Mexican American Cultural HistoryBarbara Hawthorne

IntroductionThe first settlers of European descent to settle in Colorado were men and women of Spanishorigins who had been residing in northern New Mexico. Originally they were attracted toColorado by mining opportunities and their need for expanded lands. Some of these earlysettlers migrated to northern Colorado to work the sugar beet fields in the early 1900s. At thissame time, the Great Western Sugar Company began recruiting Mexican laborers from Mexicovia El Paso, Texas for contract labor in the sugar beet fields of northern Colorado, tosupplement the German-Russian labor supply.

Mexican immigration since 1900 was one of the great migratory movements in Americanhistory. Between 1910 and 1930, during the Mexican Revolution, the number of persons bornin Mexico residing in the United States approximated 4.1% of the total population; 3.6% and15.2% of the total populations in Larimer and Weld counties respectively.

The Mexican-American immigrants who first settled in the South Platte River Valley were luredto this area by possible employment opportunities. They came to work in the sugar beet fields,in the beet sugarfactories, on the

railroads and in the stone quarries. It was in the beet fields, however,that they made their most important contributions to the economy ofColorado. The Mexican- American field workers and factory laborerscontributed to the beet sugar industry with their hard work andsacrificed life styles. Agriculture, particularly sugar beet agriculture inthe South Platte River Valley would not have dominated the localeconomy for over 85 years without their contributions.

In the 1940s, the introduction and utilization of mechanized farmimplements replaced the need for agricultural hand labor in the fields.As a result of farm mechanization, Mexican-American farm workerswere forced into urban centers such as Andersonville, BuckinghamPlace and Alta Vista in Fort Collins in search of jobs and homes. Many of the descendants of these original Mexican-American immigrants residein the South Platte River Valley today.

Mexico: The HomelandMexico tapers southward from the United States for about 1,100 miles. Morethan half of the northern boundary of Mexico is formed by the Rio GrandeRiver, which separates Mexico and the state of Texas. To the east of Mexicolies the Gulf of Mexico; to the west, the Pacific Ocean. The area of the countryis approximately 764,000 square miles. The greater part of the countryconsists of flat tableland lying between two mountain ranges that extendsoutheast into Mexico from the United States coming together at the southerntip of Mexico.

As a people, the Mexican's are a mixture of native Indians, Euro-Spaniards anda small number of Africans. During the period of Spanish rule, beginning in the16th century, many Native Indians and Spaniards intermarried producing children who were called "mestizos", who today form the majority of theMexican and the Mexican-American populations.

When Mexico became an independent nation in 1821, it had about the same amount of territory as the United States extending north into thestates of Texas, California, Nevada, Utah and parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado; yet Mexico had not attained the same degree ofprosperity as its northern neighbor. The loss of more than half of its territory to the United States in 1836 in the Texan rebellion, was only onereason for Mexico's lack of prosperity and opportunities. Mexico also faced other serious problems. The mining industry, which was Mexico'sprincipal source of wealth at the time, was destroyed in Mexico's struggle for independence. At the time, most of the land was owned by native"ricos" or by the Catholic Church. The Mexican government was forced to borrow money from foreign bankers to meet its needs, thus placingMexico into a position of dependency on outside sources of funds for its survival. This dependency gradually weakened the country and forcedseveral million Mexicans to emigrate to the United States in search of work and better styles of living (Hoobler, 1994, p. 23).

Political instability also weakened Mexico. Before the invasion of the Spaniards in 1521, Mexico was in the hands of various native Indians. In1535, Spain set up a territorial government that ruled the country for nearly300 years. It was not until 1821 that any attempt by the native population toregain political control was successful. Since 1821, military leadersfrequently overturned elected governments and the country was in aconstant state of upheaval. Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana controlled Mexicanpolitics between 1833 and 1855. He was overthrown in a rebellion led byBenito Juarez. In 1862, the French invaded but were defeated by theMexican army under General Ignacio Zaragoza. The anniversary of thisvictory is known as Cinco de Mayo, a date that continues to symbolizeMexican independence (p. 24). This victory was short-lived however, and in1863, the French captured Mexico City and appointed Archduke Maximilianas emperor of Mexico from 1864 to 1867. In 1867, Juarez captured andexecuted Maximilian and appointed himself president of a new Mexicanrepublic from 1867 to 1872. He established many reforms including issuing

land grants to the native "mestizo" population.

Between 1884 and 1911, Porfirio Diaz became the dictator of Mexico. Diaz reestablished alliances with rich landowners and church leaders. Herelied heavily on the United States for support in Mexico's development. Foreign dependency weakened Mexico and exploited her citizens. By1910, ninety five percent of the rural population consisted of landless "peons" or day laborers ( p. 24). In 1910, Francisco Madero, a rich Mexicanlandowner with the support of Doroteo Arango, better known as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata formed guerrilla forces that fought Diaz'sarmies. The outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, offered them the chance to avenge their grievances against the rich landowners ofMexico. The rebel movements led by Villa and Zapata were disorganized and strategies took the form of "hit and run" raids on governmenttroops. Armies constituted young men captured predominantly from "estancias" or ranches in northern Mexico. Villa and Zapata forced Diaz intoexile and Madero became the President. Madero's regime was short-lived however, and in 1913, General Victoriano Huerta took power in amilitary coup. Civil War broke out all over Mexico between followers and opponents of Huerta's regime. Soldiers of both sides roamed the landleaving devastation in their paths (25). Huerta's opponents forced him to leave the country and during the following years, Mexico had fivepresidents.

ImmigrationPoverty and its lack of opportunities, a decline in national industries, Mexican dependency on foreignownership, exploitation of Mexican workers, unequal distribution of land ownership, political instability, the lossand death of millions of Mexican people during the Revolution, and a demand for cheap labor in Americaforced approximately 10 percent of the Mexican population to flee across the border into the United Statesbetween 1910 and 1930.

Mexican immigration since 1900 is one of the great migratory movements in American history. Between 1900and 1930 more than 1,000,000 Mexicans came into the United States from Mexico. During these two decades,Mexicans made up the greatest number of new immigrants to the United States. Between 1900 and 1990,approximately 2,500,000 Mexican citizens both with documents and many undocumented immigrated into theUnited States (Meier, 1972, p. 118). In the year 2000, according to the U.S. Census, the number ofHispanic/Latino people living in the United States was 35,305,818 and of that, 20,640,711 were of Mexicandescent.

Mexican Immigration to the United States, 1908-1932

Year Total in the United States Year Total in the United States

1908a 5,257 1923 62,709

1909 15,139 1924 87,648

1910 17,760 1925 32,378

1911 18,023 1926 42,638

1912 22,001 1927 66,766

1913 10,954 1928 57,765

resistant crops and moisture-conserving tillage practices in regions of less than twenty inches of annual rainfall. To aid in the adjustment to dryfarming techniques, the state of Colorado set up experiment stations utilizing the CampbellSystem, a set of techniques for growing grains on dry land (134). This system emphasized themoisture-conserving tillage practices of deep plowing, frequent cultivation and sub-soiling witha sub-surface packer.

During the first decade of the 1900's, northern Colorado experienced a second migration offarmers. These farmers showed great interest in dry-farming techniques. Dry farming however,was interrupted during World War I when the price of wheat went up. With this a third influx ofsettlers turned the South Platte River Valley into a grain raising area until the next drought in1934. Again, there was emigration out of the Valley, the need for relief and new innovationsand adjustments to the farming culture. Stock raising again became the dominant economicenterprise; however, crop raising continued to be important and dry farming continued to bewidely practiced. Drought resistant plants including winter wheat and forage sorghum becamedominant crops (135).

The South Platte River Valley became one of the richest farming sections in Colorado (Coen,1926, p.33), adaptable to the growth of all the cereal crops except corn without irrigation.When attended by irrigation, corn, melons, squash, onions, cabbage, potatoes, beets, peasand beans could be raised in quantity and of a quality competitive with other parts of theUnited States (Steinel, 1926, p. 179).

SUGAR BEET PRODUCTION 1900 1910 UNIT

Sugar Beets 6,656 806,000 tons

Potatoes 4,465,746 6,400,000 bushels

Hay 1,647,321 1,338,000 tons

Barley 531,240 864,000 bushels

Beet sugar 1,597,440 195,100,000 pounds

*(Watrous. 1911, p. 21)

% ACREAGE PLANTED TO:

CROP WELD COUNTY LARIMER COUNTY

Hay 50%

Sugar beets 30-36% 97%

Grain 15%

Corn, potatoes, bean, cucs 11%

*(Coen. 1926, p. 34)

The first crop harvested and the first agricultural industry in the South Platte River Valley was dry, wild hay in 1858. Some cereal grains includingcorn, wheat, oats and barley were planted in 1864. Wheat, oats and wild hay remained the prevailing crop pattern until repeated plantingscaused a decline in soil productivity around 1880 at which time alfalfa was introduced into the Valley with seeds coming from California. Alfalfawas planted to enrich the soil with nitrogen (C.A. Duncan, "Memories of Early Days in the Cache La Poudre Valley" Fort Collins: n.d., pp. 45-46 inHafen 1948, p. 137). In 1870, potatoes raised by the Union Colonists in Weld County were later rotated with alfalfa crops to increase productionwhich ensured a better outside market (138). Later, around 1899, the first sugar beets were planted in the South Platte River Valley.

1972, p. 181). The Korean War in the early 1950s further promoted the need for the "bracero" program. By 1958, however controversy andcriticism surrounding the program led to a bill in the House of Representatives to phase out "bracero" workers in the United States.

Following World War II, between 1954 and 1958, the United States government expelled over 3.8 million "wetbacks" and "aerialists" to Mexicounder the Operation Wetback Program. This program pressured the Mexican who lived and worked illegally in the United States to constantly beon guard against apprehension and deportment by the United States authorities.

Since 1965, the American government has set out to discourage Mexican immigration. The hope to reduce Mexican immigration to the UnitedStates has been a vain one. Though the Immigration and Nationality Act limited legal immigration to 120,000 immigrants per year from theWestern hemisphere, illegal immigrants continued to slip across the border. In the 1980 census, Mexican-American populations in the SouthPlatte River Valley had increased since 1930, being approximately 17% of the total population in Weld County and 5.9% in Larimer County. In thecensus of 2000, Mexican-American populations had increased to 20.9% in Weld County, and 6.6% in Larimer County.

Immigration in northern Colorado was motivated by the beet sugar industry. Sugar beet agriculture required a large work force from May throughOctober. Originally they had found this work force by recruiting German-Russian families from the midwestern area of the United States. As theseindividuals and their families became landowners and urban dwellers, a need arose for a work force to replace them. Agents from the GreatWestern Sugar Company began recruiting Mexican laborers at the Texas border. The Company provided transportation by train to Colorado andcontracted with local farmers for seasonal labor and housing. Many of these workers remained in Colorado and are now residing in urban centersof Larimer and Weld counties.

Other individuals of Hispanic origins migrated north from southern Colorado and northern New Mexico to work in the sugar beet fields, on therailroads or stone quarries of northern Colorado.

Prior to the initiation of Border Patrol in 1924 by the United States government, immigrants traveled freely across borders in both northern andsouthern directions. Most immigrants were young Mexican men crossing for daily work opportunities in Texas fields or urban centers. Someyoung men traveled on the seasonal migrant circuit during the harvest season, returning to Mexico at season's end. Initially a few entirehouseholds would head north for work, wages and improved lifestyles. At first, these families followed the seasonal migratory circuit. Eventually,however, many established residency in the southwestern United States.

Generally, most undocumented immigrants were called "Wetbacks" ("mojados") because they swam or crossed the Rio Grande River illegally inrafts during the United State's agricultural seasons. The majority of crossings were made at night on a flat boat or a raft called the "duck". Someof the "mojados" never made the crossing. They were drowned or mysteriously shot from the American shores. Others crossed only to be turnedback or jailed by the Border Patrol. "Aerialists" were illegal immigrants who entered New Mexico and Arizona by climbing barbed wire fences.Some succeeded, but most met the same fates as the "mojados".

To assist some illegal aliens in crossing the border into the United States, the "coyote" system was established. "Coyotes" were individuals whoguided or transported Mexican citizens illegally across the border into the United States for a price (Hoobler, 1994, p.42). These men or womenwere experienced at evading the "migra" or Border Patrol. For their services, the "coyotes" charged high fees and immigrants often lost what littlesavings they had accumulated. The guarantees offered by the "coyotes" were often worthless promises. For most Mexicans, however, paying the"coyotes" for guidance was worth the risk of losing their money and possessions because in the United States, an individual could earn up to fourtimes what he or she could make in Mexico (41).

South Platte River Valley: The Environment"For more than a century the valley of the South Platte has played an important part in the history and development of Colorado" (Brown, 1925,p. 19).

In 1803, the Louisiana province which included the entire northeastern quadrant of the state of Colorado north of the Arkansas River wasacquired by the United States in a transaction with France. The land was purchased for $15,000,000 (Watrous, 1911, p. 17). Included in thistransaction was the South Platte River Valley.

The South Platte River Valley lies in the north central section of the state of Colorado and consists of high plains that rise from 4,000 to 6,500feet in altitude. At its center is a level area broken by shallow river valleys. On its western edge is a complex of mountain ranges rising up to14,000 feet above sea level.

The South Platte River Valley embraces four major waterways and two counties. The South Platte River makes its ways through valleys andplains just east of the Rocky Mountain foothills. North of Denver it flows almost directly north through Weld County on its southern boundary forabout thirty five miles to Greeley after traversing Larimer and Weld counties from the west. The Cache a la Poudre River flows into the SouthPlatte about four miles east of Greeley after traversing Larimer and Weld counties from the west. Farther south, the Big Thompson and St. VrainRivers empty into the Platte. The Platte continues its easterly course across the Weld county line on through the center of Morgan county to the

east. It eventually merges with waters of the North Platte River about three miles east of North Platte, Nebraska (Brown, 1926, pp. 19-20).

The high plains of the South Platte River Valley consist of flora and faunacharacteristic with the Upper Sonoran zone. The high plains are home to avariety of animal and plant species. Its prairie lands are covered with buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides), small prickly pear cacti (Opuntia polyacantha)and grama grass (Boutelova). These plant species provide homes forburrowing owls (Speotyto cunicularia hypugaea), prairies dogs (Cynomysludovicianus), mountain plover (Eupoda montana) and rattlesnakes (Crotalusviridis). River and pond waterways house broadleafed cottonwood trees(Populus sargenti) and Peach Leaf Willow (Salix amygdaloides). It is herethat you find desert prairie hawks (Falco mexicanus Schlegel), cliff swallows(Petrochelidon albifronsalbifrons) and Great BlueHerons (Ardea herodiastreganzai).

On the valley floor, thecultivated fields attractmigrating Ring-NeckedPheasants (Phasianuscolchicus torquatus) andWest Vesper Sparrows(Pooecetes gramineusconfinis); and the pastures provide security to the Western Meadowlark(Sturnella neglecta) and the Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys),Colorado's state bird. Barn Swallows (Hirundo erythrogaster), Says Phoebes(Sayornis saya) and House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis) hidewithin the farm buildings and Pied-billed Grebes (Podilymbus podiceps),Forster's terns (Sterna forsteri), White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)and Canadian Geese (Branta canadensis) prevail upon the lakes and ponds.

In the marshlands are Virginia Rails (Rallus limicola), American Bitterns (Botaurus lentiginosus) and Wilson's snipes (Capella delicata), and in theswamps are Thick-Billed Redwing (Agelaius phoeniceus fortis) and Western Yellow-throats (Geothypis trichas occidentalis) (Hafen, 1948, pp. 12-13).

Early Settlement in the South Platte River ValleyThe Mexican people were not the first people to reside in the South Platte River Valley of northern Colorado;nor were they the first immigrant population to settle there. Prior to the first pioneers arriving to the South PlatteRiver Valley in the early 19th century, the first inhabitants were the native Indian populations. By 1900,however, the Indian population had been forced to leave the state or were extinguished in brutal military battles.

By the mid-1800s immigrant populations were arriving and utilizing the rivers in the Valley. The South PlatteRiver Valley's waterways carried French fur trappers, European and American explorers, governmentexpeditions and gold seekers. Many of these first pioneers settled in the Valley and indulged in stock raising asearly as the 1860s. In 1861, the first farmers organized together to form the Union Colony in Weld County.

Early pioneers were followed by the English, who often ventured into ranching or mining enterprises; and theScots and the Welsh, who were experienced in mining technology and brought valuable experiences to themining communities in Colorado, especially the coal mines in Weld County.

The Japanese came as laborers and were recruited from the Northwestern United States for contract labor onthe Larimer and Weld County Railroads. Some of the workers left the railroad to work on the sugar beet farms.Early Japanese families took up residence in Kersey, Ault, Platteville, Fort Lupton and Greeley.

Groups of Swedes settled in urban areas and worked in the stone quarries of Larimer and Weld counties (Hafen, 1948, p. 108). Dutch coloniescame to Crook, Colorado from the San Luis Valley to engage in farming on land owned by the Holland Company. And the German-Russians, whowere descendants of some 27,000 German peasants and craftsmen who immigrated to the western United States in the 1870s, settled in the

wheat and sugar beet growing areas in the midwestern United States.. A shortage of labor forthe new beet sugar industry drew many of them to the South Platte River Valley between 1890and 1920 (Coen, 1926, p. 48).

Between 1900 and 1930, more than 1,000,000 Mexican people came into the United Statesfrom Mexico; 45,000 of them came into Colorado settling in fifty-two of Colorado's sixty-threecounties (United States Census). These first immigrants were recruited by the Great WesternSugar Company to replace the German-Russian laborers who had acquired their own land forfarming or who had moved to the cities. To a smaller extent, some Mexican individuals andfamilies came to northern Colorado on their own, finding contract work on the farms or labor

positions at the beet sugar factories, smelters and quarries, and on the railroads. It was in the beet fields however, that they made their importantcontributions to the economy of Colorado (Hafen, 1948, p. 100).

Agriculture in the South Platte River Valley"The earthen Plains of Colorado had long been labeled unfit to grow anything other than buffalo, snakes, cactus and antelope. He (StephenLong) labeled it the 'Great American Desert' in 1820. Stephen Long, in a military expedition in 1820 thought the area was good only for grazingcattle and raising a few crops" (Shwrayder, 1987, p. 4).

Colorado has four major agricultural areas, each area having distinctphysical characteristics as well as unique cultures and economies(McCracken, 1979, p. 1). The Western Slope which lies west of theRocky Mountain chain, grows mostly apples, peaches, cherries andsugar beets. The Arkansas Valley in central Colorado produces sugarbeets, onions, vegetables and pickles. The major crops grown in theSan Luis Valley in southern Colorado are lettuce, potatoes,vegetables and onions; and in the northern area, the South PlatteRiver Valley produces sugar beets, pickles, onions, cotton andvegetables (Coen, p.2).

The first agriculture and stock raising in Colorado was in southernColorado in the San Luis Valley in 1853 on land owned and farmed byMexican citizen farmers (Steinel, 1926, p. 28). The San Luis Valleywas part of Mexico at this time where most of the agricultural land washeld under the lavish grants made by Governor Armijo of New Mexico.After the War of 1846, these lands were ceded by Mexico to theUnited States (39).

These first farmers immediately began to dig irrigation ditch systems.The irrigation canals were designed to irrigate small plots of land and were regulated and maintained by coop farmers (Hafen, 1948, p. 148).With irrigation established, these early farmers first raised alfalfa, but soon after began growing wheat, corn, beans, peas, potatoes, lentils,chilies, oats and barley. They also raised cattle, sheep, goats, horses, mules, burros, hogs and chickens.

The first farmers in northern Colorado were adventurers looking for gold and agricultural opportunities (Steinel, 1926, p. 14). They settled onsmall plots of land, farming for the purpose of supplying the mining communities with essential provisions (Hafen, 1948, p. 122). Since, it wasearly realized that irrigation would be necessary in northern Colorado, irrigation farming developed first near the gold camps in 1859 where theyserved a dual purpose, for sluicing and for irrigation. David Wall was the first gold miner turned farmer to irrigate in northern Colorado at ClearCreek near Golden. In 1862, an editorial, "Farming vs. Gold Digging" (Vol. 1 Num. 1) in the Rocky Mountain News encouraged farming overmining exploits in Colorado, ". . .make more money by buying property" (Steinel, 1926, p. 67). At this same time, the Union Colony at Greeley wasorganized. The Union Colonists were exponents of the small farm and of intensive agriculture. They held a cohesive power through which theywere able to build larger cooperative irrigation works and to develop outside markets for their surplus products (67).

Northeastern Colorado was first settled by farmers around 1886 during a period of abundant rainfall when northeastern Colorado became knownas the "rain-belt". Corn was the most commonly planted crop. In 1890, however, came a drought and general crop failures. Many of the firstpioneer farmers left the Valley. Others stayed and had to be assisted by Colorado relief committees in order to survive the winters. Following, inthe years 1891 to 1893, crop production was once again successful due to more adequate rainfall (131). In 1894, another severe droughtoccurred. Only 8.42 inches of rainfall fell in the Valley (132). Again, most farmers were forced to leave, and those who remained began to raisestock. Consequently, crop raising became a secondary enterprise in the Valley at this time.

Successive droughts brought about the first trials with dry farming in the South Platte River Valley. Dry farming is farming by means of drought-

resistant crops and moisture-conserving tillage practices in regions of less than twenty inches of annual rainfall. To aid in the adjustment to dryfarming techniques, the state of Colorado set up experiment stations utilizing the CampbellSystem, a set of techniques for growing grains on dry land (134). This system emphasized themoisture-conserving tillage practices of deep plowing, frequent cultivation and sub-soiling witha sub-surface packer.

During the first decade of the 1900's, northern Colorado experienced a second migration offarmers. These farmers showed great interest in dry-farming techniques. Dry farming however,was interrupted during World War I when the price of wheat went up. With this a third influx ofsettlers turned the South Platte River Valley into a grain raising area until the next drought in1934. Again, there was emigration out of the Valley, the need for relief and new innovationsand adjustments to the farming culture. Stock raising again became the dominant economicenterprise; however, crop raising continued to be important and dry farming continued to bewidely practiced. Drought resistant plants including winter wheat and forage sorghum becamedominant crops (135).

The South Platte River Valley became one of the richest farming sections in Colorado (Coen,1926, p.33), adaptable to the growth of all the cereal crops except corn without irrigation.When attended by irrigation, corn, melons, squash, onions, cabbage, potatoes, beets, peasand beans could be raised in quantity and of a quality competitive with other parts of theUnited States (Steinel, 1926, p. 179).

SUGAR BEET PRODUCTION 1900 1910 UNIT

Sugar Beets 6,656 806,000 tons

Potatoes 4,465,746 6,400,000 bushels

Hay 1,647,321 1,338,000 tons

Barley 531,240 864,000 bushels

Beet sugar 1,597,440 195,100,000 pounds

*(Watrous. 1911, p. 21)

% ACREAGE PLANTED TO:

CROP WELD COUNTY LARIMER COUNTY

Hay 50%

Sugar beets 30-36% 97%

Grain 15%

Corn, potatoes, bean, cucs 11%

*(Coen. 1926, p. 34)

The first crop harvested and the first agricultural industry in the South Platte River Valley was dry, wild hay in 1858. Some cereal grains includingcorn, wheat, oats and barley were planted in 1864. Wheat, oats and wild hay remained the prevailing crop pattern until repeated plantingscaused a decline in soil productivity around 1880 at which time alfalfa was introduced into the Valley with seeds coming from California. Alfalfawas planted to enrich the soil with nitrogen (C.A. Duncan, "Memories of Early Days in the Cache La Poudre Valley" Fort Collins: n.d., pp. 45-46 inHafen 1948, p. 137). In 1870, potatoes raised by the Union Colonists in Weld County were later rotated with alfalfa crops to increase productionwhich ensured a better outside market (138). Later, around 1899, the first sugar beets were planted in the South Platte River Valley.

The new settlers set out fruit trees along the Big Thompson River in 1863 and along the St. Vrain River in 1866. Apple and sour cherry industriesdeveloped around the town of Loveland and east of Terry Lake in Fort Collins.

Irrigation in the South Platte River ValleyThe first water diversions in the South Platte River Valley came from the St. Vrain and theCache a la Poudre Rivers in 1860 and from the Big Thompson River in 1861. Within threeyears after the initial gold rush, irrigation ditches had been dug out from nearly all the principalstreams of the South Platte River Valley (Hafen, 1948, p. 122).

The irrigation systems of the South Platte River Valley were built by individuals or partnershipslike the Union Colonists. They were short and small and confined to river bottoms. Two of thebest known community irrigation enterprises were the two canals built by the Union Colonists inthe 1870s, the Greeley Numbers 2 and 3. Greeley Number 3 was a river bottom ditch takenfrom the Cache a la Poudre and was designed to irrigate at the town of Greeley. GreeleyNumber 2 was the first canal to water extensive areas of bench land, built on the north side ofthe Cache a la Poudre River in 1870. When completed it was thirty six miles long and thirty two feet wide.(Robert G. Hemphiel, "Irrigation inNorthern Colorado, US Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 1026, Washington, 1922, p. 3). In 1879, the Larimer and Weld Irrigation Company wasorganized to complete the Larimer and Weld Canal, more than fifty miles long. Capital for this project was furnished by the English Company.

After 1880, demand for larger water supplies by the potato industry forced irrigators to searchfor supplemental supplies of water in reservoirs and by pumping trans-mountain diversions.The first reservoirs were constructed later in the 1890s, and included Windsor Reservoir inWeld County and Terry Lake in Larimer County. Both reservoirs diverted water from the Cachea la Poudre River.

The first trans-mountain diversion was the Cameron Pass Ditch in 1882. This ditch transferredwater from the North Platte River to the Cache a la Poudre watershed. Later in 1933, a planwas presented to the Bureau of Reclamation for the Colorado-Big Thompson Project to divert310,000 acre feet of water under the Continental Divide to the South Platte River Valley. InJune, 1944, the thirteen mile tunnel was "holed through" (Hafen, 1948, p. 125)

In the South Platte River Valley, the previously established Union Colony set the pace. To thembelongs credit for putting the use of water for irrigation on a practical and cooperative basis. They set the example for systematizing cooperativewater distribution throughout Colorado and by 1882, the Valley was declared to be "one vast network of irrigating canals from the mouth of thePoudre Canyon, northwest of Fort Collins to the Poudre River's junction with the South Platte River near Greeley. Numerous canals held acapacity of nourishing over 200,000 acres of arable land (Steinel, 1926, p. 202).

Stock Raising"The encroachment of new settlers who took up the land for farming purposes so lessened thegrazing grounds that flock-masters were impelled to move into Wyoming and Montana to findpasture for their flocks so that but a few range sheep, comparatively speaking, are now kept inthe county (Watrous, 1911, p. 151)."

The first lamb raising in the South Platte River Valley was in 1889, when Bennett Brothersshipped 2,400 lambs to Larimer County from New Mexico. Alfalfa was plentiful in the Valley,and the lamb industry took hold ten years prior to the beet sugar industry, which then providedby-products for lamb feed (Steinel, 1926, p. 150). The people in northern Colorado couldboast that more lambs were fed there than any other district in the United States.

Beef cattle production came into the Valley in the late 1870s, but did not become a significant enterprise until the beet sugar industry wasestablished and provided the necessary by-products for cattle feed (Steinel, 1926, p.151).

Beet Sugar IndustryMintz, Sidney (1985). Sweetness and Power.

In the first century, Pliny the Elder wrote: "Next to grain and beans, there is no moreserviceable plant than the white beet; the root of which is used for human and animal food, theyoung sprouts as a vegetable, and the leaves as an accessory fodder. . ."(Coen, 1926, p. 16).

Before the sugar beet, sugar availability was found only in honey and sugar cane. As early as3,000 B.C, evidence of sugar beet agriculture and consumption was found in Southeast Asia,the Mideast and Egypt.

Until the 17th century, honey and cane sugar were luxury food items, their price prohibitive foruniversal usage. In 1747, R. Margarat, a German chemist discovered the presence of sugar inbeet juice and around the same time, in Italy, the art of refining sugar was invented. Thesediscoveries motivated the beet sugar industry.

By 1801, Archard, a Prussian chemist invented a method of extracting sugar from beet roots. Frederick William III, King of Prussia funded moneyfor the world's first beet sugar factory in Cunem, Silesia (Germany) in 1802. Thereafter, the beet sugar industry experienced a lag until theNapoleonic Wars.

By World War I, sugar beet agriculture had increased all over Europe, producing over 9,000,000 tons of refined sugar per year in 1,200 factoriesspread across the European continent. At this time, Europe supplied 50 percent of the world's sugar supply (Austin, 1928, p. 12). The industrywas stabilized and sugar beets were processed at a low cost and available to a universal market (13).

In 1836, the United States received the first imported beet seed from France. In 1838, the first beet sugar factory was built in Northampton,Massachusetts, followed in 1852 by a factory built by the Mormon's in Utah. Between 1852 and 1879, thirteen factories had been erected acrossthe United States, all of which failed except for one plant in Alvarado, California, built in 1879 (17). The first beet sugar factories failed fornumerous reasons in the United States. The industry lacked theoretical or practical knowledge on growing beets or manufacturing sugar andheavy machinery was expensive and had to be imported from Europe, as well as machinery staff Machinery was heavy and expensive totransport. American farmers were unfamiliar with sugar beet agriculture and sugar beet farming and manufacturing required intensive hand labor(Austin, 1928, p. 18).

Encouraged by an editorial in the Rocky Mountain News in 1866, the idea of growing sugar beets in Colorado was set in motion. Peter Magnes, aSwedish immigrant who resided in Littleton, Colorado had grown the first sugar beets in Colorado in 1859 (Shwrayder, 1987, p.1). Beets,however, require more water than the Valley could naturally provide. Annual rainfall in northeastern Colorado varies between twelve and fifteeninches per year and beet fields would require irrigation on an average of three times from July 1 to September 30. In addition to irrigation, beetsrequire long hours of daylight, moist soil, even heat distribution and thrive best at a mean temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Successfulsugar beet growing requires high soil fertility and rotation with alfalfa, grains, potatoes, corn and pea crops. In turn, sugar beet cultivation willgreatly increase the yield of other crops, probably as a result of better tillage and fertility methods (Coen, 1926, pp. 16-17).

Arthur Walker, in an article for the Fort Collin's Forum stated, "Not long after 1870, the community of Fort Collins began to see the promise of twocomplimentary industries: lamb feeding and sugar beets (p. 22)". In 1872, members of the Union Colony in Greeley began to try their hands atgrowing beets with seeds they had imported from Germany. There were no sugar processing factories at this time and so beets were used as

sheep and cattle feed (Shwrayder, 1987, pp. 2-3). In the 1880s, Colorado Agriculture College in Fort Collins experimented with sugar beetagriculture on various farms in Larimer County. It was evident from these experiments that the climatic and soil conditions, along with the irrigationnetworks in the South Platte River Valley were excellent for high yields, approximately 15% sugar, in beet sugar production (2). Steinel stated,"The past seasons have demonstrated that the soil of Colorado has no superior in the world for producing this beet " (282).

Increased demand for sugar coupled with a stagnant sugar cane industry stimulated innovations in methods and processes in the sugar industry,and inspired financial support for scientific research. The Dingley Tariff of 1897 which put a duty of $1.95 per pound of refined sugar and theSpanish American War in 1899 encouraged rapid development of the beet sugar industry (May, 1989, p. 232) in order to meet the demand fordomestic sugar needs. By 1903, new factories were being built in 16 states across the United States.

The first beet sugar manufacturing plant inColorado was established in Grand Junction,on the western slope in 1899. This factorywas owned by the Colorado SugarManufacturing Company. One of thefinancial supporters and directors of thisplant was Charles Boettcher from Englandwho had brought an interest in the beetsugar industry to Colorado with him fromEurope. Boettcher also supported andmanaged the Loveland plant, built in 1901, the first factory east of the Rocky Mountains, in the

South Platte River Valley. Between 1902 and 1906, factories were built in Eaton, Greeley, Windsor, Sterling, Fort Morgan and Brush. By 1909,Colorado became the leading beet sugar producing state in the nation. As a result, more factories were built in Brighton, Fort Lupton, Ovid andJohnstown. By 1910, sugar beet production in the South Platte River Valley averaged 806,000 tons (Watrous, 1911, p. 21). As a result of thisincreased production, the beet sugar industry was offering enhanced opportunities in the area including more job opportunities as well asincreased income to workers. Railroads, suppliers and communities prospered and grew throughout the South Platte River Valley.

Sugar Beet CultureGreat care was necessary in the preparation of the sugar beet seed bed. Plowing, harrowing,rolling, tilling, and leveling the soil precede planting which was accomplished by drilling seedballs or segmented seeds into two rows in the month of May. As the plants emerged from thesoil, they had to be weeded, bunched, blocked, ditched and irrigated. Beet rows needed to bethinned or blocked so that there would be only one plant for every twelve inches per row; thenhoed two or three times per season to keep the weeds down and the ground loose. Theblocking, thinning and hoeing was done by wage or contract laborers. The thinning processalone required five to six workers per acre, working on their hands and knees (Coen, 1926,p.31).

Beets were harvested by lifting or pulling (piling) the beet plant from the ground by hand or with a "lifter". Each beet plant was lifted out of theground, one in each hand, slapped against each other to remove residual dirt and thrown into piles. In the piles, each beet was picked and thetop was cut off just above the sun line with a large knife and loaded onto wagons that were then hauled to beet loading stations or factories nearthe fields. Harvesting began in early September and ran through late November.

In 1923, the average total operating cost for producing sugar beets, including man labor, horse cost, seed and manure expense was $77.57 peracre (Pingrey, 1924, p.25).

Sugar beets have a shelf life of approximately one hundred and twenty days before loss ofsugar content is affected. Thus, during sugar beet harvesting, round the clock processing wasrequired for maximum output. Beet storage (silving) involved covering the beets with dirt, thenstraw to minimize the effects of open-air exposure to the elements of climate and environment.In the early years, sugar beets were shoveled at dump-sites onto trestle-like structures called'highline dumps", which facilitated the transfer of beets from wagon to railroad cars. Thesestructures were often twenty to thirty feet high and were dangerous for draft animals. Theywere later replaced with "wheel-type" dumps and by 1925 by hydraulic dumps on motorizedtrucks (Shwrayder, 1987, p. 20). The factories operated from the time the first beets wereharvested until their supply was exhausted, usually around the first of February.

Numerous processes were involved at the factory to refine sugar from the raw beet. First, atthe factory or dump-site, the beets were weighed and tested for sugar content. The first weigh stations were called "tare houses" (20). Then, the

beets were washed, cut into thin strips and soaked in hot water to extract sugar into juice. The juice was purified by applying lime and gas fromlimestone in a lime kiln, pressed or filtered and boiled down into a heavy syrup in large evaporators. Syrup was then boiled in "vacuum pans" untilsugar crystals were formed by whirling the syrup against a screen by means of centrifugal force. The force filtered out the syrup and held backthe pure white sugar which was then removed and dried by warm air and packed into bags (Loveland Museum Collection, 1998).

Associated with the beet sugar industry was the coal mining industry which provided fuel forthe power and steam in the beet sugar factories and the limestone quarries which producedcoke to make gas. Limestone was obtained from limestone quarries at Horse Creek Quarrynear Cheyenne, Wyoming. The cotton industry furnished the cotton for sugar bags; the cattleand sheep industries provided manure to restore the soil and the factories in turn recycledbeet by-products as beet pulp and molasses to feed the cattle and sheep (Ibid).

The contributions the beet sugar industry made to the state of Colorado were numerous andincluded increased land values, population and urban growth, a stimulated and morediversified agricultural culture that provided for increased crop yields for sugar beets as well as other crops and employment opportunities,increased incomes and a more stable economic foundation for the state of Colorado (Hafen, 1948, p. 141). Sugar beet by-products hadconsiderable feed value for sheep and cattle. The beet industry maintained the irrigation system of the Valley and stimulated its banks andschools. It promoted scientific research and associated industries. Prior to beet growing in northern Colorado, there was no row crop that couldbe successfully grown as a cultivated crop except potatoes in limited areas.

The beet sugar industry also promoted labor considerations. Compared to other major crops grown in northeastern Colorado, beets required byfar the greatest amount of work and the largest number of workers (Coen, 1926, p. 33).

By 1955, Colorado produced over 1,000,000 acres of sugar beets and over 1,800,000 tons of beets or 373,000 tons of refined sugar,approximately 60% produced in Weld County, making this county the top sugar producer in Colorado and the second top sugar producer in thenation (Shwrayder, 1987, p. 17).

Between 1951 and 1957, however, the"industrial period" was emerging in theSouth Platte River Valley. Agriculture beganseeing many changes brought about bydroughts and war; by further advancementin agricultural technology and theintroduction of more and improved methodsand varieties of crops (Walker, 1999, p. 23)and increased farm mechanization whichinitiated a new era in the cultural history ofnorthern Colorado.

Agricultural Field Workers and the Sugar Beet Industry"The raising of sugar beets in any community is carried on as a part of a highly organized system, the verynature of the crop makes it impossible for one farmer or even for several to grow beets profitably except aspart of the system" (Brown, 1925, p. 68).

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, the Great Western Sugar Company began recruiting laborers fromoutside the South Platte River Valley to accommodate their need for hand work in the sugar beet fields and inthe beet sugar factories. The Company's concern was to secure for the farmers and factories such a supply ofcheap labor as would encourage more farmers to raise sugar beets at their contract price.

In 1902, the Great Western Sugar Company began recruiting Mexican laborers for contract labor fromnorthern New Mexico, southern Colorado and Texas to supplement the German-Russian labor supply. By1924, most of the German-Russian laborers had moved up to tenant farming positions, had saved enoughmoney to purchase their own farms or had moved to the urban centers.

In 1924, the Great Western Sugar Company therefore hired 1,026 resident Mexican-American families andshipped in 10,500 Mexican laborers (Brown, 1926, p. 9) to work sugar beets on 26,161 acres of land in theSouth Platte River

Labor agents from the Great Western Sugar Company recruited labor to supply all growers applying for hand labor. The Company furnishedtransportation to the fields. Laborers were sought by way of advertising in newspapers, handbills or by house to house canvassing, frequently in foreign languages. Besides providingtransportation, the sugar beet companies provided "habitable houses with suitable adjacentwater." Families were allowed to keep chickens and cows and to raise their own gardens.Workers were guaranteed work and provided a "stake" for food until their first pay by theCompany (Brown, 1925, p. 69).

The Great Western Sugar Company assumed children would work the fields. It was estimatedthat seven percent of the sugar beet workers were under fourteen years (Clopper, 1916, p.176). It was the Company's concern to secure for the farmer such a supply of cheap labor aswould encourage him to raise sugar beets at the contract price. To achieve this goal, the

Company resorted to a family system of labor, by securing fathers with large families of children. Sixty percent of the woman and children ofMexican descent families and ninety percent of the women and children of German-Russian families worked the fields (Skinner, 192?, p. 29).

The average Mexican contract family had 7.8 children (63). Nearly 30 % of the women and approximately 80% of the male heads of householdhad 4 or less years of schooling (Thomas, 1959, p. 10). Nearly 30% were illiterate.

Mexican families lived in temporary shelters called "shanties" or "shacks" provided by the farm owners. Ninety-one percent of the shanties were ofthe boxcar type structures, were poorly built, usually unpainted, in ill repair and unfurnished. There was no foundation, nor were they elevatedfrom the ground. Most were constructed of wood frame, but some were of brick, stone or adobe construction. Seventy-five percent had one dooronly and few, if any had windows. There was no electricity and light came from kerosene stoves. Toilets were outdoors and were inadequate andunsanitary. They were communal and open with no door, no seats and no privacy. Thirty-six percent of the shanties were located in the fields,33% in the same yard as the farmer's house and 24% were located in the barnyard. Rarely did a shanty have more than 2 rooms. They wereoften directly exposed to the elements with no lawns or shade trees. Shanties were often grouped together and families shared water fromoutdoor pumps that were attached to central wells, springs, ditches or cisterns (Brown,1925, p. 96).

Contract labor families were geographically and socially isolated (Coen, 1926, p. 108). Most often they had no knowledge or obedience of thelaw. They were unacquainted with government services and indifferent to education. Communication among field worker's families was minimal.Less than 24% of the families owned vehicles and less than 10% had telephones. Community participation or church attendance wasinaccessible. There were no recreation centers or churches in the open country. Since most contract workers were migratory, they felt they didnot belong in the community and therefore did not attempt to commingle (Brown, 1925, p. 108). Language barriers also contributed to socialisolation. Approximately 18% of the male heads of family did not speak English and 75% could not write English or Spanish (60).

Since most children worked the fields, school attendance for the children was minimal. Forty-nine percent of the school time was lost due to sugarbeet work. As a result, sixty percent of the children were considered educationally retarded or at equivalents of proficiency at less than theirphysical age, as compared to twenty-two percent of the children who did not work the sugar beet fields (Brown, 1925, p. 141). Colorado'scompulsory law regarding education required attendance at school of every child between eight and sixteen years. It exempted any child who wasneeded to help support their parents; however, the law was not enforced in the beet sections (Clopper, 1916, p. 189).

Contract laborers were encouraged by the Great Western Sugar Company to stay on in nearby towns. This would substantiate a permanent,experienced seasonal wage labor supply for the Company. Experienced workers yielded gains in beet supply and increased earnings for theCompany, which in turn contributed to higher standards of living for the workers. Brown stated:

An effort is being made to induce the better class of Spanish beet labor to remain the year round in the region of the summer work. On theoutskirts of several towns of the beet districts, adobe houses are being erected for the beet workers. The Spanish people build their own tworoom houses with mud and straw with only the supervision of a Company man. The cost of the house is about $125.00 and the builder has fiveyears in which to pay this sum (Skinner, 1920, p. 44). . .In northern Colorado there is such a colony at Fort Collins, another at Greeley andanother at Johnstown. There are some objections to this plan of settlement and some very favorable comments can be made. Many people saythat it segregates these people into a restricted district, thus preventing or at least limiting their assimilation into the surrounding American life.Another objection commonly expressed is that these people are not encouraged to adopt the customs. (Skinner, 192?, p. 45).

To encourage permanent settlement in the area, the Company provided supplies for house construction at a cost of $125.00 to the laborer andextended payment plans over a five year duration (Coen, 1926, p. 83). Many homes were built by the workers under Company supervision("Through the Leave," November 1924, Great Western Sugar Company of Denver).

New colonies of German-Russian and Mexican and Spanish-American wage laborers and their families were being established in the South PlatteRiver Valley in Fort Collins, Greeley and Johnstown (Skinner, 192?, p. 45). The colonies were located at the marginal edges of these towns inopen country. Rows of outhouses were placed behind the houses and a central pump supplied the water. Houses were separated into rows, solidor unattached. Each house included one or two rooms, each room approximately twelve square feet. The average colony covered an area of sixacres and housed approximately fifty two families. The colonies were overcrowded, averaging four persons per sleeping room and three persons

per bed. There were no furnaces, no electricity, no bathtubs, and water was often exposed to contaminates (Skinner, 1920, p. 43).

Skinner noted that generally speaking, ". ..the poorest dwellings of the community areoccupied by families of Mexican descent"(Skinner, 192?, p. 46-47).

Wage labor families paid their owntransportation to the fields thus saving theSugar Company transportation costs.Families lived approximately two to threemiles from work. Thirty-two percent worked

for the Great Western Sugar Company directly and six percent worked independently for afarm owner (Coen, 1926, p. 85-86). Wage families had far better living conditions than contractlaborers. Some owned their own homes and all shared a familiarity of place in a shared permanent, yet distinct community.

Winter months brought hardship to contract and seasonal wage farm workers (Brown, 1925, p. 83). Thirty-seven percent had no earnings duringthe winter months. The majority spent the off season looking for work. Others would acquire labor in local factories, quarries, mines, railroads,brick factories and steel mills (Skinner, 192? p. 30). It was the absence of non-farm job skills that entrapped farm workers in farming, makingeconomic as well as other options virtually non-existent for the majority (McCracken, 1979, p. 94). Thus a continual cycle of insecurity andeconomic poverty endured.

Farm MechanizationThe effects of farm mechanization on the Mexican-American population in the South PlatteRiver Valley were first noticeable in the 1940s when all-purpose tractors and other farmmachinery such as mechanical thinners and harvesters began replacing the need for handlabor in the fields. By 1948, 67% of the farmers in Weld County alone were utilizingmechanized machinery (Shaw, 1948, p. 16). Mechanized farm machinery reduced the manhours necessary to cultivate and harvest one acre of sugar beets per season from an averageof ninety one hours to nineteen hours, with a yield of approximately 19.01 tons per acre.

As a result of farm mechanization, Mexican-American farm workers in the Valley were forcedinto urban centers in search of jobs and homes. Many of these workers and their familiesmoved into various barrio settlements in Fort Collins, Greeley and adjacent towns in the Valley.It was in these urban centers where many original farm workers found jobs at the Great

Western Sugar plants or were forced into non-farm occupations such as service oriented jobs. By 1967, according to a survey conducted byMaury, of those individuals living in Andersonville, only 2.7% of those employed were still working at farm labor.

URBANIZATION

Farm mechanization in the South Platte River Valley forced the Mexican-American farm workers and theirfamilies into the urban centers in the 1940s, 1950s, and the 1960s. Families concentrated in marginal areasof the cities, in ethnic neighborhood or barrios such as Andersonville, and Buckingham Place in Fort Collins.There was a tendency for Mexican-American individuals and their families to pull towards other individuals andfamilies who shared common physical, social and economic traits, into exclusive "cultural or ethnic"communities.

Neighborhoods or barrios in the urban centers of the Valley reflected living conditions, behaviors, andideologies from Mexico and the rural communities on farms and camps in the Valley. In 1960, Maury reportedthat 50% of the households in Andersonville had no indoor water source and used outdoor earthen privies.Most houses were small, approximately 748 square feet in size, and the average median income per familywas $3,840 per year (1969, p. 26-38).

In their isolation, traditional beliefs and behaviors were caressed and often emphasized, thus integrating thecommunity and enforcing feelings of solidarity. For example, traditional beliefs were manifested in theperformance of religious rituals, storytelling, folk medicine and food culture. The urban Mexican-American in the barrio encouraged isolationismand discouraged any attempts at acculturation. Self identity remained in the barrio with limited connection with the outside world.

Thus, the Mexican-American population chose to isolate themselves from the host community. However, the host community also chose to keep

them isolated, powerless and socially and economically static. They accomplished this by keeping them on the periphery of medical,occupational, educational, political, and legal advantages. The only way to change the cycle was to change jobs, increase incomes, andinterweave themselves into the dominant Anglo-American culture.

Neighborhoods: Los BarriosThe Fort Collins area embraces four distinct barrios or neighborhoods. Three of these neighborhoods border upon a large tract of land onceowned by the Great Western Sugar Company----Buckingham Place, Andersonville and Alta Vista. These three barrios are located north andnortheast, across the Poudre River from downtown Fort Collins The fourth neighborhood, Holy Family is located directly west of the downtownarea that separates it from the other three barrios. Similar characteristics are evident, however, each has its own distinct flavor.

Presently the residents of the four barrios are predominately of Mexican-American descent. Originally Buckingham Place and Andersonville wereinhabited by the Germans from Russia. Historically and presently these three barrios remain not only geographically but also economicallyisolated. In the video, "Mi Gente", a local resident expressed, "Most of these Hispanic neighborhoods are literally on the other side of the tracks.For many residents of this neighborhood, living on the other side of the tracks was simply a geographical quirk; for others, no doubt, it has beena state of mind as well (City of Fort Collins Video, 1996)".

Andersonville

Andersonville was platted in 1903, named after a Fort Collins businessman, Peter Anderson. Andersonville is located approximately one-half milenortheast of Fort Collin's Library Park. Early residents were German-Russians, however, by 1922, Mexican-American families began moving intothe neighborhood (Feinberg, 1983, p. 14).

Most houses in Andersonville are very small with simple wood frame structures and gabled roofs (18). There are a few adobe homes. Yarddecorations are common, and streets are crowded with numerous vehicles.. In 1967, Andersonville consisted of 43 households and covered anarea one block by three blocks enclosed to the north by Trujillo Street and the railroad tracks, to the south by Buckingham Street, to the east by10th Street and by Lemay Street on the west. At this time most of the houses were over 30 years old. Fifty percent of the homes in 1967 were notequipped with running water and less than 20% had indoor sewage disposal units. (Maury, 1969, pp. 32-38). In 1983, Andersonville consisted of36 households located within the three square block area.

By 1999, Andersonville had added tract and prefabricated homes built along the eastern boundary of 10th Street. With this addition,Andersonville consisted of 60 homes. Houses and yards were small and close in proximity to their neighbors. Over the years, rooms have beenadded to enlarge and modernize the original structures.

At the center of Andersonville is the Tempto Betel, an Assembly of God Church. There is no Catholic Church located in or near Andersonville,Alta Vista or Buckingham Place; the closest being Holy Family Church in the Holy Family neighborhood.

Alta Vista

Alta Vista is a barrio located immediately northwest of Andersonville and directly north of the Great Western Sugar Factory. The barrio isenclosed to the north by Main Street, to the west by Alta Vista Street, to the south by Martinez Street and the railroad tracks and to the east byLemay Street. Alta Vista's appearance is the most visually distinctive of the barrios.

In 1923, wishing to establish a more stable source of year round labor, the Great Western Sugar Company announced plans to build a "SpanishColony". The Company's plan was to provide each worker with a house they could own. The "Colonia" (Alta Vista) began as 6 adobe housesconstructed by Felipe and Pedro Arellano. These two men also assisted other factory workers in building their own houses. The Great WesternSugar Company furnished the materials and the workers built their own homes from adobe bricks made on the site. In order to obtain a deed forthe houses, the workers had to agree to work for the Company and to remain in the houses for a minimum of five years (Feinberg, 1983, p. 21).

The adobe houses were similar in size, rectangular with 2 rooms back-to-back and were topped by a gable roof with the gable ends filled withwood framing. Most houses had double hung windows and a door on the front facade. The style copied New Mexico adobe architecture Fourhomes were moved to the barrio from other areas of Fort Collins and have hipped roof boxes.. The neighborhood had a rural character untilrecent years. Residents kept gardens and ran goats along the ditch (21).

In 1999, new tract homes had been added to the neighborhood, alongside the original adobe houses.

Buckingham Place

Buckingham Place encompasses a two by three block square delineated to the north by Buckingham Street, to the west by First Street, to thesouth by Lincoln and to the east by Third Street. Some local residents include a section surrounding the El Burrito Restaurant, just north ofdowntown Fort Collins when referring to Buckingham Place. This addition is bordered on the north by Buckingham Street, on the west by PineStreet, on the south by Willow and on the east by Linden Street. This section adds an additional two block by three block section to the barrio.Since 1970, most residential homes are being demolished and replaced by commercial buildings in this area.

Buckingham Place was platted in 1903 and named for Charles Buckingham, a wealthy Boulder banker who owned land throughout northernColorado. That same year, 13 homes, twenty by twelve feet were built. In 1913, Buckingham Place consisted of 80 small houses. The original 13homes may have been destroyed in the 1904 flood.

Originally, the homes were of a box type with hipped roofs. The hipped roof box style is a vernacular architecture characterized by small size,simplicity and functionality and is distinguished by its front porch with spindle posts and front gables covered with fish scale shingles. Anotherstyle found in Buckingham Place is the Bungaloid. This style of home has either a hip or a gable roof with exposed rafters, a front porch withtapered columns and double hung windows (Feinberg, 1983, p.14). Over the years, rooms and improvements have been added to these originalstructures.

Between 1903 and World War I, BuckinghamPlace served as housing for the German-Russian people who were working in thesugar beet fields and at the beet sugarfactory at the time. Following World War I,however, immigration laws restrictingEuropean immigration, the German-Russian's ability to obtain jobs other thanfield or factory work or their purchases offarms made it possible for them to moveaway from Buckingham Place to local farms or other urban neighborhoods. The Mexican-American field and factory workers moved in and remainthere today.

Holy Family Neighborhood

The northwest quadrant of the original Fort Collin's townsite is the Holy Family neighborhood. This barrio covers approximately a three by tenblock rectangular area adjacent to Martinez Park to the north, Shields Street to the west, Laporte Avenue to the south and Mason Street to theeast. There are over 600 buildings in the area, most of them family residences. Central to the neighborhood is the Holy Family Catholic Churchbuilt in 1929.

The Holy Family neighborhood is similar to other older neighborhoods in Fort Collins, however, homes are usually smaller in size and lessdetailed. Most homes are small wood-frame or brick structures, situated close together on small lots, and of a vernacular rather than a stylisticplan. The most common vernacular houses were the hipped roof box; however there are quite a few Classic "cottages" (Classic Revival),bungalows and a few simplified Victorian period style homes intermingled throughout the neighborhood. After the 1930s, homes were simple tracthouses with little or no detailing.

Holy Family neighborhood was first settledby "African-American" people in the 1890swith homes concentrated in the southeastcorner. By 1913, these homes weredemolished to provide space for theconstruction of City Hall. While the sugarbeet field laborers were having houses builtand living in the three barrios near thefactory in the early 1900s, many of thefactory workers were moving to the HolyFamily neighborhood. In 1902, fifty houses were constructed and by 1909, 300 houses were distributed throughout the neighborhood. Thenumber of houses continued to increase until 1920 at which time construction leveled off.

From the early 1900s, Mexican families established residency in the Holy Family neighborhood. By 1935, Holy Family neighborhood wasconsidered a solidly Hispanic area. Since 1965, however, Mexican-American families have become more economically secure and asdiscrimination barriers have broken down, residents have moved to larger homes in other parts of the town. Consequently, more houses arerenter occupied, and students from Colorado State University have been moving in since 1970 (Feinburg, 1983, p.31).

The neighborhood or barrio was not only a physical arena, defined and enclosed by street names, but was also a cultural entity. The barriooffered its residents familiarity with its traditions, customs and foods and a family center with community support and a central focus, the Church.

La FamiliaThe importance of the family in Mexican-American culture is the role it plays as a support system, both financially and emotionally; and as aneducator, wherein the young are taught cultural traditions. In this manner, cultural identity is passed on from one generation to another. Thefamily represents the roots of their heritage, roots that were established in cultural elements such as customs and behavioral rules.

Traditionally, residential households were centered around a nuclear family but may have included extended family members, includinggrandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was not unusual for this household to include friends, neighbors and even strangers in need ofassistance. Second generation family members tended to prefer nuclear family households; however, it was suggested that family members andfriends that may be in need of assistance were always welcome. And even though, family members were more spread out and distinctive, "lafamilia" remained the most significant foundation for Mexican-American individuals in the Valley.

In most cultures, the family is the guardian and the conservator of cultural values. This set of values distinguishes a particular culture fromanother. Values within the Mexican-American subculture in the United States were centered around the extended family, the community and theirbelief system. A tightly knit family structure expanded across regional, class and urban-rural lines. The family protected the individual and in turn

it demanded the individual's absolute loyalty.

Rulesandbehaviorswere

determined and sanctioned by the community. An individualwas expected to exhibit "respeto" or respect at all times,especially to family members and elders in the community. Respeto was displayed in proper greetings and bytreating other individuals with love, compassion and equality. An individual must also embrace a sense of"verguenza:, or a sense of shame, personal dignity (dignidad), and conscience (conciencia) in the Mexicanfamily and community. Verguenza was behaving modestly and responsibly. Mexican-American's also emphasized "sentimiento", a deep feeling ofdignity and self respect. An individual was said to be sentimiento if he or she acted with humility and honor.

Associated with family roles was the emphasis on well-defined and diverse separateness ofgender roles in Mexican-American ideology. In theory, on a continuum, the two genders wouldnever meet, overlap or intertwine; however, often family functions such as caretaking anddiscipline of children, financial responsibilities, and support in emotional or problem invokingsituations were shared among family members. Adult males were at the center of authority andfemales were intended to take a submissive role. In contrast, female members were consideredguardians of tradition. They were expected to be devoted to their home and family.Godparents (compadres y comadres) also performed family functions. Although traditionally,godparents were to provide security for the godchild, they also played roles in nurturing,support and education.

ReligionThe foundation of the Mexican-American value system was traditionally based on the Catholicreligion and a rich elaborate folk system, derived from native Indian and Spanish ideologiesfrom Mexico. As a result of the efforts of the Spanish Missionaries, a polytheism in which NativeGods vanished, but their characters became attached to Catholic saints derived from theneeds of the native people (Gamio, 1971, p. 63). According to Gamio, the Catholic religion waseasily adopted by the native population of Mexico. In common with native ideology was theresemblance in ritual, colorful images, titles and tributes (p. 109). This adoption of Catholicideology and ritual was specifically exemplified by virtue of the Guadalupe (Rodriquez, 1992, p.20). The Virgen de Guadelupe symbolized the entire coherence of Mexico's body and soul byrepresenting the Mexican "Mother:, who had honored the Mexican people by choosing toappear before them on their native land in Mexico. This ideology was brought to the South Platte River Valley.

Combined, these ideologies offered an individual an explanation for life's' ambiguities. Celebration of Catholic rituals enhanced close family ties.Traditionally, the entire family, including parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, grandparents, godparents and friends would unite on most religiousholidays, baptisms, communions, weddings and confirmations. Together, the family would eat, talk, and participate in musical celebrations onthese religious occasions. Beginning in the 1920s, religion, faith and the Church dominated the lives of the Mexican-American family, and thechurch was at the heart of the barrio. In the South Platte River Valley, the life of the Mexican-American family centered around the Holy FamilyChurch in Fort Collins.

In the beginning of the 20th century, there were fewer than 200,000 Protestants in Latin America. Today, this number is increasing as moreindividuals in Latin America are becoming Protestants and Evangelists. In the South Platte River Valley, the majority of Mexican-American peopleare Catolicos (Catholics), but their interpretations of Catholic principles often vary . A minority of the population have changed from Catholicismto the Assembly of God Church, Tempto Betel, located in Andersonville.

Acculturation and Social ChangeSocial Change

In the 1960s, the Great Western Sugar Company was forced to close some of their manufacturing plants in the South Platte River Valley.Beginning in the 1960s, and continuing into the 1980s, Colorado sugar production was down as a result ofvarious factors including a general increase in the use of cane sugar, a concern for health issues regardingpollution from the manufacturing plants throughout the Valley, competition with sugar imports, grower pricedisputes and further processing plant closures. In 1984, the Great Western Sugar Company claimed bankruptcy,forcing the Company to close all remaining plants in the Valley. All employees were forced into seeking out othertypes of work.

In a study by Maury in 1968, most individuals who were living in Andersonville had secured jobs in the serviceindustry or in nonagricultural unskilled labor professions. At this time, however, local universities and citygovernments provided many clerical and operator jobs in the area including computer operators, typists,receptionists, files and record clerks, dispatchers and machine operators. Service jobs increased rapidly from1940 to 1960. The highest percentage of workers from 1940 to 1990 were in labor and manufacturing, industrialtruck and tractor operators, car mechanics, construction and carpenter workers, and forestry and logger jobs.

Acculturation

As levels of educational achievement unfolded for the Mexican-American population in the South Platte River Valley, more occupationalopportunities became available to them. Occupational trends adjusted to their amended occupational skills. Through education, family members(over 50%), were able to secure jobs in clerical, crafts, medical, operator and service orientations. No longer were they confined to farm and non-farm labor positions. More females were able to join the work force in skilled job positions. In association with more professional and technicalemployment opportunities, were increased salaries, job benefits, job security and opportunities for advancement. Thus, new improved economicpositions enabled Mexican-American individuals to afford homes outside the urban barrios. As families moved away from the barrios and intoneighborhoods of the dominant Anglo-American culture, traditional family structures and roles changed. Extended family and communityallegiances were refocused on individual nuclear households. No longer did family members work together or have daily social contact. Individualworkers were exposed to different work styles, people and roles, away from family and friends.

As urban barrios were restructured, community security, familiarity and stability weakened. Extended families were separated, both physically andsocially. As families grew apart, family values and influences eroded. As economic status diversified, so did social class distinctions. For the firsttime, Mexican-American families were joining the ranks of the Valley's middle class. The Catholic Church lost its central role, and religion wasforced to adapt to a role more suitable to middle class lifestyles.

As the focus on family and religion changed, so did values and perspectives. As a result, distinctive identities have emerged among familymembers as values and roles have been influenced and challenged by education, occupational changes, resettlement and an interrelationshipwith adjacent Anglo-American communities.

It must be emphasized that the Mexican-American population comprised an integral part of Colorado's historical panorama. As Conover observedin his study of illegal immigrants from Mexico, ". . .they (Mexicans) worked their tails off in the finest American tradition (1987, p. xvii)". They as apopulation were vital contributors to the success of the agricultural enterprises in northern Colorado. And they remain today, valuablecontributors to the northeastern Colorado community.

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