Keenesburg & Roggen, Colorado

• Interviews By
• Grace Hood
• Photos By
• Hart Van Denburg
• Back To Map

“That’s where I want to be. I want to be on the land, I want to be working on the crop,” said farmer Marc Arnusch at his farm near Keenesburg. Arnusch is an independent voter who works with different stakeholder groups to advance agriculture interests like Amendment 74, which would protect private land and property if it’s devalued by government actions. “Donald has done right by the farmer because he started conversations that needed to take place over 20 years ago. We need to modernize our trade packages. We need to bring the 21st century into trade negotiations.”

A truck carrying hydraulic fracking fluid on Weld County Road 16 near Keenesburg. Oil and gas drilling operations are visible all over the county.

Farms, a dairy operation, and an oil facility share the landscape between Keenesburg and Roggen in Weld County.

An old automobile service station overgrown with weeds and festooned with graffiti stands near Interstate 76 in Roggen. In contrast, just down the road are new and prospering dairy operations, cattle feedlots, oil and gas drilling facilities, and farms.

Registered Republicans vastly outnumber Democrats in Weld County, and county has gone Republican in every presidential election since 1968. A giant banner along Interstate 76 near Roggen reads “God Bless Donald Trump, God Bless The American Flag.”

- -