is the principal <br />cropping system (to). <br />Beef cattle account for most of the value of <br />agricultural products sold. About 4 percent of the survey <br />area is cropland, of which about one-third is irrigated. <br />Because of the limited supply of water for irrigation. hay <br />is the main crop. Most of the hay is used locally to <br />supplement cattle feed in winter. <br />The Upper Huerfano County Conservation District was <br />organized in June 1940 to assist farmers and ranchers. <br /> <br />climate <br /> <br />In this survey area, summers are warm or hot in most <br />of the valleys but are much cooler in the mountains. <br />Winters are cold in the mountains. The valleys are colder <br />than the lower slopes of adjacent mountains because of <br />cold air drainage. Precipitation occurs in the mountains <br />throughout the year, and a deep snowpack accumulates <br />during winter. In summer the precipitation in valleys falls <br />mainly as showers, but some thunderstorms occur. In <br />winter the ground is covered with snow much of the <br />time. Chinook winds, which blow downslope and are <br />warm and dry, often melt and evaporate the snow (t7). <br />Table 1 gives data on temperature and precipitation <br />for the survey area, as recorded at Walsenburg Power <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br />Plant for the period 1951-73. Table 2 shows probable <br />dates of the first freeze in fall and the last freeze in <br />spring. Table 3 provides data on length of the growing <br />season. <br />In winter, the average temperature is 34.9 degrees F <br />and the average daily minimum temperature is 22 <br />degrees. The lowest temperature on record, -36 degrees, <br />occurred at Walsenburg Power Plant on January 12, <br />1963. In summer, the average temperature is 69.5 <br />degrees and the average daily maximum temperature is <br />84.8 degrees. The highest temperature, 100 degrees, <br />was recorded on June 24, 1956. <br />Growing degree days, shown in table 1, are equivalent <br />to "heat units." Beginning in spring, growing degree days <br />accumulate by the amount that the average temperature <br />each day exceeds a base temperature (40 degrees Fl. <br />The normal monthly accumulation is used to schedule <br />single or successive plantings of a crop between the last <br />freeze in spring and the first freeze in fall. <br />Of the total annual precipitation, 9.68 inches, or 64 <br />percent, usually falls during April through September, <br />which includes the growing season for most crops. Two <br />years in ten, the rainfall from April to September is less <br />than 6.86 inches. The heaviest 1-day rainfall during the <br />period of record was 3 inches at Walsenburg Power <br />Plant on April 13, 1967. Thunderstorms number about 44 <br />each year, 30 of which occur in summer. <br />The average seasonal snowfall is 78 inches. The <br />greatest snow depth at anyone time during the period of <br />record was 24 inches. On the average, 11 days have at <br />least 1 inch of snow on the ground, but the number of <br />days varies greatly from year to year. <br />The average relative humidity in midafternoon in spring <br />is less than 35 percent; during the rest of the year it is <br />about 45 percent. Humidity is higher at night in all <br />seasons, and the average at dawn is about 77 percent. <br />The percentage of possible sunshine is 77 percent in <br />summer and 73 percent in winter. The prevailing <br />direction of the wind is from the south-southeast. The <br />average windspeed is highest, 10.4 miles per hour, in <br />April. <br /> <br />how this survey was made <br /> <br />Soil scientists made this survey to learn what soils are <br />in the survey area, where they are, and how they can be <br />used. They observed the steepness, length, and shape <br />of slopes; the size of streams and the general pattern of <br />drainage; the kinds of native plants or crops; and the <br />kinds of rock. They dug many holes to study soil profiles. <br />A profile is the sequence of natural layers, or horizons, in <br />a soil. It extends from the surface down into the parent <br />material. which has been changed very little by leaching <br />or by plant roots. <br />The soil scientists recorded the characteristics of the <br />profiles they studied and compared those profiles with <br />others in nearby counties and in more distant places. <br />