Show colorado j ski story faja 1 W f i T part of colorados Colorado 8 sugar beet crop prepared by national society I 1 D C service R BE additional p primitive r I 1 in I 1 it I 1 v e T areas as have just been sot set aside by y the federal govern government men t in the mountains of colorado to serve as vacation regions for those NN ho he wish to enjoy outings in the real wilderness the designation has been made to BO that there will remain even after further development of highways and railways mil ways parts of the rugged mountains untouched by the hand of man a region free from concrete concree e steel en aad even the wires of power lines and telephones bah of the districts will in addition be a natural preserve pie serve for wild animal life seventy five years ago all of colorado was a wilderness through which only a handful of trappers had wandered the region which Is now dow the state constituted a real barrier its vast eastern plains formed a typical part of the great amerlean american desert that geographic libel thrust onto american maps by forest minded pioneers there to stay tor for two generations and beyond the desert rose an immense rampart of impenetrable peaks with barren rocky crowns appalling bights they were to men who had grown up among the friendly rounded verdure blanketed mountains of the east so it came about that the early rush of trade and elul emigration gration that beat out paths to the west passed colorado by its mountain barrier split this westward faring tide of humanity as a huge boander bowlder in midstream cleaves the waters of a river the santa ITS fe trail turned to the south traversing only the southeast corner of the area that was to become colorado the covered wagons ot of emigrants oregon bound in the early forties the great hegira of thousands of mormons cormons in 47 end and 48 and the rush ol of the california forty biners passed chiefly to the north save for a handful of white trappers colorado was left to its few bands of wandering savages but not for long gold always a magnet tor for men dragged a horde of fortune seekers to the edge of the mountains almost over night in and 15 69 and soon sent restless prospectors with picks and pans scurrying like ants over the whole mountain area they found the mountain region was not a land of arctic wastes and ley icy solitudes on the slopes of bare topped were noble forests between were smiling valleys with grassy meadows desert now a rich region here and there the valleys widened into spacious parks streams gurgled gur filed on every tide side alive with fish the forests teemed with game into this land of unexpected beauty trickled the van ran of the emigrants some to find other goods than gold the barrier had bad had its first real breach the desert now Is a land of growing crops and fat cattle crisscrossed criss crossed by highways and railroads farther west the vigorous rigorous pioneers and their brothers in spirit who have followed after have thrust railways rall waTs through gorges even hanging theta them on artificial shelves from sheer precipices they have gouged their may vi ay through the continental divide and lesser ranges to construct long iong tunnels and over the great sea ot of mountains along the routes of indian trails rod and the crude early roads of the miners that clung precariously to steep slopes they have flung an amazing network of modern highways now on any summers day on 0 the heights which early pessimists called cheerless polar solitudes one may see the gayly colored frocks of women and children fluttering from scurrying anto automobiles to they belong to visiting family parties on picnicking bent who iho are whisked over the mountain roads in a continuous stream the once impassable mountains are a fai r mark now for the whee riest flivver the story of colorados swift development in the short space of one lifetime Is crammed with romance tragedy and high adventure adien ture with strokes es of good fortune and ill III as are few chapters in the national chronicle one day the region was raw virtually untouched by civilization civilisation tile the next almost men were starting to make a state out of thin mountain air and dusty sagebrush flats were selling belling town lots at auction issuing newspapers building homes churches saloons and theaters organizing stagecoach companies com talking polities politics good motor roads As you explore colorados mountain region rich alike in gold and superb scenery you find excellent motor roads penetrating tating the roughest terrain ferrule the states mountain highway system has haa opened up this region of tumbled peaks only in recent years twenty S bears ears ago the states summer land consisted almost exclusively of th foothill country and the ea eastern tern slopes of the front range now with four excellent main highways crossing the continental divide rod and with a rie network of minor roads and trails available increasing numbers of the holiday crowds are pushing into the back country where the scenic beauties are more marked where the fishing Is better where the highways are less crowded and where if one wishes to penetrate still farther he can leave civilization itself behind arid and live for a time in an unspoiled wilderness gold was only the curtain raiser for the amazing drama of minerals that has unfolded in colorado silver was discovered in paying quantities six years after the gold rush four years later in more ounces of silver were produced than gold and this has been the case in eiery cery year since when Lead villes bonanza silver mines came into heavy production in the dollar value of the silver mined each year actually passed that ot of gold colorado had bad become primarily a silver state one reason for the tremendous production of silver in Oo colorado lorado an average of more than tons of it a year is the complex nature of the states ores many contain mixtures of gold silver copper lead and zinc thus silver has been a byproduct by product in numerous properties and has often paid the freight tor for gold tin and titanium cadmium and cobalt manganese mercury and denum antimony and arsenic zinc and zircon arcon dip clip almost where when you will into the alphabet of minerals and you will find substances mined or colorado some deposits are awaiting a turn in economic conditions before they can be touched others have had their day just now colorado is sitting on top of the molybdenum world A mine at climax near leadville is turning out ore that produces each year several million pounds of this rare metal that makes the steel of our steel age tougher stronger and harder barder from this one mine comes more than four fifths of the entire world output of molybdenum vanadium another rare and valuable metal used in steel manufacture is flowing from a mine at rifle in western colorado this Is one of the largest van vanadium adlum mines in existence and yields one fifth of the world supply beside precious and rare metals coal may seem a grimy interloper but it Is mineral king of colorado it passed gold a few years ago close to three quarters of a billion dollars I 1 worth has been dug during the states life saved by irrigation irrigation was the savior of colorado most of the treasure seekers who went out in 59 and CO had only the desire to collect gold quickly and return to the east it was believed that the country could not support a permanent population but a fe few men ell planted gardens in the river bottoms led water to them in crude ditches and obtained astonishing yields co operative cooperative groups built larger ditches at higher levels and threw up diversion dams development has gone on until now dow every one of tile the many streams that flow from the mountains Is taken bodily over by arri gators as soon as it reaches the foot hills bills As one drives through the highly de v eloped irrigated region north and in west of denver one comes every few miles to great factories of steel rod and glass each dominated by a tall smoke stack these one learns are one of the fruits of irrigation in them millions of tons of beets that grow in the surrounding fields are turned each bear into hundreds of millions of pounds of sugar in 1930 colorado Colora factories produced nearly dearly a third 0 all the sugar produced in tile the unitta united states this white crystalline gold flom colorados plains has haa been wor th in e excess of in a single year more than ten times the value of tile the yellow gold that was dug clug to in 1031 1931 from the mountains all through this irrigated country of northern colorado one comes upon thriving towns sterling fort morgan greeley Gre elcy fort colllns collins longinott Longin ont loie lo 10 land into and dozens of smaller ones olles each surrounded hy hv fields of verdant green |