First 30 Years Continued

In winter of 1882 Samuel Wade brought the first fruit trees (apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot, cherry and grape vines) to the valley. Ezra wrote, "They put sled-runners on their wagon and drove their tandem mule team over frozen show in the early mornings, stopping when it became too soft for traveling. The trees were carried in an old trunk. Fires were built at night to keep the trees from freezing.

In preparation for the trees' arrival, Will Clarke and Ezra Wade began digging a major irrigation ditch (Wade and Clarke Ditch) on Minnesota Creek. By 1900, the Turner Ditch, Town Ditch, Minnesota Canal, John Lane Ditch, Inter Ocean Ditch, Stewart Canal, Short Ditch, Terror Creek Ditch, Fire Mountain Canal, East West Gunnison Ditch, Coal Creek Ditch, Mesa Ditch, Hammond Ditch, Sweazey-Turner Ditch, and Deep Creek Ditch were under construction or completed bringing water to the fruit trees in the valley.

Much of the produce from these trees were sold in the nearby mining towns. The fruit was hauled by wagon until 1902 when the Denver Rio Grande Railroad arrived in Paonia.

Because of the fertile soil and absence of harmful insects Paonia fruit was large and blemish free. Examples of Paonia fruit took six first places at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Buyers from outside the valley became interested and with the arrival of the railroad in 1902, a boom resulted. Prosperity was indicated by the sale of 10 acres of peach land for the price of $3500. Most land at that time sold for $100 an acre.

Two other industries which would have significant impact upon the Paonia economy were cattle and mining.

Shorthorns were the first cattle which came to the North Fork but by 1898 cattlemen had discovered the longhorns were more hardy. Cattle were introduced into the area by the Roatcaps as early as 1881. Before 1900, the cattle were grazed at higher elevations and on the foothills of the West Elk during the summer and in the 'dobies' (clay soil) during the winter. Legislation adopted in 1905 by the Roosevelt administration required stockmen "to own base property to support the animals grazing on a forest permit."

In 1893 six thousand head of sheep were introduced into the valley. Surprised cowboys ordered the sheep off the range and backed up their words with six-shooters. The sheep men fled back to Utah. To protect their interests the cattlemen organized a secret society call the Cattle Growers Protective Association. "Because they did most of their work at night, they became known the Night Riders. Whenever a sheep herd appeared on a cattle range, information was sent to the local protective cattle association. If legal persuasion failed, sheep were stampeded over bluffs or massacred by a barrage of rifle fire. However, the sheepherder was never harmed." In 1915 when sheep became more profitable than cattle, they were permitted on the U.S. Forest Reserve.

The other industry that had major impact upon Paonia's economy was coal mining. Vast reserves of coal lay buried in the area (33 billion tons on the West Slope) Not realizing the usefulness of the resource, the first settlers burned cottonwood logs from the river bottoms. Gold and silver smelting increased the demand for coal and coal replaced charcoal for blacksmithing. The advent of the railroad the made the shipment of coal economical and coal mining eventually became the major industry in the area.

While mining was becoming established in the upper North Fork, settlers near Paonia were planting fruit trees. By 1911, acre upon acre of fruit grew in the valley extending from Paonia to Hotchkiss, up Minnesota Creek and on to the outlying mesas such as Pitkin and Lamborn. Overproduction, capricious weather and insect infestation busted the fruit growing industry in the valley. The North Fork valley like most of Western Colorado followed a "boom and bust" cycle from then until the present.