The discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountains in 1859 drew thousands of prospectors to the area that became Colorado Territory, and this first wave of fortune seekers spurred the growth of farms, ranches, businesses, and railroads that encouraged further migration west. After visiting Colorado Territory in 1869, Nathan Meeker, agricultural editor of the New York Tribune, promoted and founded the model agricultural colony of Greeley, selecting affluent, educated, like-minded settlers who practiced temperance and cooperation because he believed the town's success depended on a talented and moral citizenry. Several hundred Union Colony immigrants arrived by train in 1870, and they were followed into Weld County by successive groups of immigrants from diverse ethnic backgrounds, many driven by crop failures, famines, poverty, mandatory military service, revolutions, and wars and drawn by the opportunities of northeastern Colorado. Scandinavians first worked in the mines and then on farms, ranches, and major irrigation projects, while Germans from Russia, Japanese, Hispanic-Americans, and Mexican nationals filled agricultural jobs around the turn of the century. In the 1920s, the Great Western Sugar Company recruited Hispanic laborers as year-round residents in company-sponsored colonias, and Germans from Russia formed a Little Russia enclave in Greeley between the railroad tracks and the sugar factory. Pressures to assimilate led immigrants to learn English, organize clubs and churches, buy farms, and establish businesses, while the traditions of German-Russian, Hispanic, African-American, Chinese, Japanese, and other communities continue to enrich the area.