Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1893-07-25
Flood Water Of tho Mo Crnnde.

] W NN"INNt NlNNNrNt
From Colorado and New Mex
leo the Rio Grande is reported to
be on one 81 the most active Of it's
annual food boom" The river
is full from bank to bank. 1t will
be so for about ten weeks, aud dur
ing that period there will daily dis
appear and be wasted from 1000
to G,0O0 cubic feet of water per
second. gin technical language
there viii be that number Of "sec-
ond feet" The immensely of this
volume of water cannot be put into
plain language, but its monetary
value may perhaps be made ap-
parent.
The Rio Grande photographic
basin may be roughly estimated
from mountain source to outlet al
the gulf, es having a length of l.
200 miles, with an average width
of ten miles. This viii give an
area Of 1900 square miles. One
half Of this can be estimated as
arabic and cultiyatable, if it can
be supplied with water for lrriga-
ton purposes. The precipitation
at the mountain source will be
nearly equalled in inches by the
humidity of the outlet section.
But over a distance of 1000 miles
the rainfall will nowhere exceed
fourteen inches per annum, and
generally it will not reach ten of
them.
The larger portion of the 6,000,-
900 acres of arabic area is now al
most worthless for farming pur-
poses. BY the conservation of
storm or food waters, it is within
reason to assume that at least l.
100000 acres can be brought under
cultivation, and that with better
knowledge of NEUROLOGY and econ
omy in the use of water; at least
one half million more may there
after be placed under plow and
harrow, grain and root, ditch and
harvest. There is to-day cultivated
in the extended valley of the Rio
Grande, upon the American side
thereof, not more than 100000
acres from the Rockies to the Gulf.
On the Mexican side there may
be 100000 more acres, but that is
a very liberal estimate.
The American acreage may be
estimated rs worth about $50 per
acre, or a total of s6,OOO,O0O. If
the estimated 10000 acres we're
all under similar cultivation the
total land valuation would be $780,
100000. At this writing it would
be difficult to secure in open mar
ket, two dollors per acre for such
estimated section of the great val
ley;-that is to say $4,000 900.
Water alone will make this vast
difference in values. Anywhere
in the RIO Grande valley, water
viii then be more than twenty
times as valuable as the land, when
without its quickening presence.
1t has been estimated by experts
that a second foot Of water will
irrigate from 100 to $50 acres, and
that therefore one second foot OF
water flowing continuously for 100
days VIII be worth from $3.50 &c
IS275 per annum. As the Ric
Grande viii give of food waters
alone a possible storage during its
two "boom" seasons, of at least
1000 second feet, the value in irri-
cation at the lower estimate of this
amount Of water would not be less
than 100000 annually. AND
-
this is practically all wasted. Nc
storage resources exist, and nC
present attempt is made to save and
utilize this great wealth. Indeed
so fan, there has been no real ef.
fort to show how it may be done
The general government has ex.
pended in river gauging about S95,.
600 or $4,000 to some purpose and
has wasted at least $4,000 more tC
no purpose.
This has reference only to the
Rio Grande section and the work
Of the geological survey. All irri-
cation in hat valley is done from
the surface flow, and there is not
8 per cent. of it even the result OF
ditch storage. The entire surface
flow Of the Rio Grande may be
reasonably set down at a total of
5000 second feet or n money value,
at $3.50 per such cubic foot, of
'S20,000,000. The major proper