History of Rocky Ford - Rocky Ford, CO - Colorado Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

PANEL 1 TITLE: HISTORY OF ROCKY FORD
Rocky Ford got off to a rocky start—its first building sat on land sold fraudulently to town founder George Washington Swink—but a smoother road lay ahead. Established in 1870 at a busy river crossing named by Kit Carson, the town moved a few miles in 1876 to get nearer the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, where it benefited from steady trade traffic and an ample water supply. Its main asset, though, was Swink himself. He developed Rocky Ford’s two main cash crops, melons and sugar beets; courted the town’s largest corporation, the American Beet Sugar Company; and helped build the Rocky Ford Ditch, the spine of an extensive irrigation network. Swink’s formula—land, transportation, industry, and water—represented prairie town-building at its best. He died in 1910, but his many gifts to this town still live on.

Melon and Seed Industry
Rocky Ford claimed the title of “Melon Capital of the World” in the late 1880s, shortly after George Washington Swink began planting cantaloupes and watermelons here. The fruit grew large and exceptionally sweet, giving area farmers a lucrative cash crop; by the early 1900s they were shipping thousands of tons of melons nationwide. This commodity helped shape Rocky Ford’s identity; the town held an annual Watermelon Day and named various institutions (including the airport and high-school sports teams) after the local export. Those traditions persisted even though melon production declined steadily after 1916. By the mid-twentieth century, Rocky Ford sold more melon seeds than actual fruit, eventually becoming the nation’s top seed supplier for a wide range of crops. But if the town no longer produces the most melons, it still grows the best ones—according to the locals, anyhow.

George Washington Swink (1836–1910), founder of Rocky Ford and Watermelon Days.
Colorado Historical Society

PANEL 2 TITLE: THE SUGAR INDUSTRY

Though never as celebrated as melons, sugar beets were no less important to Rocky Ford. George Washington Swink (who else?) planted the first crop here in the 1880s, then persuaded the California-based American Beet Sugar Company to build a local processing plant in 1900. The company, in turn, attracted farmers, who could make reliable incomes growing beets to supply the factory. By 1910 Rocky Ford’s population had doubled to two thousand and diversified, as immigrants from Europe and Mexico came here to work in the beet fields and sugar factory. Colorado led the nation in sugar output for much of the twentieth century, and American Sugar ranked among the largest producers. Although the state’s sugar industry faltered in the 1960s, Rocky Ford’s factory stayed open until 1979, the last one still operating in the Arkansas Valley.

Irrigation and Water Rights The Rocky Ford Ditch wasn’t the Arkansas Valley’s longest irrigation channel, nor the largest—but it was among the first, which is what really mattered. Since western water law granted priority to the oldest claims, the ditch always ran full, shielding local farmers from the periodic droughts that plagued neighbors. Founded in 1873, the co-operative ditch gradually lengthened to sixteen miles and supplied 10,000 acres of farmland. The whole town—melon farmers, beet producers, sugar factory, and all—relied on its dependable flows. Unfortunately, the sugar company (the ditch’s largest shareholder) folded in 1979, and when the Denver suburb of Aurora acquired the company’s water rights, some prime farmland dried up. Rocky Ford’s remaining water rights became more precious than ever; determined residents blocked another sale in 2000, but the ditch’s water continued to attract outside bidders.

PANEL 3 TITLE: ROCKY FORD COUNTRY

Regional map with the following text. Items are listed in no particular order:
The old Santa Fe Depot, finished in 1908 and restored in 1987, now houses the Rocky Ford Chamber of Commerce. Rocky Ford’s heritage is preserved in the Rocky Ford Museum, located at 1005 Sycamore Avenue.

The Comanche National Grasslands cover 435,707 acres in Baca, Otero, and Las Animas counties. The Grasslands offer visitors ample opportunities for camping, hiking, and backpacking among many other activities. At the Picket Wire Canyonlands visitors can view dinosaur tracks. Vogel Canyon boasts prehistoric Indian village sites and rock art.

The John Martin Reservoir, completed in 1948, offers plenty of recreation opportunities with its boat ramps and picnic and camping sites.

Lake Henry and Lake Meredith, originally dug as storage reservoirs for Crowley County farmers, now offer fishing, hunting, camping, and other recreational activities for travelers to the area.

The Santa Fe Trail Scenic and Historic Byway follows the route of this great nineteenth-century highway of commerce between Missouri and New Mexico. The cultural legacies of this historic trade route are still evident as one travels this byway. U.S. Highway 350 and 50 generally parallel the Mountain Route of the Santa Fe Trail.

The Bent County Historical Courthouse in Las Animas, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is the oldest continuously operated courthouse in Colorado (since 1888).

The center of a vast trading empire, Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site flourished between 1834 and 1849. The reconstructed fort, open year-round, interprets the mountain man era through innovative educational programs.

Founded as New Bent’s Fort and renamed Fort Wise, Fort Lyon took its existing name in 1861. Originally located twenty miles to the east, the fort was moved to its present location near Las Animas after it was flooded in 1867. Kit Carson died at the new Fort Lyon in 1868.

Panel 4: Ribbon Of Life

Contains pictoral map of the Arkansas River with some limited descriptive text about indigenous species.

Here is a Google Maps Street View LINK.
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Group or Groups Responsible for Placement: Colorado Historical Society County or City: Rocky Ford Date Dedicated: 2002 Check here for Web link(s) for additional information: [Web Link]

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