Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-04-24
LIGHT OF THE HILLS
La Luz An Ideal Orchard and Farm
Section Of Southern New
Mexico.
FURNISHES PRIZE FRUIT
A Horticultural Wonder to All Who Visit
the Fertile Locality in the Coun-
try Now Being So Rapidly
Developed.

Alamogordo, N. M, April 23.-It is
doubtful if there is a prettier place in
New Mexico than La Luz. At this sea-
son of the year it is a picture OF luxu-
RANT vegetation, colored by several
fields of alfalfa and the pink and white
blossoms of fruit trees.
Such tales are told of the wonderful
size and yield of the La Luz fruit that
the average stranger is prone to regard
them as exaggerations. For many years
enterprising La Luz people claim that
railway men who were anxious to boom
distant section, and wide awake
officials who had determined to
attract immigration by setting forth the
superiority of the respective regions as
fruit raising localities, have purchased
and borrowed La Luz apples, peaches
and grapes and placed them on exhibit
ton. In some instances the deception
has been carried so far that it is alleged
prizes were taken by La Luz fruit at
fairs and expositions and credited to
places possessing inferior climate and
fertility.
1t is only of recent date that any par
ticular attention has been given to the
proper care of orchards, for the old
time orchardists never dreamed that the
time would come when superior grades
of fruit would be in demand and that a
market would be found to readily con
sumo the product. In former years it
was necessary to ship the fruit to FL
Paso by wagons, a distance of ITO miles.
Many of the fruit raisers even hauled
portions of their crops to White Oaks,
Lincoln, Roswell and Eddy, distance
varying from go to 100 miles, over rough
mountain roads. The expense of ship
ment, and amount of labor involved in
reaching a market, were too great for
the majority of orchadists and the
larger portion of the crops of %deciduous
fruits, Uttered the ground and filled ir-
rigation bitches, rotting away in the
sun. Now that the Ell Paso g. North
eastern railway has tapped this prolific
region IA market extending hundreds OF
miles in all directions from Ell Paso is
opened for fruits and it is only a ques-
tion of a short time before the eastern
and California product will be replaced
by the more luscious and sweetly-1ayored
Sacramento mountain fruit. And the
industry will continue to grow until
miles CT trackless plain are covered by
producing orchards, until every village
and city in the region is awakened each
succeeding day by the steam whistles
of fruit canning and evaporating estab.
lishments, and until every mountain
slope is a carefully attended vine
yard, yielding grapes, raisins and wines
sufficient to supply the great southwest.
After the timber and stock industries
have become matters of Renaissance and
are referred to as the things responsible
for the early settlement of the county,
the farmer will harvest his grain, the
gardener will market his vegetables and
the fruit raiser will dispose of his crops
and they will all thank God that the
country has stable, permanent backing,
and that their broad acres are yielding
a continuous income which enables
them to live in comfort and add a sub
stantial sum each year to a goodly bank
account. u
THE NEW CONDITIONS.
Messrs G. b. and J.. A. Eddy deserve
all manner of thanks from the people of
this county for the progressiveness they
have evinced in providing an outlet for
a section so fertile and resourceful. Re-
CARELESS of their own personal interests,
and ultimate reward, it was a herculean
task to push through miles of sizzling
desert and dust-choked plain connect
ing the Sacramento mountains with
civilization, and the people here, with
one accord, should give them due credit
and praise.
Under the new conditions all enter
prising land owners are extending the
railway promoters a helping hand and
looking forward to a steady production
of something that will be required by the
market opened, and intelligent stock
men are figuring profits from real estate,
which is rapidly enhancing in value,
owing to modern improvements and in
creasing population.
While no particular portion of Otero
county possesses a monopoly of the
fruit and agricultural lands, La Luz,
with it's central location, is the practical
hub Of the producing area. The remote
mountain country furnishes as large, or
perhaps larger apples than La Luz;
Tularosa also has its specialties in which
it excels, and the Mescalero Indian
agency is incompatible in the whole
United States as a vegetable raising
region. In support of this assertion, /
may say that potatoes are grown there
weighing from five to six pounds. At
Tularosa almonds and figs are grown.
l doubt If the experiment has been tried
in La Luz.
La Luz, with its shady groves, grass
carpeted lawns, babbling brooks and
bitches, and air laden with the perfume
of towering orchards and growing o
Caoloh, appears W. eIe oiaveier as d SUrt
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