This Week in Colorado History: Power lines and winter wheat

This week in 1924, the Jefferson County Power & Light Company made some encouraging announcements regarding lighting and phone service at the Golden City Council meeting. The telephone, power, and tramway companies had been asked to move their lines from the main avenue so ornamental lights could be put into place, but the ornamental light project had to be deferred, meaning the poles could be deferred as well.

The Jefferson County Power and Light Company was then able to announce that this meant the phone company’s plan to make “many improvements in Golden” could be “greatly facilitated” by combining the improvements with the pole movement. The power company also announced that they expected a decrease in lighting rates in Golden because a new line was being built to Golden from Denver. “The Colorado Transcript” remarked that “this will make for better service in Golden – if such a thing is possible.”

Agricultural assessors began “their annual collection of agricultural statistics for the state Immigration department in connection with their annual property assessment” this week in 1924. Although adverse weather in the mountains was making the process somewhat more difficult than expected, indications were “that agricultural activity [that] spring [would] be greater in Colorado than it [had] been for some time.” A harsh winter had left most of the state’s soil moist and the reservoirs quite full.

The acreage of winter wheat was smaller than it had been the previous year, but the crop was in good health and farmers believed spring crops could be planted in great quantities. One concern was that the same harsh winter which had provided water was delaying spring field work. Crops were expected to include near-record levels of sugar beets, corn, barley, sorghum, oats, millet, and beans and an increased amount of flax. There was also expected an average amount of acreage devoted to lettuce, cabbage, cantaloupe, and cucumbers.