Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-07-29
iu New Mexico. than elsewhere

sAS SS~Atys out eue iefeT extfLQ1 SV'
er large part OF ths country and the
are many oil claims located twenty
| miles up the San Juan, or northeast
of Pagosa Springs, while territory Ave
and ten miles In each direction has
been located.
A derrick Is being erected adjoin-
ing the San Juan some eighteen miles
up the river for the purpose of boring
for oil. The preliminary work will
soon be completed and then the work
of sinking will be under headway. At
this point the surface indications are
excellent crude oil being taken out
of the sand and large dyke that is
exposed by the river indicates an un-
derground oil pressure as the seams
of thes rock are imprdgnated with
oil. 1t is only question of how deep
1t will be necessary to go TO get
thorugh the rock to the underlying
sand which holds the oil. 1t is pos
sible this sand will be reached In few
hundred feet. or 1t may be down from
one to several thousand feet, in which
case 1t may be many years before the
true facts are revealed
Parties are also getting ready to
sink well near Pagosa. while the
Denver company with oil claims near
Edith will probawbly be sinking with
In the next sixty days. The Den,
yer people have taken up several thou
sand acres of land as well as men,
bers of the Biggs company who are
also going down to find out what the
lower region contains In this CON
nection Secretary of State Mills was
making Investigations in the vicinity
as much in the dark as possible 1t
is reported that he is looking up oil
lands for another Denver syndicate.
all of which goes to show the inter.
est manifested. No doubt this has
been largely accelerated by the re-
cent dscovries in Texas. At any
rate, the people have faith that oil nm
derlies large section OF the county.
and they Will never rest satisfied un-
til sinking of wells proves to the
contrary. With hundreds. possibly
thousands, of men engaged In the oil
industry. coupled with the growing
lumber business. old timers predict n
bright future for the county and a
city for Pagosa Springs.
The grazing lands of ArchuIeta
make it a paradise for stockmen. and
the hills are alive with cattle and thou.
sands upon thousands OF head of
sheep Grass grows luxuriantly in
almost every nook and corner Even
the uplands-those covered with pine
timber and remote from sources of ir-
rigation-are covered with grass upon
which stock flourlshes.
Again, we are agreeably surprised
to note the many finely improved
ranches. There are few as pret.
ty places as one could wish to see and
we have noticed few farm residenc-
es that would do credit to a large city.
Most OF the ranches are devoted to
raising hay. two crops being harvest
ed. The first crop is now mostly
in stack or ready to be housed. The
second crop is not quite SO heavy and
Will be cut in September While hay
does best. several farmers have fine
looking fields of wheat and oats. but
~ VIII We August before eltner rlpenS.
Potatoes also do well, or at least so
this year. Doc" Taylor has five
acres In "spuds." which he expects to
bring him one thousand dollars. The
potatoes have reached the stage where
frost Is not feared. although the sea
son was late The warm DAYS and
nights of the past thirty days have
accomplished the work of advancing
this product. While 1t has been dry
for some weeks. the lack of rain has
not been felt so much as In the lower
attitudes. Water has been plentiful,
for irrigation purposes and several
dry ranches' will bring In their own.
ers neat income. taking II for grant
ed that the rains now falling will soak
the ground.
In this resume we have attempted
to give few reasons why Archuleta
county Is coming to the front, and
why 1t is on the boom, with prospects
for continued growth.
AS for Pagosa Springs, we leave that
for another letter. r.