Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1892-10-18
JOSEPH WATER !
How the Democratic Delegate Vio-
lated the Confidence of Every
Rio Grande Valley
Farmer.
Stultifying His Position to Serve a!
the Tool of Southern Colorado
Water Sharks
AND LAND GRABBERS!


Mr.. II. K. Harris, socorro, n NJ.
SANTA FE, Oct. II, 1892.-Dear sir
l am in receipt of your valued favor o
the 9Th inst in which you say that tn
people of your county would like to hea
and learn more than was said and ex
planned by Hon. T. B. Catron in hi
speech delivered at Socorro on the 81
inst, about the condition of the appro
priation of the water of the Rio Grand
by the large ditch owners in the San Lui
Valley in Colorado.
Inasmuch as it will not be possible tt
reach Mr. Catron and secure from him
statement for at least two weeks, and a.
l deem 1t necessary to advise the peopl,
of your county, as well as all the residents
of the Rio Grande valley, of the eIac
status of affairs as to this appropriation
ofthe waters of the Rio Grande, as well as
to the position taken by Mr.. Anthony
Joseph in the matter during his service
as delegate from the territory, I will
state as follows:
You ask ''what effect will the continued
and increasing appropriation of this
water by this people have upon the farm
ing interests of the Rio Grande valley
from Bernalillo to Ell Paso?"
1t does not require much study to an
swer this question. The effect is patent
already to any observer of irrigation
affairs in your county along the Ric
Grande during the past three of foul
years. The river has been practically
dry each year and to-day there is
HARDLY DROP OF WATER
flowing in the river from Pena Blanca, in
Bernalillo county, to Ell Paso, Texas. This
has happened now for the past three
years and never in the history of New
Mexico has such thing occurred before
Why is it? The reason is told when you
are advised that the bitches already built
in Colorado, taken out of the Rio Grande
and all built while Mr.. Joseph was our
delegate, consume 80 per cent of the
water. What will be the effect? The
agricultural and horticultural interests of
of your county can never become any
larger than they are now, for the reason
that even now there is not sufficient water
for the irrigation of the lands already
under cultivation, and unless this appro-
priation of the water of the Rio Grande is
stopped, it is more than likely that large
areas of land now supporting many
families will have to be abandoned en-
tirely.
You desire to know what effect will this
have upon the growth and prosperity of
the towns and cities in the Rio Grande
valley from Bernalillo to Ell Paso?
1t is not necessary to state that the
prosperity of all our cities and towns de-
pends almost almost entirely upon the
agricultural products of the country i'm
mediately contiguous to such cities and
towns. Great agricultural countries build
up large and prosperous cities. The life
trade depends upon the prosperity of
the farmer. When the farmer has good
crops the merchants of cities receive the
benefit of the trade. When there are no
farmers, or no crops to market, the city
merchant is the loser as well as the farmer.
If the waters of the Rio Grande are
APPROPRIATED OUTSIDE OUR TERRITORIAL
LIMITS
it means paralysis of business along the
Rio Grande, and necessarily great de-
crease of values and an entire stoppage
of growth of the cities of the valley. As
compared with the present situation,
should the ditch owners continue to ap-
propriate the water as the lands
in the San Luis valley are gradually
filled with settlers, the result in few
years will be complete disaster to every
tiller of the soil along the Rio Grande, un-
less large amounts of money are invested
to store the water during the period when
the spring floods are on. The result will
be the abandonment of every community
ditch along the river, and should it be-
come necessary to store up the water, in
that event the people will have to pay
cash for the water to the ditch com
panies.
What is your remedy? Your remedy is
in the courts and in the halls of congress.
What you need is some man able and
learned in the law to represent the people.
What you need is lawyer who can defend
the rights of the people, man who can
demonstrate in the courts and in con-
gress that the people of New Mexico
have prior right to every drop of water
necessary to the cultivation of the lands
irrigated by the Rio Grande during the
past 200 years; that these people have
rights which they acquired before a single
soul ever farmed foot of land in the
state of Colorado and that they have a
vested right which the courts will not
allow these interpretations to invade.
WHAT HAS ANTHONY JOSEPH DONE
to prevent this Wholesale larceny of the
water belonging to the people' What