Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1891-09-15

guel, where three years ago the amount
OF cultivated grass WAS very small, there
are now 5000 acres OF timothy. All along
the Rio Grande, new fields are to be seen
and on the PeCos the great stacks tell OF
product If tons to the acre.
Ii we turn to horticulture, the advance
Is still moro marked. San Juan county,
which ten years ago was only occupied
by cattle. now contains 500 acres OF
orchard, about half of which was planted
this year, and is sending to market this
fall over 500, 900 pounds of peaches, 250, =
coo OF apples and 100000 of other fruits.
Santa Fe county issproduc ny SOC, 900
pounds of apples and 100000 of other
fruits A count inst made in Socorro
county shows that it contains 100, 900
lfult trees and 100000 grape vines one
single orchard, raised entirely without
| irrigation, containing over 1000 trees,
many of which were planted this year.
! This fall, for the first time, grapes have
been shipped from Las Cruces in car load
lois, and the melon crop of the Mesila
valley is new element OF much import
ance.
In every section orchards are being
commenced or enlarged, and careful
estimate, made by the most competent
authority, shows that the number of fruit
trees planted this year does not fall below
POO, 900 about $4,000 being supplied by
one single nursery.
Meanwhile the improved systems of
irrigation, on which we have to depend
! for the multiplication of our area OF useful
land, are advancing rapidly.
In the northeast, the Springer system
with fifty miles of bitches and five reser-
voirs, covers $4,000 acres and the Yer
mejo system with fifty-seven miles of
bitches and ten re ervoirs, supplys 30,-
600 acres. In the northwest, there are
200 miles of ditch completed and forty in
process of construction, & wing fertility to
"A 900 acres. In the southeast, the Pecos
valley system, already largely completed,
about thirty miles of main ditch and 100
of laterals being in operation with its
great dam LAO feet long and 270 feet
wieo at the base, and its lake seven miles
in length, will soon supply almost 100000
acres OF land with the necessary irrigation.
And in the southwest, the works along
the Mimbres are solving new problem,
and will supply section of wonderful
fertility with water requisite for successful
cultivation.
These may be said to be in the four
corners of the territory. But the great
central regions are not to be left without
the needed water supply. More than
fifty companies have been organized for
irrigation purposes, and several are already
in operation. The valley of the Rio
Grande presents the most extensive field
for operations of this kind, as the present
narrow strip of cultivated land can be
widened very materially by a proper dis
position of the water which flows 80 abun-
dainty from the north, and is now allowed
to be wasted.
1t is expected that before the end of the
year the work of constructing the great
bitches proposed for this purpose will be
in active progress. In short, a very few
years will find all the water, now suffered
uselessly to run away, utilized to the
highest degree, and enlarging the area
of agricultural land to an extent almost
fabulous.
Meanwhile, individual enterprise is in
creasing the local supplies by the erection
of multitudes of wind-mills, and this pre-
sent year marks an era in our industrial
historv aG that in which the first success
ful artesian wells were produced in widely
separated portions or the territory; near
e,,-inGGr in the northeast, and at Roswell
in the southeast. These prove the ex-
istence of great bodies of water, ready to
cause the artesian flow, underlying a
large portion of New Mexico, and will en-
ha cf oll
to bring it to the surface.
If We turn to animal industries, We find
that the cattle business is in more sat
sfactory condition than for some years,
notwithstanding chat 1t certain sections
there were considerable losses in the win
ter. The business has settled down to a
legitimate basis, and the enlarged demand
has caused gratifying increase in price.
Sheep owners are everywhere prosperous.
The number of animals has been consid
erably increased by the large percentage
of lambs this year, Notwithstanding the
extensive sales of sheep to purchasers
outside of the territory. The wool crop
has been remarkably large and the prices
so high as to be very profitable. The
product OF New Mexico reached nearly,
if not quite, 100000 pounds, and has
brought into the territory almost SO ,000,-
600 in cash. The sheep are not only in
creasing IN number but in quality, and
the prospects for this business for the
future are most encouraging.
The lun ber industry is an important
one and in that, also, the same increase
in product prevails. On the Petaca grant
two mills are running, and 100000 OF
feet have been produced. On the Max
well, where the industry is new, there
are now seven mills and 100000 feet
month are sawed. From the TERRA
Amarillo 33,000,0 900 feet have been taken
during the year. In all these cases the
facilities for cutting are being increased.
The purchasers of a large body of fine
timber land on the A. & p. land grant
are preparing to build branch railroad
and commence operations on a large
scale. All over the territory individual
sawmils are being erected and the husi.
ness is not only increasing in extent but
in prosperity.
If we turn to mining, which many con-
slider our most important interest, we
find unprecedented activity prevailing.
Everywhere new mines are being devel-
oped, and old ones re-opened. Deserted
camps are again alive with industry. 1t
is impossible to particularize as to this,
but it seems universal from Taos to the
Mexican border. The copper mines of
Mora are actively at work and using
seventy-fve ton concentrator. The ex-
traordinary riches of the Old Abe at
White Oaks in gold, and of the Silver
Cell in Grant county, the ore from which
was declined at the smelter because 30
rich that they could not estimate it, and
had to be sent direct to refinery and
sold as bullion, show that the day