Agriculture in the Upper Arkansas Valley first developed to supply nearby mining camps, as fortune-seekers created demand for meat, flour, vegetables, and other food. Frank Mayol, a French immigrant credited with establishing the valley's first farm, began cultivating land eight miles north of present-day Buena Vista in 1863 and prospered by selling potatoes to miners at California Gulch, present-day Leadville. Because the valley was arid despite its mild climate, early farms and ranches were usually established near streams. John Tanasee settled east of Poncha Springs in 1863, secured early water rights, dug the first irrigation ditch, and reportedly brought the first herd of cattle into the county. During the next decade, ranches and water rights spread throughout the valley. Homesteaders who secured land and water rights along Cottonwood Creek in 1864 became the beginning of Buena Vista. Thomas Cameron dug a long irrigation ditch from the Arkansas River to the Adobe Park area north of present-day Salida, and Joseph and Annabel McPherson Hutchinson built their homestead ranch house just east of Poncha Springs. By the early 1880s, settlement had increased and the range had become more restricted, but cattle ranching continued. Charles Nachtrieb owned his Chalk Creek ranch by 1865, and in 1868 he built the area's first grist mill to grind flour and grain for local residents. He later built a saw mill, and his holdings eventually grew to more than 1,000 acres with a home, barn, blacksmith shop, storehouse, warehouse, and other buildings. The small community that formed around the ranch became known as Nathrop, reflecting a local pronunciation of Nachtrieb's German surname. Only a small portion of Nachtrieb's original holdings remains in agriculture, as much of the land has been sold and subdivided into 35-acre tracts, but descendants of the original ranching families still continue the tradition.