The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-07


ninth miles is likewise substantial
When this latter point was reached
work was pushed upon the two sub-ca-
ais, and as fast as they were completed
he transverse canals, parallels and dis
ributlng bitches were opened up between
them. The most approved agricultural
implements and utensils had been inn
ported in advance from the United
States. Upon the completion of the ditch
es each of the sitios were placed under
he management of an administrator, and
he general administration located on the
hacienda of Zaragoza, some eight miles
down the basin from the distributing
ank and nearly in the center being pre-
| Jared for cultivation. Extensive buildings
were also erected, consisting Of steam
cotton seed oil, soap factory for utiliz-
| ng the oil product, cotton press and
an electric light plant.
| A system of wagon roads following the
| ines of the main canals were first laid
ut to connect all of the villages with the
central administration, and telephone
communication was established between
he several administrations and the gen.
raj manager at Zaragoza. however, the
4 p
prise soon overleaped wagon roads, as
the latter in their turn had swept past
the humber and narrower mule trails.
Therefore, the people engaged in the de-
velopment of the Tiahualilo cotton belt
found 1T necessary to undertake the con-
strlction of steam railways to connect
the distant portions of the estate with
Zaragoza. The larger part Of the railroad
81 ~, A. L,,oE L. NJ
on Company from London arrived quite
| ecently at Zaragoza, and the company
! ope to have the railroad in working or
er before the cotton harvests are taken
n. The track is being laid on the dikes of
he large canals as far as possible, thus
voding the lands overlooked at the time
| irrigation. So far contracts have been
ct for forty-one kilometres of plantation
abroad; the latter will be laid with steel
leepers on a s:xty-centimetre gauge, and
| he traction will be steam.
| Such is sketch of the big cotton fields
! in Durango, made possible by modern
irrigation engineering. The rainfall in
the Bolson de Mapimi is confined to few
days of heavy showers about the begin
ming of June and the beginning Of De-
cember. But up in the mountains OF
Durango, where the Nazas is born, the
rainfall at the same season is heavy and
protracted. lasts several weeks at time,
and it is during these freshets that the
lands of the Nazas district, and only
then, receive any water benefit. In the
! Tlahualilo basin a week or ten days of
irrigation is all that is needed in the
course of year, the water soaking east
ly and quickly through the almost i'm
palpable silt and the hot sun forming a
protective crust that checks evapora-
ton and retains the moisture in the sub
soil. Owing to their long roots cotton
/ plants strictly require irrigation only
once every other year, although corn
and wheat must receive it at each plan
ting. Cotton fields of the Tlahualilo belt
after the spring irrigation resemble tracks
of newborn rye, so modest are they in
their size of plants, but the same fields
after the fall irrigation. when they have
blossomed in snowy white, show cotton
plants so tall as almost to conceal from
sight a man on horseback. 1t is said
that the cotton during those few months
can almost be seen to grow. At all e.
vents. the finest cotton in the country is
now being produced upon tracts of land.
league wide, which only few years ago
were deserts Of sand
The question of fuel at Tlahualilo is
an important one, as at present more
than 300 horsepower are in constant use
and the amount is steadily increasing
The main supply of fuel is from the meg
quite brush cleared from the new lands
as the process Of ditching advances, and
the hull Of the cotton seed also makes
a hot, quick fuel for some of the larger
stationary engines. The great straw
and cotton bushes are utilized for brick
burning. The engines and fixed ma
chinery, as well as all the agricultural
machines. are operated by Peon labor,
these native workmen being found quick
and efficient in acquiring mechanical
knowledge. During the period Of great
est activity, when the cotton crop is COM
ing in, the water service by irrigation il
calculated at about six hundred and
sixty cubic feet per second, remarka-
bic improvement over the waterless, rain
less condition that prevailed but few
years ago. The company during the
cotton crop season run their gins and
presses and oil mills day and night, and
keep up large electric light plant for
that purpose. The products of the ha-
cenda are shipped direct from the sta
! ton Of lara goza, the cotton, wheat, corn
and soap being marketed in this Repub-
lie. and the oil cake being shipped to the
! United States. Most of the machinery
and implements employed are OF Ameri-
can origin, and their aggregate is very
large, there being at present some 1000
American ploughs of different typeS up
on the estate.
A branch line, recently constructed
from the Mexican International Railroad
at Matamoros, across the plains to the
central Tlahualilo property. has made
1t possible to extend cultivation to the
remainder of the basin. and it is estimat-
ed that by the end OF 1899 nearly 200
square miles will be under ditch and pro.
ducing.
WHEN WE DEMORALIZE THE