Rocky Ford, Colorado

There was a time when railroad sidings were installed every ten miles or so along the mainstem for steam locomotives to stop and take on water. Towns grew up around some of them. Rocky Ford was most likely one of them, although the town is named after an actual trail crossing the Arkansas River here. Today, the Rocky Ford is billed as the "Melon Capitol of the World" because of the prolific cantaloupe production in the area. There's a lot of truck farms around: in mid and late summer you can find some of the smaller local farmers scattered all over the countryside with trucks and stands displaying lots of beautiful veggies and melons for sale.

This is another town that shows evidence of having been more prosperous in the past, although Rocky Ford doesn't seem to be doing too badly these days.

The Masonic Temple in downtown Rocky Ford

An irrigation canal through Rocky Ford

I think this is a Methodist Church

Another church in Rocky Ford

The original Rocky Ford Carnegie Library, now a museum

A former church in Rocky Ford (1st Church of Christ, Scientist), now a private residence