Laserfiche WebLink
<br />......... <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />- 3 - <br /> <br />rv It is probable that some irrigating was also being done in the upper portion of <br />'" <br />CO the Purgatoire IUver, a trillutary of the Arkansas, at a very early date. Although. <br />W <br />information is rather scant regarding the extent of such early activities, the <br /> <br />evidence is clear that the practice of irrigation in the Arkansas River basin in <br /> <br />Colorado began well over one hundred years ago. As a matter of fact, the earliest <br /> <br />date shown in the State Engineer's list of water rights for the Arkansas River <br /> <br />basin is dated "Spring of 1859", for 11 ditch on Greenhorn Creek, a tributary of <br /> <br />the Saint Charles River, which enters the hrkansas a short distance below Pueblo. <br /> <br />Permanent settlements in the basin date from the discovery of gold in <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado in the summer of 1858. For the next few years large numbers of gold- <br /> <br />seekers poured into the area after long and arduous trips across the Great Plains. <br /> <br />Jtlning communities sprang up almost over night in the high mountain tributaries, <br /> <br />and were soon accompanied by settlements on the streams near where they emerged <br /> <br />from the mountains, and farming based on irrigation was begun. At first, forage <br /> <br />crops were raised in order that the animals used in mining operations could be <br /> <br />fed. ~,ith time, agriculture was expanded to the raising of some of the food- <br /> <br />stuffs required by the growing population. It is interesting to note that the <br /> <br />first priority dates for nany of the irrigation ditches supplied from the upper <br />tributaries of the Arkansas River are in the early 1860'S. <br /> <br />The population of that portion of the basin situated above the junction <br /> <br />of the Fountain and the Arkansas in 1880, which was the time at which the 1800- <br /> <br />vil1e silver discoveries were being developed, was 51,000 persons. This was <br /> <br />about 70 percent of the total population of 73,300 in the Arkansas River basin <br /> <br />in Colorado. Between 1880 and the present time, mining operations, both metal <br /> <br />and coal have boomed and decreased until by 1940, although the total population <br /> <br />.in the basin in ~olorado had increased to 278,700, the population in the upper <br />