Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1903-04-15
SALT BY THOU.
SANDS OF TONS
Graphic Description of the Estancia Plains. Cur.
ious Natural Formations--Alk and Salty
Lakes BY the Miles in Section Tributary
to the Santa Fe Central Railway.
GREAT FUTURE AND SPEEDY
DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES
Special to the New Mexican.

Special to the New Mexican.
Estancia, April 10.-When God mad
the Estancia plain and was about
put rivers, creeks and springs on then
his attention was called elsewhere an
he permitted the devil to finish the jol
The devil therefore laid thick layer c
gypsum over the plain, dropped fey
gypsum hills here and there, anon
them he hid alkali and salt lakes an
then scattered coyotes, tarantulas, tn
scab and snakes near the good springs
which God had dropped when he wa!
interrupted. Satan then went back tt
his hell to blow about the good job HI
had done and he has been blowing evel
since and blew today so that the gyp.
sum dust enshrouded the plain like 6
dense cloud. But this was only the ia.
BILE of a disgruntled settler who had LOST
5000 sheep this winter and who was
sour because he thought the Santa Fe
Central Railway would bring in settlers
with whom he would have to divide the
plain.
WIND is UNPLEASANT.
The Estancia plains are a paradise
miles an hour. 1t is within the memory
of man when the grass was knee high
from one end to the other, when the
buffalo in immense herds roamed over
them, and antelope by the thousand Of
fered fine sport to the Indians. The
buffalo has disappeared, the grass is
disappearing in many spots and the an
telopes do not amount to a thousand in
the entire section. These few have al
most withdrawn to the foothills. The
sheep rancher and his sheep have pos
session of the plains today. There are
a million feecy fellows from the Calls
teo divide to the Manzano mountains.
It has been an ideal country for them,
in fact so attractive that the sheepmen
of Rio Arriba, Bernalillo and Santa Fe
counties came in here. They also
brought the scab, at least so say the
sheepmen of this section who dip their
sheep twice and three times a year
while the invaders do not dip in two or
three years If they can avoid it.
HARD WINTER ON SHEEP.
"See all these sheep packed in here
like sardines," said Eduardo M. Otero
today, who arrived on Wednesday to
prepare for lambing, which will begin
with his focks on April 20, when A. M.
Bergere of Santa Fe, will join him. And
the sheep do look poor. They are thin
and weak. One sees them dropping
like flies in November, never to get up
again, feast for the coyotes in the
night. This has been the severest win
ter in twelve years. over towards the
Seven Lakes, three sheperds were froz-
en- in March, one to death, and the 9TH
er two lost their limbs. Two herders
deserted their f1ocks to seek shelter. The
sheep also sought shelter in the Man
zanos and the bones Of 5000 of them are
now bleaching in the foothills. Eduar-
do M. Otero lost 80 bucks out Of 140,
there being about Is bucks to every 100
ewes. One flock was snow-bound for
five days and the consequence was a
loss Of go per cent.
In every flock there Is scab and even
though the grass is coming now, the
older ewes continue to drop off. Those
that survive are too weak to be dipped
until some time after lambing. One
prominent sheep raiser said that the
sheep business along the old lines Is
getting less and less profitable and will
be dead In this section in few years. |
On account of the many sheep here
from other sections these sheep owners
believe in taxing sheep Where they are
found and 1t seems to be a good and
just suggestion.
NEW METHODS NECESSARY.
But the sheep business is not played
out, 1t is only the old methods that are
playing out. The modern sheep owner |
owns his range and fences 1t; he cuts
the range grass and stacks 1t for winter |
or raises alfalfa to feed his sheep |
through driving snow storms or to help |
the weaklings and the bucks in his |
fiocks to tide over the winter. Along |
these lines the sheep business will con-
tinue to be profitable and instead Of
1 .OOO, 900 sheep, the Estancia plains will
give sustenance to 100000 sheep and
stul leave room for several thousand
who will develope water
for irrigation with windmills and gaso-
line engines. Contrary to popular opfn- |
ion. good crops can be raised on disin- |
tegrated gypsum soil If not too much
water is poured upon it. Alfalfa, sugar
beets and cantaloupes will flourish IN
It and blue grass will grow luxuriously
And II is the Santa Fe Central Railway |
that is ushering in the new era which
win mean thousand population Tor
every man, woman or child now per-
manently located on the Estancia
plains.
PLAIN LIKE A BOWL.
This plain Is depression In the table
land which ID skirted on all sides by
high mountains. The drainage is to-
wards the center and the southeast, In
which latter part It forms the myster-
ious salt and allxali lakes. Viewed from
the hills, the plain has the contour Of a !