Crowley, Colorado

The town of Crowley is located in the eastern plains of Colorado, north of the Arkansas River. Crowley was founded back in the early 1900's as an agricultural center. The Colorado Canal brought water and the railroad brought cheap transportation. The combination brought relative prosperity to the farmers and ranchers around Crowley, until the dry years of the late 1920's, and then the dust bowl and great depression of the 1930's. But National Sugar had their factory about 10 miles east of Crowley and National Sugar bought nearly every sugar beet the farms around Crowley could produce until the independent company went under in the collapsing commodity markets of 1967. There are still quite a few active farms and ranches nearby but most of the retail business goes to La Junta, Rocky Ford and Pueblo.