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39 <br /> Mississippi Valley. Others, who could not or did not go back, <br /> turned their attentions to matters besides mining--providing <br /> food, lodging, or other goods and services to those more <br /> fortunate prospectors who actually found paying claims (Athearn <br /> 1976:7-31) . By 1860 the roots of permanent settlement north and <br /> east of the fledgling town of Boulder began to appear as farmers <br /> and stock raisers turned prospectors returned to farming, <br /> establishing farms and running cattle herds along the South <br /> Platte and St. Vrain. From these early roots the area of modern <br /> northern Boulder County, Colorado, began to evolve into one of <br /> Denver's agricultural hinterlands, supplying the town and its <br /> merchants with food. <br /> Soon some of the farmers found that Long's description of the <br /> area as a desert to be at least partially accurate. By the end <br /> of 1860 farmers claimed and appropriated for agriculture South <br /> Boulder Creek, Boulder Creek and others, each individual or group <br /> building a ditch. These efforts proved only the beginning of <br /> irrigation along creeks and rivers of Boulder County. Future <br /> generations built ever larger and more elaborate systems to bring <br /> water to the fields, including the Highland Ditch, Palmerton <br /> Ditch, Rough and Ready Ditch, and the St. Vrain Supply Canal <br /> (East Denver Municipal Irrigation District map 1920; Classon Map <br /> 1904; Burney 1989: 3) . <br /> 2.4.3 Early Agricultural and Ranching Development, 1860-1895 <br /> The lands of the Front Range and South Platte Valley north of <br /> Denver by 1870 had become one of the leading agricultural areas <br /> of Colorado. After 1870 that development intensified for a <br /> number of reasons including the rapid population growth of <br /> Denver, Boulder, and the eastern two thirds of Colorado between <br /> 1870 and 1893. The availability of rail transportation after <br /> 1870, and the high food prices being paid by merchants in <br /> Colorado's booming mining camps were significant factors in front <br /> range population growth. Those conditions led more and more <br /> farmers and ranchers to settle in the region. A final factor, <br /> liberal federal land disposal laws, encouraged settlement in <br />