Class J^ ffO 3- Book 7°ff /^ i\ ^o V\ • •• • T« ,V — 5 0,° >• » » » » a » ■ ^ 7%^£ */ Sheep— Pecos Valley. Flowing Artesian Well— Pecos Valley. WJL-1 10 1905 ^WPflf *^w ■'.'■' !&3II tF^ ' A ijSpCrJ Nte - 1? ; ^^] BW *'^S SpL V Packing Apples. Wha^t a.n Eastern Matn Thinks of the Pecos Valley of New Mexico. BY HENRY HALL Reprint from Pittsburgh (Pa.) Times Carlsbad, N. M., May 13. — "This is God's own country. There isn't in all the United States a better section than the Pecos valley. It is the garden spot." This is the enthusiastic statement made by "Jerry" Simpson, the erstwhile "Sockless statesman of Medicine Lodge," but now a citizen of Roswell, N. M., as he and The Times correspondent renewed the acquaintance formed in Washington when Mr. Simpson, the ablest Populist ever sent to Congress, was in the House, holding the earnest attention of that body by speeches, eloquent, rhetorically accurate and thoroughly logical in argument, from the premises he took. "Now don't you rush through here at night," contin- ued Mr. Simpson, "without even getting off the train to look at what we have, but go out over this section and see what we have done and are now doing. That will prove the truth of what I have told you. Roswell is the center of the irrigated district of New Mexico. Around here are 40.000 acres of irrigated land and there is a tract 00 miles long and 12 wide that is capable of being irrigated. Aside from this there are uncounted acres that can be irrigated by artesian wells, of which we have hundreds flowing from 1,000 to 2,000 gallons a minute and which are inexhaustible. | We have a town here with a population of nearly 5,000, in a section that can sustain 100.000 more, and which last year shipped 2.000.000 oounds of wool and more fruit than any other t and in its express business st TMP96 — 0074-21 district, which in- cludes the ». , Ft. Worth and El Paso, the receipts being in excess of $40,000 per month." ,«>% Lincoln V . A V <, «. <1 \*V tc?* c/ ..-* . AwA^'v^ Peoi 1 :okuk /?Olol»V> ' 1 rs. c*. O '"'V/b bHoxle $j GAINESVILLE I C f< ""^OyjpARIS if flrcisspr!.. Dui,ii>Q «F.'_Jrv l *« " COLEMAN ii-v. !>..«.. 1 M -^ECdR " 0| ^SS^v^§^A^,^ I- Camden 9 Grenada Jackson Meridian Kcrrville to the Pecos Valley ST. LOUIS AND KANSAS CITY. HOMA AND TEXAS. EXCURSIONS ^ch Month at Reduced Rates. SEE FOR YOURSELF is made to order- waiter on crops when &nd where the Pecos Valley. >NR,AD ecos Valley Lines , Texas W. S. KEENAN Gen. Pass. Agt. G. C. <£. S. F. Ry. Galveston, Texas. McFarland, Shumway & Armstrong Co., Printers, Chicago. Irrigation Unknown in Ea.st. Following "Jerry's" advise, The Times correspondent in.nl.- a somewhat thorough investigation of the country and ils development, riding through the irrigated districts around Roswell and Carlsbad by journeys which aggregated pi rhaps 100 miles and studying the irrigation systems in operation from their very sources to where they poured the water upon the land and made it rich with varied products. To the Eastener, living in regions where the rains are id lant and drouths a rarity, irrigation, as it is practiced here, is a sealed book. He has doubtless read that a bill passed Congress devoting the proceeds of the sales of public' Kinds to tin; irrigation of the arid sections of the Western States and Territories. Hut, beyond a superficial, oral the most, a merely academic knowledge of the subject, In- has usually nol gone, "The blood is the life," was said in the olden time, and, looking upon the great plains and valleys of the South- west, the iiutli becomes apparent that there "the water is the life," so far as their productiveness and usefulness to men are concerned, The traveler oul here journeys for hundreds oi miles through regions which seem almost de- serts, which are deserts, in fact, and which, until a com- parative!) i < ■< i 1 1 1 period, figured on the map of the i nited States as the "Greal American Desert." Making the Desert Bloom. For miles and miles no human habitation is visible. The vasl stretches ol ntry are solitudes, save for the presence of the herds of cattle, and, in some sections, flocks of sheep, which pasture upon them, True, there are vast grazing areas, the grass in some places luxuriant, in others icanty, but there are tracts hundreds of miles in extent cov- ered only by mesquite bushes, greasewood, soapwood, cat- | law mill many vat ieties ol cacti, some rising to a height ol live 01 six feel and crowned by a big cluslei ol yellowish- whjte blossoms. I <> one at i ustomed to the hilly or rolling lands "I I vmr.t Ivania 01 I )hio, or the more regular lands of Indiana and Illinois, with their carefully cultivated farms, patches of woodland and comfortable homes, the prospect 1 ' '" < desolate in the extreme, and he cannot but feel sor-r '"» 'hal so greal .1 part of Uncle Sam's mighty domain must forevei remain live from the touch ol the plow and the ear.' nl the husbandman. Then, the transition being so sudden that it almost be- wilders one, the train will enter an irrigated section, and, the hue ol demarcation being ofteu nothing more than a barbed wire fence, there flash upon the view trees, tall 1 ol tonwoods and bending willows, farms, orchards, gardens ""' ne 'ds, rich with .1 vegetation more luxuriant and pro ductive than that ol even the most vaunted agricultural section* oi the East. The deserl has vanished, desolation has been dethroned, yielding place to Ceres emptying her ' "' Plentyupon ..smiling land. Let no one ignorant "I whal irrigation can do, think this an extravagant or un- founded statement, lis prool can be Found everywhere in the West where irrigation is at all practicable. And all throughout this section, individual and corporate enterprise, soon to be supplemented by the efforts of the National gov- ernment, is at work at the task of making the desert fruit- ful and beautiful. Pecos Valley Towns Flourish. Less than 20 years ago the site of Roswell was a cattle range, that of Carlsbad, 75 miles farther down the Pecos River, little more than a sand patch, To-day they are handsome towns of 4,000 and 2,000 population respectively and the centers of irrigated sections wherein lands are of great value, considering what they were but a few years ago. Irrigation has been the magic wand which has called them into being and prosperity. The cultivated country around both towns is beautiful in the extreme. Cotton- wood and willow trees, both of them having an extraordi- narily rapid growth here, have been planted, not only along the streets of the towns, but also along practically every foot of the irrigating ditches, with the result that in every direction there are long avenues lined with tall trees, their branches meeting overhead. "Lovers Lane," just outside Roswell, is a long vista of over-arching trees even more beautiful than that famous walk of the same name in Cen- tral Park, New York. There is another road lined with drooping willows, the pendant branches reaching down al- most to the earth. Along at their feet run the irrigating ditches, filled with clear water, from which the streams are turned, as occasion requires, upon the orchards, gardens and fields of alfalfa and katfir corn. There are three systems of irrigation in this section of the Pecos Valley. Two of them are in use in the Roswell district. The first, and more extensive, is by the water which gushes from the great South and North springs nearby, yielding an inexhaustible supply and sufficient to irrigate possibly 40,000 acres of land. The water is con- ducted by big ditches for miles down the valley and thence by the smaller ones, or laterals, to the fields and orchards. Many of the land owners own the water right and keep the main ditch in repair. In other cases a perpetual water right is sold with the land, which gives each acre enough water to cover it to a depth of 30 inches at a cost of $1.25 per acre per year. Irrigation by Wells. The second source of irrigation is by artesian wells and has come into use comparatively recently. Ii is claimed that the terrritory in which these wells can be lound is 00 miles long by 15 wide, and the water is reached at depths ranging from 350 to 800 feet. The quantity flowing from some of these wells is surprising and makes them of great importance and value. The writer saw a number of them pouring forth streams the daily quantity of which, in each case, aggregated over 1,000,000 gallons. On the Hamilton stock farm there are two wells, one from a depth of 280 feet throwing through an eight-inch pipe 1,000 gallons per minute. On the Hagerman ranch there are five wells about .'550 feet deep and flowing from 800 to 1,200 gallons. Ou another Hagerman property, farther down the valley, a well 1,000 feet deep flows 1.800 gallons every sixtieth part of an hour The water is so pure and clear that people come from miles around to get it. There are over 80 of these wells in Roswell, some with flows even larger than those mentioned. All of the artesian wells do not flow, however, the question of the level of the great springs above mentioned having to do with it, and in that case pumps run by windmills or gasoline engines are used. These artesian wells irrigate small farms and orchards gen- erally off the line of the irrigating ditches and are open- ing up considerable territory. It is significant ol the faith of the people in the possibilities of irrigation in this valley that whenever an artesian well is brought in there is an immediate rush for lands in that neighborhood. Towns have come into being merely because a good well had been struck at their site, something reminiscent of the oil country. The Irrigation System. Down at Carlsbad irrigation is followed upon a large scale. In his report for li)01 Gov. Otero said: "The great Pecos Valley irrigation system, taken as a whole, is beyond all question the 'largest in America, and the immense sums expended on it make it the most complete as well. In Eddy County there are two large artificial lakes, covering a sup erficial area of some 10,000 acres, with a capacity of 100,- 000 acre-feet; that is to say, holding sufficient water to place one foot of water on 100,000 acres of land. There are now in operation 40 miles of canals and main laterals. The an- nual water rent is $1.25 per acre, said to be the smallest fee for similar service in the United States." This system, upon which over $2,000,000 has been ex- pended, obtains its water by damming the Pecos river, there being two dams about 10 miles apart. The upper one backs water 14 miles and the lower 6 miles. From this lower dam which is about 1,400 feet long, the writer followed the main canal down to where it divides, one branch being carried over the Pecos river by a massive concrete aque- duct just completed at a cost of about $50 000. This aque- duct is nearly 500 feet long, with four 100-foot arches rising 25 feet above the bed of the river. The canals and laterals cover an irrigable territory of perhaps 100,000 acres of which about 25,000 acres are in farms running from 80 to 800 acres. There are more 40 acre farms than of the others, and very few below that size. If the owner farms general crops he usually finds that with 40 acres he has all he wants to do. For fruit farms it is held that 10 acres is enough. In a previous article the peach and other fruit farms at Carlsbad have been described. Alfalfa, kaffir corn and milo maize are the three principal agricultural crops. Al- falfa is cut about four times in a season, and a good average on the large farms is three-fourths of a ton per acre per cutting, or three tons per year. It is irrigated at least once or twice between cuttings, or from six to ten times a year. .... u«ua .in |M>ii»ra consiaeraoiy during the winter Alfalfa comes to maturity in three yens, and never needs replanting. It was stated tlt.it there are fields in the v iltev 20 years old which yield just as well new as when thej first reached maturity, Kaffir corn and milo mai te are us ually irrigated twice, once foi plowing and again later in the season. It is claimed that kaffir corn inns from one and one-quarter to two tons ol grain in the head, which sin inks about -t> p-" cent in the threshing, to the acre, while the fodder will ma three tons. Fed in the shock, killi. coin is su.l te be .1 pel teeth balanced ration ol grain and foi ' . . ["he grain in the head sells lor $S per ton, genei alb although last year il brought $10. The image is worth $H a ton. Alfalfa ranges lioni s7 to $10 a ton. Government Lending a Hand. Wheal "ii-, rye and barley can be grown, but there are no mills, and no local market, except for oats Cotton has also been raised, and it is claimed 10 be a good crop I'll.- fruit industry need noi be agam referred to, and melons canteloupes and sweel potatoes, celery, asparagus, and, in fact, nearly all kinds ol vegetables do exceedingly well. These are but a lew nl the results, and b into, of irrigation in the Pecos valley, I 'hey the people have done lluin eb e . Lev. ii d the « United States is now prepai ing to take n hand engineers are looking up reservoii tiles, one ne the headwaters ol the Hondo river, and two oiheu u ent parts of the valley, Pending this work, large tracts ol land have been withdrawn from the operations ol the land laws I'hoiigh the present irrig ited disti id ■ m pitifully ■nidi compared to the vasl expanses : irid them which the water has noi reached, ami in too many eases, never can, they still show the possibilities and i tl the way to a development which none can fully appreci ite until I through this counti | and sees ou one hand the dei right amidst its desolation, like the oases in Sain heli Is and orchards, the long avenues ol tall trees, the teem eilv gone low what k The l il. lis here on a ide III. I the ing ditches and flowing wells which make this whal "Jerry 1 Simpson calls "The garden spot ol die United Slates." 1 1 bnry Hall, Scene on Slaughter Ram h /'■ Intensive Cultivation in ih<- Pecoi Valley Apples, Alfalfa and Sheep. Swine Peeos Valley "V -■■»> Santa Fe If /5f lap^ SSI ."■ -3^#^^ v ,„,„ :v; .■ il \ / ..i'.*. .'..■-ft" '" / (; t- #. f »/ u /■ \ / < p 1 Take the Sarvta Fe to the Pecos Valley DIRECT LINE FROM CHICAGO. ST. LOUIS AND KANSAS CITY. ALSO FROM OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS. HOMESEEKERS' EXCURSIONS First and Third Tuesdays of each Morvth at Reduced Rates. COME OUT NOW AND SEE FOR YOURSELF If you wish to learn more about this place, where rain is made to order water on crops when rvnd where wanted ask for free copies of illustrated pamphlet about the Peco< Valley. W. J. BLACK A. L. CONR.AD Gen. Pass. Agt. A. T