Green fields and sparkling waters: Wellington agriculture

By Arlene Ahlbrandt and Wayne Sundberg
Correspondents

During its first 80 years, Wellington's economy was based almost entirely on agriculture. In the past 20 years, however, new businesses and industries have come into the community, providing a much more diverse economy. Wellington's motto has long been, "A nice place to grow." For most of its existence, it has also been a nice place to grow crops!

Settlers began to come to the area in the late 1850s, and soon discovered that intensive irrigation was needed to raise most crops. Potatoes, grains and alfalfa were the earliest agricultural produce. The first irrigation ditch taken from the Poudre River was the Yeager Ditch in 1860.

As agriculture and irrigation expanded, farmers tried other crops. The introduction of dryland wheat, sugar beets and pinto beans created a diversified agricultural economy. Sugar beets became one of the most dominant crops just after the dawn of the 20th century. Its by-products--beet tops and beet pulp - spurred the lamb feeding industry in northern Colorado. The area became, self- proclaimed, "The Lamb Feeding Capital of the World."

When Great Western Sugar Co.'s beet processing plant was built in Fort Collins, in 1902-03, people in the newly settled upper Boxelder Valley, which would become Wellington, had hoped it would be built there. In 1903, the North Poudre Irrigation Co., the town's founder, planted 1,400 acres of sugar beets. The soils around its new town were well suited to the growing of this agricultural resource. The irrigation company convinced the Colorado & Southern Railroad to build its line north to the new community, and the railroad's division superintendent, C. L. Wellington, agreed to lend his name to the fledgling town. The railroad even gave farmers sugar beet seeds to plant so they could prove that the area was a good beet-producing area.

In the earliest days, German immigrants who had come from the steppes of southern Russia to Nebraska and the Dakotas, were brought in to do the intensive "stoop labor" required to raise sugar beets. Those who first came to work the fields were poor but industrious people. Entire families labored in the fields. Usually the adults "blocked" the beets with hoes, while the children followed on their knees, thinning the beets down to the healthiest plants. The children's small hands were ideally suited for thinning and weeding, and their labor helped the family earn more money. In the fall, the beets had to be pulled and topped, using very sharp beet knives.

Many of these early field hands were later able to buy their own farms, and move from laborers to employers. With the beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, many farmers migrated north to work the fields of northern Colorado. During World War II, German prisoners of war were sent into the area to help in the beet fields. By the 1960s, the sugar beet industry had all but vanished from this area, but it has made a resurgence in recent years.

Alfalfa was a perfect rotation crop for sugar beets. It put nutrients back into the soil that the beets took out. Cut and bailed into hay, it provided feed that could be stored through the winter months. Corn is another important crop that was harvested and used as livestock feed. Fruit growing also took up many acres of land in the Wellington area. Many people remember driving past the cherry orchards along Highway 1 on their way into "town," Fort Collins.

With so much farming, the irrigation system had to be expanded in those early days. Tapping both the North Poudre River and the Boxelder Creek is a massive system of irrigation canals and reservoirs. The Lone Pine Creek and North Fork Ditch Companies were two of the early irrigation enterprises. The North Poudre, Boxelder and Lone Tree Canal Co. of 1879 evolved into the North Poudre Land, Canal and Reservoir Co. In 1901 Francis Grable, C.Q. Wilson, who would become the first mayor of Wellington, and several others shortened the rather cumbersome title to the North Poudre Irrigation Co. and incorporated the company with 3,000 shares available at $50 each. This led to the platting and incorporation of the town of Wellington by the company.

Today there are still many farms in the area, both large and small. Grants Family Farm is a large commercial operation, raising mostly organically grown fruits and vegetables. The Japanese-American Matsuda farm family northwest of Wellington in the Buckeye area has been a leading producer, and Sam Matsuda has received several agricultural awards. Several farms in the area have been recognized by the Colorado Historical Society as "Centennial Farms," those that have been in the same family for a hundred years or more. Agriculture is still a driving economic force for Wellington and its environs.

Wellington is celebrating its centennial this year with a communitywide event set for Sept. 16 - 18. Previously published articles on the town's history are available online at www.northfortynews.com.