Yuma

Yuma takes its name from a teamster who died while working on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and was buried beside the tracks. He never saw the town, which rose in 1886 as a cattle and shipping center. But homesteaders started fencing the range, and the dry summers through the 1890s thinned the herds, so that by 1900 Yuma had evolved into a farming community. It prospered through the World War I years, aided by ample rainfall and high demand for grain, but struggled through the Great Depression, reaping just enough good harvests to survive. Better irrigation techniques put local farmers on a more stable footing, and Yuma emerged as the anchor of one of Colorado's richest agricultural regions. By the early 1990s Yuma County ranked among the nation's leaders in corn production., Dryland Farming , You can make 14 inches of rain go as far as 25 or 30 inches.... We do not lose any of the rain - we have the full benefit of it. We keep it stored where the roots of the plants can reach it when they need it. , Hardy Webster Campbell, 1905, The first theory of dryland farming - "rain follows the plow" - was merely wishful thinking, upon settling this area in the 1880s farmers looked for ways to manage scarce rainfall. Some turned to Hardy Webster Campbell's scientific moisture management methods (introduced in 1902). Others conserved moisture by practicing "summer fallowing," wherein a field was left unplanted one year and cultivated the next. The area's first irrigation wells were dug in the early 1950s and small-scale sprinkler systems watered the fields. Today, pivot sprinklers have replaced most other methods. This system conserves both labor and water - wells that required 1,500 gallons per minute to irrigate now require less than 700 using pivot sprinklers. Over time, area farmers have worked to overcome the West's oppressive aridity, using resourceful methods to wrest harvests from a land once deemed barren., Captions , Middle Left: Courtesy Denver Public Library, Western History Collection , Lower Left: Yuma's Weld Avenue (now Main Street), 1888. One year earlier a devastating fire destroyed many buildings forcing owners to build more substantial structures. Courtery Yuma Museum , Center: One of the most difficult tasks faced by Yuma County farmers was breaking sod. By the time of this 1910 photo, steam-powered tractors were beginning to replace horse-drawn plows. Courtery LaJean Zica , Upper Right: Circular field indicate where farmers employ pivot sprinkler irrigation systems. Yuma is in the background. Courtery Yuma Pioneer