About this episode

This episode explores the agricultural history of Southwest Colorado, highlighting its development from the 1870s to modern times.

Colorado was shaped by the people who fed it. In this documentary, Scott Perez traces the agricultural history of the region from its earliest roots — from the orchards that sprang up near Hermosa Creek in the 1870s to serve hungry miners, to the ditch irrigation systems first developed by indigenous communities and later adapted by American settlers, to the narrow gauge railroads that opened new markets and transformed farming across the valleys. Drawing on diaries, oral histories, and a lif...

People in this episode

Host: Scott Perez

Topics covered

• agricultural history
• Southwest Colorado
• indigenous communities
• mining
• irrigation systems
• railroads
• oral histories

Keywords

• agriculture
• history
• Southwest Colorado
• irrigation
• railroads
• mining
• oral histories

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Southwest Colorado, Hermosa Creek, Colorado

More episodes of Beyond the Headlines

• Voices of the Past: Lessons from the Rails (Part 2) · July 17, 2026 · 3 min
• Voices of the Past: Lessons from the Rails (Part 1) · July 15, 2026 · 3 min
• Voices of the Past: Lessons from the Land (Part 1) · June 17, 2026 · 2 min

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