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In the preparation of this volume I have received the assistance of many individuals in Greeley and elsewhere to whom I take this opportunity of returning thanks. Among these I owe much to Mr. Delph E. Carpenter, the secretary of the Union Colony; to Mr. Hotchkiss, the city clerk of Greeley, and to Mr. J. Max Clark, a member of the colony in its early days. Mr. Henry T. West, a member of the original locating committee, still lives in Caldwell, Idaho. Through the loan of manuscripts and by correspondence he has assisted me to understand the spirit of the colonists. Dr. Thomas M. Marshall, my colleague, has aided in the transcription and checking of the records at Greeley and has done much to lighten the burden of preparing this volume for the press. To my wife, through her patient assistance in proof-reading, the text owes much of its accuracy.

February 20, 1918

JAMES F. WILLARD.

INTRODUCTION

In the development of the agricultural regions of the West, group migration has ever held a prominent place. This is true whether the Piedmont region, the basin of the Mississippi, the Southwest, or the lands of the Pacific slope be under consideration. One phase of the settlement of each of these districts has been that by more or less well-organized groups, companies or colonies.

The advantages of such a method of emigration and settlement were numerous and fairly obvious. By adopting this plan the men who made their living by the pursuit of agriculture were able to secure many benefits that they could not have gained if they had ventured alone. If the new homes were in the Far West, traveling by companies was the safest and often the only practicable method of reaching them. In almost any part of the West the danger from the depredations of Indians or outlaws was such that group settlement was desirable as a means of protection. During the later days of the westward movement the railroads granted special rates of transportation to colonists and land could be purchased to better advantage from the railroads by associations than by individuals.

If a group remained together after the migration many other advantages accrued. The social and economic centres of the agricultural communities, the towns or villages, with their stores, churches, schools, fraternal orders, farmers' clubs and other societies, grew up rapidly, far more rapidly than if the farmers had straggled into the country one by one. In regions of abundant rainfall a certain amount of co-operation was possible in breaking the wilderness. In the semi-arid belt the task of dig

ging irrigation ditches was lightened by joint labor. Though it took time for the prospective western settlers to become conscious of these advantages, this stage had been reached when Colorado was opened for agricultural settlement.

BACKGROUND OF THE COLONY MOVEMENT IN COLORADO.

For many years after the explorations of Pike and Long the resources of the western part of the Mississippi basin and of the Rocky Mountains were unexploited except by the trapper and trader. Then, in 1858, and the following years, Colorado became the home of thousands of men who sought gold in her streams and mountains. Of the many who entered the territory a few turned to agriculture.1 Farming on a small scale developed in the valleys of the South Platte and its tributaries and of the Arkansas. A number of short irrigation ditches were dug and a few of greater length. These small farming districts supplied the mining camps and the towns with a part of their food, but though prices were high, the distance to these markets was so great that agriculture attracted but few votaries. In 1867 more is heard of farming in the territory and during the next two years it took a more important place in the economic life of Colorado.2 But the absence of railroads, with the resulting expensive and time-consuming long hauls to the towns or camps, and the inaccessibility of all markets outside of Colorado, was a barrier in the way of further development. The migra

1 On the early development of agriculture and irrigation see: Smiley, J. C., History of Colorado, I, pp. 551-552, 573; History of Clear Creek and Boulder Valleys, pp. 53-54; Bliss, E., A Brief History of the New Gold Regions of Colorado Territory (1864), pp. 10-12; Bowles, S., Across the Continent, pp. 62-65; Taylor, B., Colorado, pp. 41-46.

2 See the reports of the commissioners of the General Land Office and of Agriculture for these years, and also: Colorado, a pamphlet issued by the Denver Board of Trade in 1868; Farrell, N. E., Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Gem (1868), p. 30 et seq.; Goddard, F. B., Where to Emigrate and Why (1869), pp. 160-175; Bowles, S., Our New West (1869), pp. 189-191.

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