tdciy Ljou^Tity, Hew M*«-' c0 "' Class. eddy County new mexico. The Most Southeastern County in the Ter ritory,The Greatest Irrigation Sys- tem in the Southwest, Almost Lim- itless Range,Mild and Salubrious Climate, a Haven for Health- seekers, an Ideal Agricul- tural, Horticultural and P Stock Country* By the Bureau of Immigration of the Territory of New Mexico. J. S. DUNCAN .•.Eu&lic tfrihfer. •*• I • * I- -aJK-*- IVIAY 19 EDDY COUNT Y. Eddy County is the Riviera of New Mexico. It is a garden spot of the great lower Pecos Valley which ex- tends north and south 120 miles, and east and west between the foothills, from five to thirty miles. It is the most southeastern and lowest in altitude of the counties of the Territory. Its southern and eastern boundaries are Texas. On the west lie Otero and Cha- ves Counties, and on the north Chaves County. The area is 4,163,575 acres, or 6,506 square miles, almost equal to that of >New Jersey, larger than Connecti- cut, over three times that of Dela- ware, and more than six times that of Rhode Island. The Hawaiian Islands with their population of 119,000 could be placed in Eddy County and not touch the boundary at any point. Of this area, 3,800,000 acres, of which 2,250.000 acres are still to be surveyed, are government land, subject to home- stead, desert or mineral entry. The county is the sixth in size among New Mexico counties, the twentieth in pop- ulation, which according to the census of 1900 was 3,229, but is 5,000 at present. Carlsbad, the county seat, had a cen- sus population of 963, the remainder of the precinct of 1,259; Precinct No. 2 had 242 population; No. 3 had 299; No. 4 had 339; No. 5 had 128, according to the census of 1900. The assessed valuation is nearly $2,000,000 or about $500 per head, a per capita exceeded by only two other counties in the Territory. CLIMATE. Eddy County has a mild, dry and even winter climate and its summers are never oppressive. Its atmosphere is dry and its sunshine percentage is the highest of any part of the United States. The average altitude is 3,400 feet above the sea level and fogs and mists are unknown while snow is of rare occurrence. The average winter temperature is 55 degrees above zero and the average summer temperature 80 degrees above. This is year in and year out with but very little variation. The nights are invariably cool in sum- mer and the song of the mosquito is seldom heard. The following were the monthly average mean temperatures at Carlsbad, in the year 1902, recorded by H. F. Christian, the voluntary weather bureau observer: January 45.7 degrees; February 52.9; March 54.5; April 67.9; May 75; June 83.1; July 78; August 79.1; September 73.5; October 67.5; November 54.6; December 45.4; average mean for the year 64.7. The salubrious climate attracts each year a greater number of healthseekers. Those who have recovered from pulmonary and throat disease in Eddy County are an ever growing host. To the average consumptive, Eddy County holds out greater promise of relief and cure than either Arizona or California. Out- door life is agreeable the year around and there is an absence of oppressive heat and humidity found in tropical climes where alone elsewhere the win- ters are as mild. The climatic condi- tions are ideal for tent life, which of late is recommended highly by special- ists in pulmonary and throat trouble. The man or woman who cannot recover from tuberculosis in Eddy County by outdoor life and observing simple rules of hygiene and dietary, cannot recov- er anywhere else. It is a haven of ref- uge for the healthseeker and its cli- mate is a perennial delight to the well person. TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDRO- GRAPHY. Eddy County is a plains country or rather a plateau sloping toward the southeast. Upon this plateau the Guadalupe Mountains rear their rug- ged heights on the southwestern border, extending into Otero County and Tex- as. The foothills of the Sacramento Mountains extend to the northwestern corner of the county while east of the Pecos is a low range of sandhills known as the Mescalero Ridge. South and east of this ridge extends the Llano Estacado or Staked Plain, at one time dreaded as a desert but now the range of many herds of cattle. The Pecos is the principal river of the county, cutting- it in half from north to south and carrying a larger volume of water in its course through the lower Pecos Valley than any other river in New Mexico carries at any point. Its water is slightly alkaline, but on account of the sediment it car- ries it is a greater fertilizer of the land it irrigates. The Pecos has many tributaries from the west in Eddy County. Starting in the north, the first of these is Cotton- wood Creek which is dry part of the year. The second is the Penasco, which rises in the Sacramento Mountains and flows forty miles as a fair-sized brook and then entering a piece of marshy land disappears. There is practically no connection between the upper and lower Penasco, except during flood seasons. The flow of the upper Penasco is permanent in Lincoln County and southwestern Chaves County, its sur- plus sinking in the sands below Hope in Eddy County. In its lower course, springs supply a mean flow of eight. second feet which during floods reach- es a maximum of 12,700 second feet. The entire normal flow is consumed during irrigation season. Only 750 acres are under irrigation on this stream in Eddy County, but 4,000 acres are irrigated above Hope. South of the Penasco. are a number of streams flowing- into the Pecos which are known as the Seven Rivers. They rise in small springs in Eddy County. The combined normal flow is about twenty second feet, but reaches a maximum of 7,500 feet during the rainy sestson. There is a surplus of about five second feet from these streams which is lost in seepage. South of Seven Rivers is the Rocky Arroyo, which rises in the Guadalupe Mountains and is permanent in its up- per portions but sinks in the gravel below. Its normal flow is about ten second feet with a flow during the floods of 1,200 second feet. Practically all the water is consumed in irrigation, but there is a small surplus which is susceptible of use. In Dark Canon, the stream south of the Rocky Arroyo, the same conditions are met, but its normal flow is only about five second feet while its flood flow reaches 14.000 second feet. All the normal flow is consumed. The Black River drains a portion of the eastern slope of the Guadalupe Mountains. The river is thirty-five miles long but is a small stream to within sixteen miles of the Pecos where its volume is considerably augmented by the Blue River formed by several large springs. It flows through a se- 9 ries of lakes and is subject to exten- sive floods on account of the large area drained. Its normal flow is about twenty second feet while in floods it reaches a maximum of 5,000 second feet. Only about one-half of the nor- mal flow is in use on this stream. Grapevine Creek is a small tributary in its upper course. The most southerly tributary of the Pecos in Eddy County is the Delaware, which rises in Texas and has but a small normal flow. The entire absence of tributaries on the eastern side of the Pecos is very striking and is due no doubt to the pervious character of the soil of the Staked Plains upon which no drainage system is established. The only sup- ply of water which the Pecos receives from that side comes from a few small alkaline springs and from a small ar- royo which carries water once or twice a season. The constant, never-failing supply of water in the Pecos comes from springs which must receive their supply from a great distance. This is owing to the peculiar structure of the country and the prevalence of the easily dissolved limestones, which permit the waters to make underground channels for them- selves and thus flow for considerable distance out of sight. Many reservoir sites are found on the Pecos and its tributaries and it is probable that J 11 70,000 acres more in Eddy County, be- sides the 200,000 acres under ditch by the Pecos "Valley Irrigation Company, could be irrigated by utilizing these sites and even without storage, 20,000 acres more than the present acreage could be irrigated. Only about 20,000 acres are under cultivation in the county. IRRIGATION. Eddy County's magnificent irrigation system is at the foundation of its prosperity, yea, its very existence. It has two of the largest bodies of stor- age water in the arid regions. One is known as Lake McMillan, eighteen miles north of Carlsbad, and the other as Lake Avalon, six miles from Carls- bad, both formed by damming the Pe- cos River, which rises on the Pecos Forest Reserve and embraces a water- shed 200 miles long and averaging sev- enty-five miles in width until it reach- es Carlsbad. It cuts the county from north to south near the center and is the source of supply of New Mexico's most famous irrigation system. From Roswell, ninety miles north of Carls- bad, for more than 100 miles south, the Pecos is fed by innumerable artesian springs whos a flow never varies with the seasons or with local weather con- ditions. Through all this vast area not a storage reservoir can be built, not an artesian well can flow without 12 increasing the water supply of the Carlsbad canals. A river so fed can never go dry at low stage, while at high water, the flow often amounts to 20,000 cubic feet per second, three times the maximum flow of the Cache las Poudre in Colorado where 150,000 acres are under irrigation. The damming of this river has created the two immense reservoirs mentioned above, which have a capacity of 90,000 acre feet, Lake McMillan being thirteen miles long, and Lake Avalon seven miles and from one-quarter to one mile in width. The piers, headgates, and wasteways are built in masonry and are practi- cally indestructible. Such a thing as a breakage of the dams on either lake is impossible on account of ample spill- ways. From the more southerly reservoir, Lake Avalon, starts the magnificent irrigation canal of the Pecos Irrigation Company. The canal is forty-five feet wide at the bottom and carries two and a half feet of water in depth to the berme and with banks eight feet high. Two and one-half miles north of Carlsbad, this canal is divid- ed and one fork is carried to the west bank of the Pecos in a massive con- crete masonry aqueduct 492 feet long, forty-seven feet high and with a ca- pacity of 4,000 cubic feet per second; sufficient to irrigate 250,000 acres of land. The river is spanned by four 13 concrete arches 100 feet long and twen- ty-five feet high. The only material other than concrete used in this struc- ture is 1,600 lineal feet of steel rails built in the concrete floor and sides of the aqueduct proper and tied over head every four feet, to carry the weight of water and keep the sides from spreading. This aqueduct was designed and constructed by Thomas T. Johnston, C. E., of Chicago, the fa- mous inventor of the Bear trap dam in the Chicago drainage canal, construct- or of the Economy Light and Power plant at Joliet and of the city water works of Memphis, Tennessee. This aqueduct cost $45,000 and was ready for irrigation this spring. This is a new departure in irrigation engineering and is attracting the attention of govern- ment experts and engineering circles throughout the United States. The canal is in active operation for a dis- tance of twenty-five miles, and em- braces with its life giving stream over 100,000 acres. There are 500 miles of distributing canals, not including the small farm ditches. The two dams. each over one-fourth of a mile long and nearly fifty feeet high, built of loose rock, with their massive head- gates set in masonry, and their huge spillways to carry off flood waters, are a never ceasing source of wonder and admiration to the casual visitor, the expert engineer, or the drought strick- 15 en homeseeker from less fortunate sur- roundings. One has to go to Egypt or to India to see irrigation works that surpass them. These large bodies of water furnish the Pecos Valley with such an amount of water, as, even in dry seasons, has enabled it to raise as large alfalfa and fruit crops as were ever known from a single section in the arid regions. The waters of the Pecos are full of sedi- ment, carried down from the moun- tains and thence deposited in the ca- nals and ditches, that not only irrigate, but also fertilize the rich lands which border the river from Roswell to forty miles south of Carlsbad. It is a strange feature of this great river, that although it does not sink and then re- appear as is the case with many south- western streams, notably the Red Riv- er and Canadian, its bed for miles is simply a bed of springs. Not the small seepage springs that one looks for in the streams and water courses of the north and east, but huge affairs, emit- ting sufficient water in many places to produce a river by their own flow. For instance, the great spring at the head of the Blue River, known as the Blue Spring, furnishes not only water enough to irrigate 2,000 acres of land but forms a small river besides which falls into the Black River twenty miles south of Carlsbad. Lake McMillan and Lake Avalon are 1(3 the insurance of a stable water supply against a season of unusual drought; but seldom is it necessary to draw up- on them as the ordinary flow of the Pecos is sufficient for all requirements. During the first six months of the year 1901, for instance, nearly 100,000 acre feet of flood water were allowed to pass down the river, April being the only month that water was not allow- ed to spill at the dam. When one re- members that this was a year of disas- trous drought elsewhere and that the local rainfall for the six months was only 3.6 inches, no argument is needed to convince the most skeptical of the adequacy and permanency of Eddy County's water supply. In the year previous, 1900, there were 8,646 acres in cultivation under the system and made profitable by the ir- rigation system, divided as follows: Alfalfa lands 3,843 acres; corn 3,660 acres; cane and forage plants 554 acres; orchards and vines 359 acres; gardens 589 acres. During the season, the Irrigation Company supplied to the farmers 28,786 acre feet of water. An acre foot of water means twelve inches of water placed on an acre of land. In 1902 there were in cultivation 15,000 acres under this system. "With all the vicissitudes that this great corporation has been called upon to encounter during its existence never has the farmer been able to complain 17 that his crops failed because of negli- gence on the part of the company or a lack of water. Land values have in- creased nearly one hundred per cent during- the past year. First class lands now bring readily from $30 to $50 an acre. The water right is sold with the land and the yearly water tax is but $1.25 per acre, said to be the lowest in America for the service rendered. Construction has been also begun on the Four Mile Irrigation Company's dam, northwest of McMillan. The site is a large natural depression, entirely surrounded by hills, save at one nar- row place where floodwaters have cut a passage through the solid rock. A short dam will be thrown across this canon and thus a reservoir holding millions of gallons of water will be created. The Four Mile Draw which feeds the reservoir is seventy-five miles long and heads in the Sacramento Mountains. Several artesian wells will also be bored to augment this water supply. The plans for this reservoir were outlined by Thomas T. Johnston, who made the plans for the big con- crete flume across the Pecos. It em- braces the construction of an earth dam riprapped with rock on its sur- face. There is a natural spillway which will handle all the floodwaters without further work. Instead of the usual clumsy and perishable wooden headgates, the dam will be pierced by H 19 one foot steel pipes, set in solid cement casings, with automatic steel traps to control the egress of the water. The reservoir will supply water to irrigate several thousand acres of virgin' soil, considered to be among the richest and most fertile in the Pecos Valley. At Artesia, formerly Stegman, so called from the flowing wells recently discovered, which rival the volume, if they do not exceed the famous artesian wells near Roswell, the country is be- ing rapidly settled by the homesteader and under the desert land act. From a distance of twenty-five miles from the Chaves County line south, not a quar- ter section is now available for entry on the west bank of the river for six miles back. It is believed that in other parts of the county artesian wa- ter will be struck sooner or later and even far back from the river, water is found at moderate depth and is avail- able for irrigation or stock-watering by pumping. AGRICULTURE. Necessarily, the conditions described, make agriculture a 'success. Given a mild climate, a high percentage of sun- shine and ability to water the land when it needs it and to withhold moisture when not needed, there must be maximum crops and there can be no crop failures. Alfalfa and Kaffir corn are the staple but by no means 20 only crops of Eddy County. Anything that can be raised in the temperate or semi-tropic zones can be raised. Alfalfa is cut four times and in some instances, in small fields, five times a year. In addition, it furnishes consid- erable pasture, often, owing- to the mild climate, throughout the winter. As high as two tons per acre have been harvested at one cutting. A good average on the large ranches is four tons for the season while on the small- er fields often six tons per acre are cut. One hundred and twenty acres sown in October and November were cut for the first time on June 24 of the following year. Eighty-three tons were sold at $8.75 per ton, baled and deliv- ered in Carlsbad, commencing July 7. One of the sections, the earliest plant- ed, containing thirty-six acres of land cut forty-three tons. These are actual weights and comparison is challenged. August 5, this alfalfa was cut the sec- ond time. The best time to sow alfalfa is in August or in September. Where properly cared for and not over-pas- tured, this is a permanent crop. Like all clovers, it is a soil renovator and enricher, and when plowed up, a great increase in the productiveness of the soil, even reaching fifty per cent, is noted. The cultivation of this crop has made potato growing possible in Colorado. Together with Kaffir corn, it is the sheet anchor of Kansas, In time of drought. Under irrigation it thrives best but it needs oceans of wa- ter for maximum results. Alfalfa hay, baled from the windrow, sells at $8.00 and upwards f. o. b. cars and in Carls- bad. Ten dollars per ton is the aver- age winter price for prime hay. In the following letter, D. S. Horton relates his experience which is only a typical one: "I have lived near Carlsbad for ten years, working at first for wages. I lost my savings in an unfortunate venture and five years ago began farming, rented land with a partner, my only capital being a wagon and team. We have farmed 300 acres annually, chiefly in Kaffir corn and Milo maize. The yield has been from one ton to one and a half tons per acre in the head, and it has sold from $9 to $12 per ton, delivered in the head. I rented an extra good twenty-five acres of alfalfa. It has cut from one to one and a half tons per acre to each cut- ting, four cuttings to the season. I pasture very little, not to exceed thirty days and take everything off before January 1. I do not pasture in the spring. I figure Kaffir corn costs me to raise as follows: Planting per acre $2.00; two irrigations 50 cents; heading $1.25; piling in the field, cutting and shocking stalks $1.50. An ordinary crop should make four tons of fodder per acre, and sells at $4 to $6 per ton shocked in the field. My share of the 23 proceeds of these three years' farming have enabled me to pay $950 on the place I now occupy, while I own, free and clear, seven heads of horses, a cow, hogs, poultry and all farming im- plements necessary to work constantly two heavy three horse teams, and I have money to carry me through an- other season. P. S. — Since the above was written, I have purchased another forty acre tract." Eddy County is the best corn coun- ty In New Mexico. Kaffir corn and Milo maize are the grains chiefly culti- vated and they grow to a height of from 5' ■■ | 1 1 fc •'-• w ^11 : 31 a fine shipper, appearing on distant markets in all of its original blush and perfection. As an illustration of the Carlsbad peach values, one owner re- ceived last year about $3,000 from the yield of 600 trees. One of R. M. Love's trees has been christened "The Teddy" because from it a box of peaches was sent to President Roosevelt. The box contained peaches which averaged a pound. In 1902, F. G. Tracy's orchard of 4.71 acres sold $2,070.18 worth of peaches or a yield of $439.53 per acre. The expense of picking and boxing was $148.67 per acre, leaving a net profit of $290.86 per acre. The Alexander and the Chinese Clingstones are also fine varieties that do well in Eddy County. They are prolific bearers and good shippers. The Pecos peach is free from blotches, specks and worms and one tree last year made the record of producing $30 worth of fruit. R. M. Love wrote the following letter about his peach or- chard to Stark Brothers' Nurseries and Orchard Company: "Gentlemen: Replying to your favor of the 9th, will say that from sixty trees purchased from you, planted eight years ago, we sold this season 450 twenty pound boxes of peaches which brought us $400 in cash, or an average of $6.66 per tree or 88 cents per box. Most of the crop was sold in the Colorado market at from $1.10 to $1.40 32 per box, while California and Colorado peaches were selling- at from 60 cents to $1. We plant our trees 20x20 feet which gives 108 ' per acre; this would give a yield of $720 per acre, and would easily net between $300 and $400 per acre. To show the possibilities of the peach on this deep, sandy loam, will say that one tree of an early variety yielded 500 pounds which netted $20 cash; seventeen trees of the same va- riety, two years ago, gave us $9 per tree, or at the rate of $972 per acre. It is possible for land to have a value of from $50 to $100 per acre grown in cer- eals; it is much better, however, for the same land to become worth from $500 to $800 per acre by being planted to $300 net per year peaches or apples. R. M. LOVE." The apple is a close second to the peach as an Eddy County orchard favorite and trees yielding 1,000, 1,200 and 1,500 pounds of perfect Ben Davis apples are just coming into bearing. The Shackleford, the Missouri Pippin, the Arkansas Black and Ceniton are other varieties that yield good crops. The lower Pecos Valley appears to be their natural home. Frost rarely troubles the blossoms and the codlin moth is yet an absent factor. A specked apple is an unknown quantity. The fruit is large and firm, some or- chards producing apples that measure fifteen inches in circumference and 33 compare favorably with any apple raised in the United States. There has not been a failure in the apple crop in the history of the valley. Pears and prunes do well and so do strawberries and other small fruit. The Bartlett pear, especially, finds a congenial home in this soil and with proper cultivation success is certain. Almost 10,000 fruit trees were planted in Eddy County this spring and orch- ards are beginning to line the miles and miles of irrigation canals. The culture of the Russian mulberry is quite successful. It is a phenomenal bearer. H. R. Wilson has thirteen of these trees at Carlsbad and he gathers fifty bushels of berries from them an- nually. The price they command would give their crop value at $2,000 an acre. Pecan, walnut and other nut trees thrive and are big money makers when in bearing. Pecos grapes are alike of table, wine and raisin growth, and include the Tokay, Delaware, Muscat, Catawba and Seedless Sultana. The world is the market for such fruit as Eddy County raises and its shipping qualities carry it safely any- where within 1,500 miles of Carlsbad. LIVESTOCK. The raising of livestock was a great industry in the lower Pecos Valley 35 before any other industry was thought of. As far as capital invested and value is concerned, it is still the lead- ing industry of that section. For ev- ery acre under cultivation there are 300 acres of grazing land. Eddy Coun- ty, owing to its mild climate and its water supply, is a stock country par excellence. The altitude below the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains, which are situated in its southwestern part, is 3,200 feet, the lowest in the Territory. The plain from these foot- hills extends ninety-five miles east and sixty-six miles north and south. The Pecos River bisects it a little west of the middle. Over all of this vast free range roam large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. An abundance of water is found at depths varying from twenty to 400 feet. Windmills dot the country and practically every availa- ble acre of grazing land is occupied by stock. The future growth of the live- stock industry must be made in im- provements of the herds and the irri- gated ranches must furnish the stock to do it with. The Pecos Valley and its vicinity present today more induce- ments for the breeding of fine cattle than any known district in the south- west, with its sheltered location, its utter freedom from blizzards and ab- sence of extremes in heat or cold, and above all, its abundant water. These advantages have been utilized by men 36 like Colonel C. C. Slaughter, General R. S. Benson and other breeders of fine cattle, and they have established their stock farms in the lower Pecos Valley and are now producing as fine and as clean bred Herefords and Shorthorns as can be found anywhere in the West. The time is not far distant when all the larger farms now devoted to mis- cellaneous agriculture will boast of thoroughbred herds, the product of which will go to improve the stock on the immense cattle ranges of the Staked Plains east of Eddy County as well as the western Panhandle coun- try. On General Benson's Tansill farm of 800 acres, 1,500 head of cattle are win- tered annually and there high grade bulls, bred by registered Hereford bulls upon fullblood Durham cows, are an- nually prepared for market. Mr. Ben- son's last year's crop of calves sold this April for $65 per round, no cut backs, all to one outfit in Arizona. W. H. Mullane, W. W. Galton and H. E. Galton each have herds of registered Red Polled cattle as good as any to be found in the older states. Owing to the abundance of water for irrigation purposes the lower Pecos Valley is able to furnish feed for the thousands of thoroughbred cattle for building up the surrounding ranges, while the mild climate, free from northers, not only assures practical a: immunity from winter losses on the range but produces growth at about half the cost and far more rapidly than in colder places where winter feeding is practiced. About 30,000 head of steers, chiefly two years old, were sold this spring from Eddy County ranges for future beef, maturing on South Dakota and other northern grasses. Between 20,000 and 30,000 head of grass fattened beeves will leave the Southern Pecos ranges this fall while 15,000 to 20,000 heads of yearlings will be for sale at from $15.50 to $16.50 per head. The Eddy County cattle are generally bred into close Hereford grades, thus giving alike blood, bone and beef. At the Bolle's farm, W. P. Mcintosh, Jr., manager, 760 acres, six miles south of Carlsbad, old range cows, too poor to winter on the range, are bought in the fall and wintered on al- falfa, to go fat to the block, or to pro- duce calves, thrifty and healthy, worth from $2 to $5 per head more than those of their less fortunate companions. I. S. Osborne on his ,1,100 acres, confines his attention to the fattening of steers at an average profit in three months of $20 per head. Eddy County has over 200,000 head of sheep well graded to Merino and Shropshire strains, thus covering a wool and mutton cross* Heavy year- ling mutton feeder sales are made to i 39 Texas fattening pens at from $2.25, to $2.50 per head and the Colorado buyer can find from 5,000 to 10,000 head of fine lambs in the market every spring. The Eddy County fleeces scour out seven and a half pounds and class in the market as fine medium at ten cents. The annual wool product amounts to nearly a million pounds. George H. Webster, Jr's Vineyard stock farm of 640 acres, three miles south of Carlsbad, offers a practical example of what can be done in feed- ing alfalfa and Kaffir corn to lambs and hogs. Shorn lambs fed 110 days on one-third less grain than in Colorado, shorn thirty days before shipment, topped the market at 88 pounds at $7 at a season, March 14, when Colorado could not pretend to ship shorn stuff. Mr. Webster has been experimenting with Kaffir corn and Milo maize, both of which are grown abundantly in the county, as a substitute for Indian corn for fattening lambs, and the result has been satisfactory. No loss was exper- ienced from indigestion, the lambs took readily to the feed and their pro- gress was almost phenomenal. It might seem as if there would be a large shrinkage of weight and value in get- ting the lambs to market, but Mr. Webster says that his lambs reach Kansas City without loss or inconven- ience and with a shrinkage of not full three pounds per head, despite the 900 40 mile haul and that he succeeded in tapping the market, that the killing test at Kansas City averaged as high as 54 per cent and the flesh was pro- nounced fully equal to that of the fin- est Indian corn fed lamb. Mr. Webster is feeding 9,500 head of lambs this year. He has equal success with fat- tening hogs on home-grown alfalfa and grain, in fact hogs do exceptionally well and there is a big profit in raising them. They are not subject to cholera as in other sections and hog raising is destined to be quite an important in- dustry in Eddy County. BEES. That Eddy County offers a fine field for the apiarist, is shown by the fol- lowing letter written by Edward Scog- gin: "I commenced in 1894 with ten colonies. Now have 135 colonies.' This is not an exceptional or more than a common increase; but I wish this dis- tinction clearly noted, I am not a bee- keeper. I let the bees keep me. I paid expenses from the first, and after attaining to fifty colonies the" income was sufficient to furnish my living. The net income from each colony, spring count, can be conservatively placed at $5. I estimate my gross in- come this year from the 135 colonies at $1,100. The wholesale market price of strained honey ranges from 6 2-3 to 7 1-2 cents a pound and comb honey 41 10 cents and over a pound. Markets are good, there being demand for all honey- produced. I have on my farm 200 acres in alfalfa, corn and sorghum, and with the assistance of one man attend to my crops and bees. In the early spring the bees fed on mesquite blossoms, then on alfalfa blossoms and on wild flowers in the fall. Winter feeding is not necessary. For a conservative, careful man, the bee industry in Eddy County offers good opportunities for profit." LANDS. All land in Eddy County, except that embraced in the irrigation districts of the Pecos Valley and that occupied by actual settlers, belongs to the United States, and is subject to entry under the homestead and desert land laws, there being 4,000,000 acres in the coun- ty available for that purpose. Irrigat- ed lands can be bought at from $25 to $100 per acre according to locality and improvements. Patented lands with- out any water rights are sold as low as $2.50 to $5 per acre. Interest on farm mortgages is only 6 per cent. The so-called Beales grant, laying claim to a large area, has been declar- ed fraudulent by the United States Supreme Court and the drift fences erected by cattlemen, primarily to keep their herds from straying, but also at times, incidentally, to keep out 43 newcomers and settlers, are rapidly be- ing torn down. MINERAL WEALTH. Eddy County is not classed among the mining counties of the territory, yet its indications of mineral wealth are very promising. Especially in the southwestern part considerable suc- cess has followed the prospecting for gold and copper ore. In the Guada- lupe Mountains about thirty-five miles southwest of Carlsbad, some develop- ment work has been done and quite a number of claims have been located. The old Nymeyer copper mine, in the Guadalupe Mountains, has been recent- ly purchased by the Standard Oil Com- pany of Carlsbad and a contract for a 500 foo>t shaft has been let. It is con- fidently predicted by experts that this work will develop a fine body of min- eral. It had been known for some years that oil indications existed from the Texas boundary to north of Carlsbad. Soon after the Beaumont oil excite- ment, California parties began prospecting for oil and located 440 acres of placer oil claims within four miles of Carlsbad. The town went wild with excitement and thousands of acres were located and assessment work done upon them. Companies were formed and incorporated, stock was issued and all steps common to an oil excitement were taken. It has re- 44 mained, however for the Standard Oil Company, incorporated by local and partly by Iowa and Nebraska people to go ahead steadily, to realize $25,000 from the sales of stock, to buy a standard oil drilling- machine in Pitts- burg and to import experts to run it. This well is down 1,500 feet and work has been stopped temporarily on ac- count of water. The prospects are most promising. The oil is there. The cap- ping appears to be impervious and hopes of finding oil in paying quanti- ties are high. Indications of oil are found up and down the Pecos from Seven Rivers on the north to Fort Stockton on the south, more than 150 miles: but thus far the only good cap rock is that found in the foothills near Carlsbad. Accessibility to the railroad would make an oil strike there partic- ularly valuable. INDUSTRIES. The foregoing indicates what indus- tries would be the most likely to flour- ish in Eddy County. The lack of fuel is made up for by the splendid water power which the Pecos, its tributaries and the larger canals afford. The wool-scouring mill at Carlsbad has handled about 1,500,000 pounds of wool annually but was removed to Roswell this year because the latter place seemed to offer an even better field. But nevertheless, such a plant should 45 prosper at Carlsbad. A creamery, cheese factory, cannery, woolen mills, cold storage plant, ice factory, tanner- ies, breweries, all should do well. A flour and grist mill is very much need- ed. The cotton gins to be erected this year will doubtlessly be followed by others as the acreage in cotton ex- pands. Carlsbad had the only sugar factory in New Mexico, but it burned down recently just as a colony of su- gar beet farmers was to be established to supply the factory with an adequate quantity of beets. Carlsbad has bot- tling works and an electric light plant. A broom factory would flourish and a variety of smaller industries would find great inducements, good markets and favorable conditions for prosperity. Sooner or later, an electric railway will skirt the Pecos River from Ros- well down to the Texas line and the present excellent transportation facili- ties will be even better. RAILROADS. The Pecos Valley and Northeastern Railway, a division of the great Atch- ison, Topeka and Santa Pe Railway system, cuts through the county from northeast to the south, a greater part of it following the river, having its present southern terminus sut Pecos, Texas, and its northern terminus at Amarillo in the same state, where it connects with the Kansas Southern 47 Railroad, the Choctaw and the Colo- rado and Southern, thus giving: Eddy County direct and ample connection with all parts of the United States. The Railroad Company is doing: much to further the industrial growth of the Pecos "Valley and is advertising it ex- tensively. The mileage in the county is seventy-five. The following are the freight rates from Eddy County points: Beef cattle to Kansas City, 41 cents. Sheep, double deck, 40 cents. 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th class freight to Carlsbad, from Kansas City, $1.80, $1.64, $1.54, 1.48. St. Louis, $2.00, $1.78, $1.62. $1.55. Chicago, $2.20, $1.94, $1.74, $1.65. FISHING AND HUNTING. Eddy County in addition to its cli- mate, offers many attractions to the tourist and the visitor. Not the least, is the sport that it affords to the hun- ter and the angler. Black bass of the small mouth variety abound in the Pecos River and its tributaries. These game fish were first planted in 1892 and have multiplied and thriven wonder- fully. Many fish have been caught which exceeded five pounds in weight and three or four pounders are plenti- ful. The bass begin biting freely in September and the sport continues to improve right up to cold weather. Besides bass, blue channel cat are caught in all the streams and lakes. They are, in these waters, nearly as 48 gamey a fish as the bass. Rock bass, goggled-eyed perch and huge yellow catfish that often weigh as much as thirty pounds are also caught. Perch and sunfish are plentiful and are be- coming more so yearly as the citizens of the county closely observe the New Mexico game laws. The Pecos Valley in the vicinity of Carlsbad, is for certain kind of game unequalled in the Southwest. There is practically no limit to teal and mal- lard ducks that visit the valley every winter and remain from October to April. English snipe or jacksnipe, as they are known in the north, are plen- tiful from October to May. It is no unusual feat for one man to bring in one hundred birds as the result of a single day's hunt. Quail and doves are almost numberless. In the deeper ra- vines wild turkeys are found. For larger game the great Staked Plains to the east, and the Guadalupe Mountains and foothills to the west, have always been famous and probably always will be. While the buffalo has disappeared, yet the panther, bear, deer, antelope and mountain sheep still abound. The large lobo wolf and coyote are met with frequently. How- ever, the sportsman, should acquaint himself with New Mexico game laws, before coming to New Mexico on hunt- ing expeditions. 49 MINERAL SPRINGS. Nature not only blessed Eddy County with a salubrious climate, but also gave it healing springs which will some day be as far-famed as those of Carlsbad, Austria, which gave the county seat of Eddy its name. The main springs burst from the banks of the Pecos River, one on each side, two miles above Carlsbad, and flow 5,500 gallons a minute into the great river. The medicinal properties of the springs are definite and well recognized as of great value, especially in cases of dys- pepsia and kidney trouble. In constit- uents, the water closely resembles the famous Friedrichshall Sprudel at Carlsbad, Austria, as is shown by the following analysis of the two waters, the Carlsbad spring in the first column, the figures denoting grains to the gal- lon: Sulphate of soda, Glauber's salts Chloride of sodium Sulphate of magnesia, Ei salts Sulphate of lime Carbonate of lime Silica Iron and alumina Carbonate of magnesia Chloride of magnesia Water of crystallization Total solids 44.02 40.00 50.50 53.10 3om 21.63 34.40 17.40 8.95 14.00 0.09 1.20 0.29 1.20 2.05 1.00 26.00 3.25 2.18 155.25 166.01 51 TOWNS AND SETTLEMENTS. Carlsbad, the Beautiful, at fust named Eddy, the county seat, is the largest and only town of magnitude- in the county. It is often declared to be the most beautiful town in New Mexico and it is certainly entrancing- ly situated amidst orchards and broad fields. Its ever running waters in its irrigation ditches, its thirty-five miles of cottonwood and other shade trees, its wide streets and beautiful homes, all help to make it a most attractive residence city. Its beautiful suburbs of La Huerta and Hagerman Heights are far famed. The Bermuda and the blue grass furnish exquisite emerald lawn settings for a floral growth as bountiful as it is beautiful. The orna- mental shade trees include the catal- pa, the Chinese umbrella, North Caro- lina and Lombardy poplar, weeping willows, Russian mulberry, while en- circled hedges of gray cedar bush and the green bamboo cane are ever and anon broken by the shining spikes of the green and giant cactus palm or Spanish dagger. Here and there can be seen roses of all hues and sizes; blooming almost every month in the year; geraniums of fifteen and twenty varieties blossoming in all the soft gradations of color from pure white to the deepest crimson and royal purple; the deeper yellow and black calla lily, the far southern cousin of the tiger 52 lily; 'four o'clocks of as many hues as Joseph's coat; the. rare plumbago climbing- vine with its purple blossoms; together with a wilderness of petunias, begonias, gladiolas and other flowers. The arboriculture of Eddy County in- cludes the walnut, the almond and the pecan, a flourishing grove of the latter in La Huerta, growing more valuable every year. The altitude of Carlsbad is 3,200 feet, it is 1,326 miles from Chicago; 868 miles from Kansas City and 1,083 miles from Denver. With immediate surround- ings it has a population of 2.000. Its public schools are up to date and housed in modern buildings. There are 500 children of school age in the city and nearly all are enrolled in the public schools. There are churches of many denominations, Sunday schools, high class social organizations, fra- ternal and benevolent societies, a hospital, a fine opera house, a $60,000 hotel which is the finest hostelry in southern New Mexico, commodious business blocks, a $35,000 court house, excellent electric light, telephone, water and sewerage systems, graded and well-kept streets, and two excel- lent weekly newspapers, the Carlsbad Argus and the Current. The town is a modern and model American com- munity, with beautiful environments, healthy business conditions and a 53 promise of a greater prosperity in the future than it has had in the past. The necessity for increased accom- modations for healthseekers at Carls- bad is apparent and a tent city should spring- up in the near future. The beautiful estate called The Heights, consisting of 1,100 acres on the east bank of the Pecos opposite the town, and culminating in a lofty hill, was purchased by the late R. W. Tansill shortly before his death, with the in- tention of transforming it into a sani- tarium. His plans will probably be realized by parties well able to carry out the project and they are now care- fully considering the proposition. Medical experts have pronounced the spot an ideal location for the purpose. Although only fourteen years old, Carlsbad is considered one of the lead- ing towns of New Mexico. A flatter- ing endorsement to its stability has been given by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company by not only giving it special freight rates upon the material to construct the great concrete aqueduct across the Pecos but by the actual cash purchase of a large block of the bonds issued to finance the project. Sixteen miles south of Carlsbad is the pretty settlement of Malaga, thus named because its soil is especially adapted to the cultivation of the Ma- laga grape. The Pecos Valley from 54 Carlsbad to Malaga is for the greater part a continuation of fine farms and miles of shaded roads. In this par- ticular part of the valley, the Pecos Irrigation Company has accomplished its most striking results. Other settlements, all having post- office facilities, are Artesia, formerly Stegman, having a new townsite and surroundings that are rapidly settling up on account of the discovery of ar- tesian water; McMillan and Florence in the Pecos "Valley; Hope on the Pen- asco; Monument on the Staked Plain, and Westwater toward the Guadalupe Mountains. Otis, Miller, Penasco, Francis, Red Bluff, Lookout and Seven Rivers are names for agricultural set- tlements of thrifty farms and orch- ards. CONCLUSION. The Pecos Valley offers beautiful, restful and healthful homes to the well-to-do; it offers many chances for good investment to the capitalist; it is a haven of refuge to the health- seeker and for the worker with a few dollars capital and possessed with the energy and thrift to succeed, it offers opportunities to acquire an attractive home and a competency. For further information call on or address the members or Secretary of the Bureau of Immigration as follows: W. B. Bunker, President, East Las Vegas. Granville Pendleton, Vice President, Aztec. Max. Frost, Secretary, Santa Fe. J. W. Bible, Treasurer, Silver City. Jose E. Torres, Socorro. Alfred Grunsfeld, Albuquerque. Published by the authority of the Territory of New Mexico. t> LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 017 057 027 3 udhfcB