Farming and Ranching in the American Desert

• Published in: Colorado p. 161
• Main Authors: Abbott, Carl, Noel, Thomas J, Leonard, Stephen J
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United States University Press of Colorado 15.06.2013
• Subjects: Agricultural geography; Agricultural land; Agricultural sciences; Agriculture; Agrology; Agronomy; Animal husbandry; Animal science; Applied sciences; Biological sciences; Canals; Civil engineering; Crops; Ditches; Drainage structures; Earth sciences; Engineering; Farmlands; Farms; Field crops; Food crops; Geography; Geomorphology; Hydraulic structures; Hydrology; Irrigation; Irrigation canals; Irrigation systems; Livestock farms; Lowlands; Physical sciences; Plains; Ranching; Topography; Waterways
• ISBN: 9781607322269; 1607322269
• DOI: 10.5876/9781607322276:c10

Colorado’s first agricultural fair opened September 21, 1866, a mile and a half northwest of Denver. An early snowstorm had turned the forty acres of fairgrounds to cold mud, but visitors were delighted with the facilities. The exhibition hall, an octagon 300 feet in circumference, was filled with displays—quilts, ore specimens, and mammoth vegetables such as fifteen-pound turnips and thirty-five-pound cabbages from the South Platte Valley. Outside were stalls for prize livestock and a half-mile racetrack. The highlight came at the end of the four-day event, when 3,000 people watched nine women match their equestrian skills. Staged seven years