Show colorados colorado josf sory Z AZA lAil part of colorados colorado sugar beet crop prepared by national geographic society washington D V C service r SHREE E F additional primitive te areas have hate just been set aside JL by the federal government in the mountains of colorado to serve as vacation regions for those who he wish to enjoy outings in the real wilderness the designation has been made so BO that there will remain even after further development of 0 highways and railways parts of the rugged mountains untouched by the hand of man a region free from concrete steel and even the wires of power lines and telephones each of the districts will in addition be a natural preserve tor for wild animal life seventy five years ago all of 0 colorado was a wilderness through ugh which only a handful of trappers had bad wondered wandered the region which Is now the state constituted a real barrier its vast eastern plains formed a typical part of the great american desert that gog geographic graphic libel thrust onto american maps by forest minded pioneers there to stay for two generations and beyond the desert rose an immense rampart of impenetrable peaks with barren rocky crowns appalling sights 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 emigration that beat out paths to the west passed colorado by its mountain barrier split this westward faring tide of humanity as a huge bovlter boulder in midstream cleaves the waters of a river the santa fe trail turned to the south traversing only the southeast corner of the area that was to become colorado the covered wagons of emigrants oregon bound in the early forties the great hegira of thousands of mormons cormons in 47 and 48 and the rush of the california forty biners passed chiefly to the north save for a handful of white trappers tr appert colorado was wag left to its few bands of wandering savages but not for long gold always a magnet tor for men dragged ft a horde of fortune seekers to the edge of the mountains almost over night in 58 and 59 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 peaks were noble forests between were smiling valleys with gray grassy meadows desert Dei ert now a rich region here and there the valleys widened into spacious parks streams gurgled on every side alive with fish the forests teemed with game into this land of unexpected beauty trickled the van of the emigrants some gome 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 the vigorous pioneers and their brothers brother in spirit who have followed after have thrust railways through gorges even hanging them on artificial shelves from sheer they have gouged their way through the continental divide and lesser ranges to construct long tunnels and over the great sea lea of mountains along the routes of indian trails 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 the heights which early pessimists called cheerless polar solitudes one may see the gayly colored frocks of women and children fluttering from scurrying nu au to mobiles they belong to visiting family parties on picnicking bent who are whisked over the mountain roads in a continuous stream the once impassable mountains are arc a fair mark row now for the wheeziest st flivver the story of colorados swift development in the short space of one lifetime Is crammed with romance tragedy and high adventure with strokes of good fortune and ill III as are few chapters in the national chronicle one day the region was raw virtually untouched by civilization the next almost men were starting to make a state out of thin mountain air and dusty sagebrush flats were selling town lots at auction issuing newspapers building homes churches saloons and theaters organizing stagecoach companies talking politics I 1 good motor roads road As you explore colorados Colora dog mountain region rich alike in gold and superb scenery you find excellent motor roads road penetrating the roughest terrain the states mountain highway system has opened up this region of tumbled peaks only in recent years twenty years ago the states summer land consisted almost exclusively of the foothill country and the eastern slopes of the front range now with four excellent main highways crossing the continental divide and with a network of minor roads and trails available increasing numbers of the holiday crowds are pushing into the back tou country where the scenic beauties are more marked chere the fishing Is better where the highways are less crowded and where it if one wishes to penetrate still farther he can leave civilization itself behind and live for a time in an unspoiled wilderness gold was only the curtain curtale ralser raiser tor 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 every year since when Lead villes bonanza silver mines came into heavy production in 1879 1870 the dollar value of the sliver silver mined each year actually passed that of gold colorado had become primarily a sliver silver state one reason tor for the tremendous production of silver in colorado an average of more than tons of it a bear ear Is the complex nature of the states ores many contain mixtures of gold silver copper lead and zinc thus silver has been it 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 molybdenum antimony and arsenic zinc and zircon dip 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 tougher stronger and harder 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 vanadium mines in existence and yields one fifth of the world supply betide 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 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 SO 60 and CO 60 had only the desire to collect gold quickly and return to the east cast it was believed that the country could not support a permanent population but a few men planted gardens in the river bottoms led water to them in crude ditches and obtained astonishing yields operative cooperative co groups built larger ditches at higher levels and threw up diversion dams development has gone on until now every one of the many streams that low flow from the mountains Is taken bodily over by arri gators as soon as it reaches the foot hills As one drives through the highly de irrigated region north and west of denver one comes every few miles to great factories of steel and glass each dominated by a tall smokestack these one learns are one of the fruits of irrigation in them mil lions of tons of beets that grow in the surrounding fields are turned each year into hundreds of millions of pounds of sugar in 1030 1930 Colora colorado factories produced nearly a third a 0 all the sugar produced in the united states this white crystalline gold from colorados plains has been worth in excess of in a single year more than ten times the value of the y ellow gold that was dug in 1031 1931 from the mountains AU all through this irrigated country of 0 northern colorado one comes upon thriving towns sterling fort morgan greeley fort colllns collins loveland and dozens of smaller ones each surrounded by fields of verdant verdan green |