Colorado's 'island community': Irrigation and industrial agriculture in Colorado's Grand Valley, 1882--1920.

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dc.contributor.advisorPisani, Donald J.,en_US
dc.contributor.authorRaley, Bradley Frank.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-08-16T12:18:07Z
dc.date.available2013-08-16T12:18:07Z
dc.date.issued2001en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation examines the relationship between this local community and the broader economy. Many historians have portrayed small towns as passive recipients of outside corporate influence, but this community recruited investors and government bureaucracies; always with an eye on protecting local autonomy. While the community did seek to control its destiny, topography and isolation kept the community aloof from economic development. The Grand Valley also attempted to recreate the industrial agricultural system of California's Central Valley, and so embraced available technology, especially in the fruit industry. Their devotion to pesticide eventually ruined orchards and perpetuated their existence as an Island Community.en_US
dc.description.abstractAfter the U.S. Army removed the Utes from Western Colorado, white settlers quickly moved in and settled the Grand Valley. Early residents realized that, to survive in the arid valley, they had to build an extensive irrigation infrastructure to support an agricultural economy. Ditch construction, however, lay outside the means of most Grand Valley residents, so the valley looked outward to find financing; first to private enterprise, then to state and federal reclamation.en_US
dc.format.extentx, 297 leaves :en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11244/277
dc.noteAdviser: Donald J. Pisani.en_US
dc.noteSource: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-02, Section: A, page: 0743.en_US
dc.subjectEnvironmental Sciences.en_US
dc.subjectGrand Junction (Colo.) History.en_US
dc.subjectGeography.en_US
dc.subjectCities and towns Colorado Growth.en_US
dc.subjectAgriculture Economic aspects Grand Junction.en_US
dc.subjectHistory, United States.en_US
dc.thesis.degreePh.D.en_US
dc.thesis.degreeDisciplineDepartment of Historyen_US
dc.titleColorado's 'island community': Irrigation and industrial agriculture in Colorado's Grand Valley, 1882--1920.en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
ou.groupCollege of Arts and Sciences::Department of History
ou.identifier(UMI)AAI3004870en_US

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