The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-07-19
WATER NrkS
MAGIC THERE
Irrigation Creates a City in a
Sterile Desert.
INGENUITY AND DARING
A Virginia Minister Finds Life Worth
Living and Americans the Same in
New Mexico as in the East
Open Door Hospitality.
fvr,tten for The Times-Dispatch.)

written for The Times Dispatch)
CARLSBAD. TERRITORY OF NEW
MEXICO, July 1o-1n coming out west
from Fort Worth. Texas, by the Texas
and Pacific, one soon runs into the ara
regions. For hundreds of intermtnabe
miles. as they seem, the traveller journeys
IN a region which seems almost u desert,
which is a desert, and much of which
until a comparatively recent period fig
ured on the map as the Great American
Desert" For miles and miles no human
habltation is visible. and when they
appear they remind US how little is neces-
sary to man. The vast stretches of end
less prairies are solitudes. save for the
herds of cattle and the focks of sheep.
And from the car windows they seem
to live on sand and mesquite bushes.
After the impact of this monotonS,
lasting from A. M. to I 2. NJ, striking
necessarily on my wearied imagination
like the echoes of eternity, l arrived at
Carlsbad, THE Beautiful" with its thirty
miles of cottonwood trees reaching in ana
out of the town in every direction. And
] got my first lesson In the meaning OF
IAN oasis in a desert
WEARY, DREARY WAITING.
Here after fourteen years of weary
waiting and hoping, is a vigorous young
town of 1000 people. An American town,
too, with thirty negroes and small
Mexican outskirt. lending picturesque
ress and pathos, piauancy and salt to the
situation. Here the negro Is an alien.
The Mexican is a brawny. useful peon,
freer and more independent than the
negro because never any mans slave.
And when | got there the town and the
west side of the Pecos River (I3io Pecos)
were having n lesson in another scrip
t,lre: ''As pants the wearied mart lol
cooling streams" For the water which
Is the life' was not crossing the river IN
the flume three miles above town as OF
yore The old wooden .flume" had gone
out and the new one, on which 25So
acres of farming lands depended for irri-
cation water, though constructed, was
not sealed at the ends least and vest
and my treasurer was, as president and
general manager of Pecos Irrigation
Company. ''up against the real thins
in the effort to get the dirt connections
with the concrete structure to hold the
moving stream of water Meantime the
thirsty land and the stampeded Agrarians
were crying out for water.
Now the seal" has been fixed and the
deep canal west of town carries Its I'M
mense quantities of water to the thirsty
land One cannot realize the beauty of
the clear streams of water running
through the town. the pasture. the field
and the garden. without seeing them.
WATER DID 1T.
The Pecos River rises in Colorado and
In northeastern New Mexico. passes Las
Vegas. gradually nearing the eastern hor-
der. and crosses the line into western
Texas, fifty miles from New MeXico's
southeast corner. Carlsbad formerly
Eddy, is the county seat Of Eddy county,
and is named after Carlsbad IN Austria
because OF the strong salts" springs
here 1t is on the west side of the Pccos
River. This river. passing through the
county. crosses a mesa containing about
one-third the county and skirted on
either side by ranges of steep hills. Inc
drrigating plant consists of two immense
dams 1,4OO feet long and As feet high.
They are thrown square across the Pecos
at Lakes Avalon and Mcmillan. six and
fourteen miles above here, Three and
one-half miles above the town the canal
forms n, Y. and one branch skirts the
foothill east Of the river, while the other
crosses it through the "flume,' or aque-
duct. This is an immense concrete struc-
ture spanning the river In four 100 foot
Roman arches, 1t is 20 feet wide In the
omen. the walls are IS feet high and two
cubic feet of water per second.
The east side canal il constructed for -
miles from the or branch The west
side is constructed 40 miles from the
dam, and delivers water for % miles
The nume is not at present taxed 10 its
capacity,
This town is. T believe, on solid basis
of growth and development after the sad
experiences following the boom period
Though suffering the losses incident to
DELAYED irrigation, the farmers are going
about their work with courage ana nope
EVERY one feels now that the water sup
ply is sure and that the future Is
mere matter of intelligent brains applied
to scientiflc farming,
SCIENTIFIC DARING.
we wonder al the VISION" the daring,
the almost reckless daring with which
The early trumvlrate must have scaled
the dizzy heights of truth In promoting
the financial side of the enterprise. But
their courage, their persistent promoting,
whatever 1t may have done with the
prospects of many persons In the early
days OF the valley, has made the country
what II is to-day From Eastern Texas
on one hears OF Carlsbad as the place
10 60 for enterprise and for work. And
Professor John pahney Tlnsley. of Me-
silla Park College, New Mexico a for
mer yirginian aud n Miller School man.
now their expert on soils, says: There
Is not a place on earth where man can
make as good a living as In this valley
on as small an investment OF labor" And
this valley is the granary, the trucking
garden. the fruit and the feed supply
store for some 800 miles OF adjacent ter
ritort.
To show the striking virtue of the Pecos
Valley peach ] use the following in
stances; Last summer the Wells Fargo
agent at Forth Worth notified the Pecos
shipper mot to send any more such
peaches here" They are too good 70,
this market" And Dallas getting hold
of 1t published this retort; Nothing toe
good for Dallas" A shipment of these
peaches was made TO the Wells Fargo