| Show hat tillers of san juan county say about far farming agriculturists prompt to refute charge that this section of state Is worthless for farming fine crops of arid wheat corn oats rye potatoes beans and garden truck reported in letters and interviews with record scribe e bac responding to the invitation published in the last issue of the record a number of farmers of san juan county have submitted their experiences and version of the agricultural situation within this district we asked for actual facts and we believe that the statements which follow are truthful and conservative of course we expect to hear from many others all in good timeout time but those herein presented are sufficient to prove that san juan county has important agricultural possibilities alfalfa has not proven success ful here as a forage crop and the farmers depend upon corn and corn silage cane oats and millet I 1 to supplement the native range feeds i up to 35 bushels per acre clement johnson of horsehead point says have been farming here for 16 years raise wheat corn beans garden truck and cane yields of wheat range from 8 bushels per acre and up to 35 bu average yield about 20 bushels no complete crop failures have acres planted to fall wheat no w have never been on relief acres in cultivation A M johnson also of horsehead point says have lived here since 1921 own about three sections of land and have acres under cultivation acreage has gradually been increased but have farmed on a large scale on the start have good crops of wheat and corn every year average yield on arid and land of wheat 24 bushels per acre corn rn about 25 bu we also boue j u good beans considerable 62 mostly for feed of animals but the cane makes the finest kind of sorghum and thousands of gallons have been produced in this section in years gone by and can be made again if someone desires to establish such an industry artichokes a profitable crop frank sell and his son who re side at summit zu 20 miles from monticello say on 20 acres of land seeded to corn in 1937 the yield for the entire field averaged 20 bushels t to the acre we have lived here six years we raise some of the best potatoes to be had bad anywhere also fine oats and millet does well in this climate we are now raising artichokes on a considerable scale and find rn a very lucrative crop we n two cuttings from the s each year one in the fall and the other in the spring which is splendid forage for cows and other animals the tubers are fine human food and very palatable A variety of fruit doss does well R L wilkin of ginger hill 16 miles southeast of monticello says we set out an orchard of fruit trees in the spring of 1923 consisting of apples pears plums apricots cherries italian prunes peaches and dewber ries some of the fruit started to bear in 1924 and has steadily increased since all of the fruits mentioned are in bearing and we have not had a failure since san juan county beats them all J W baldwin located 18 miles northeast of monticello on the farm of virg leason of monticello which he has ceased has this to say 1 I am a new comer to san juan county and have farmed i here only one season I 1 have a family of ten to and came here on relief but have farmed myself off relief and have enough on hand to see me through to harvest time again am a native of oklahoma where I 1 farmed for 25 years and after leaving there I 1 spent three years farming in arizona but was unable to pay expenses at mesa and phoenix I 1 have done better since coming to san juan than I 1 did in any of the other districts I 1 have farmed in my crops last year consisted of corn potatoes and beans sacks fine spuds to the acre fred located 12 miles north of the east and west highway and one mile west of the colorado utah state line where they say nothing can be grown has this to say have lived here six years and last summer raised corn spuds spud and sand cane potatoes are an especially fine crop for th this is section and in 1936 1 I bar harvested vested sacks of splendid spuds from macres 4 acres of land merchant sitton of monticello handled my crop so probably many monticello people have sampled them 21 acres of corn in 1937 averaged 33 23 2 3 bushels to the acre part of this went into silage which is is the finest of dairy feed co commissioner herb redshaw herbert redshaw san juan county commissioner has been a resident of the county since 1910 and has farmed in the ucolo bucolo district since 1920 he has a cres acres where he lives acres or more of which is under cultivation he raises mostly grain oats barley wheat and rye four years ago he had acres into wheat from which he harvested 2400 bushels or an avera average ge of 24 bushels bushe Is to the acre he raises fair to good crops every year but states that his land still shows the effects of the protracted drought of the past three or four years turn to page four WHAT TILLERS OF SAN JUAN COUNTY SAY continued from page 1 JW J W corbin located at summit point came here in the fall of 1933 he is not farming a large acreage but has raised three good crops of corn potatoes and cane he believes that if a farmer in that district fails to raise good crops the fault lies with him rather than with the land such names as C D price and virgil price karl barton of verdure and jess bailey are all 11 known to residents to fo san f jess bailey captured the S cash prize for the best liia kiei of oats on arid and land karl barton raised over bushels of wheat back in 1926 with a yield of 41 bushels to the acre we are informed mr bailey grew his prize crop of oats at summit point and they wild oats either H U butts is another of san juans big successful farmers he has two or three sections of land he is one of the oldest settlers in the ucolo bucolo district and never fails to raise a crop and keep off the relief rolls one out east farmer raised sacks of beans 1638 bushels of wheat bushels of corn on cob 65 tons of stock feed consisting of oat hay rye hay corn der cane bean straw eti cac much true but an honest bonest ll 11 rel u lat I 1 and enough to keep us off relief le the farmer is james thompson and he has acres of land he does not state how much is being cultivated if more evidence is needed to prove that san juan county is a proven agricultural region we anticipate no difficulty in summoning more witnesses before the bar of public opinion in subsequent issues of the record but we believe that the case is conclusively c clu I 1 i vely proven of course there have been farm failures in this county please tell us of a county or country where there has not been the protracted drought that beset all utah and the west a few years back was disastrous to new comers and then there are a certain percentage of failures in any line of endeavor but with reasonable intelligence telli gence and due diligence there is no reason f for or making a failure in this county provided the settler has a reasonable amount of capital to commence with for the land can be had very reasonably on the colorado side of the state line where conditions are almost identical the country is practically filled up and there is little or no vacant land to be had and the same condition will maintain on this side of the imaginary line if we will just cease our knocking and begin to boost for our section A few good cheese factories P preferably refer ably swiss cheese plants added to what we have would make of this one of the most prosperous agricultural sections of the west what the farmers here need most is a market for milk which will aff afford ord them a steacy steady dependable income between field crops who has the vision to do for san juan cotay co what has been done f for or S t a ley wyoming |
