Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1903-08-11
WASTE
OF WATER
Colonel Joseph c. Bonner Talks
About the Unused Power Of
the PeCos River.
FUTURE OF SANTA FE
Saws "Phenomenal' Is a Weak Word
to Describe the Resources Of
New Mexico.

Eyes it was a wonderful experience
for me and one that I shall never for
get. There we were out in the open
and near to nature; the starlit sky
above, the senseless rock my bed
why, I was closer to nature than had
ever been. A most wonderful exper-
ience l assure you, for / was 80 thor
oughly tiled that could not sleep and
therefore could contemplate tie beauty
of the scene
The speaker was Colonel Joseph c..
Bonner of Toledo, who has just return
ed to Santa Fe from the Pecos river
reserve where he had gone in company
with Professor James G. Halapleus and
J. P. Conner to view the site OF the
proposed powerhouse of the Capital
Light and Power Company. The party
spent Sunday and yesterday in the
mountains and all are much Impressed
with the possibilities that are apparent
for the converting of Santa sFe into a
manufacturing center. ~
"You may know" continued Colonel
Bonner, "that in Toledo we have sort
of national character IN the person of
our mayor Golden Rule) Jones, and
he manages to keep before the people
about as we'll as anybody in the coun-
try. Well some time ago Mayor Jones
announced to the newspaper boys that
he was trying the open air for change
and that he was sleeping on the roof
Now you can imagine what the papers
did for that proposition; why they had
the mayor cartooned in all manners
and forms, but I am goirsg to tell you
that his scheme is good one, and
made up my mind to try sleeping in the
open the first time had tfe oeportun!-
ty. That is what I did Sunday night,
and how I enjoyed 1T.
what marvellous country you have
here. I would not dare attempt de-
'scription of it or try to tell all OF my
impressions. I take with me camera
and then I can in way show what
1 have seen. What man would dare at
tempt to describe the grandeur OF the
Rockies? One is simply overwhelmed!
And then what resources you have!
They tell me the hills about here are
filled with coal; iron, too, is to be found
and the gold and silver deposits OF the
territory we all know are among the
very richest. Really phenomenal is
weak word with which to tell of the
resources of this country. And re-
sources are what make the country
Suppose town or community mas
NOT been what would be commonly
termed rapid in its development, does
that initiate against that particular
community to any marked degree? l
should say not, and especially II that
community has such resources as you
have here. We visited the site OF the
proposed power house and found
great water power there. Nature has
provided the source of power ana 10
transmit that power is only an engln-
eers proposition, for. it cannot really
be regarded as a problem.
But the water question is the ques-
ton in this part of the country and II
is a most important one. If any town
is to become manufacturing center
water is the essential, and more than
that YOU must have practically un-
limited supply. If you do not have
water, then a substitute must be- pro-
vided, and let me say that the man
who gives the world power that Will
take the place of water is the WONDER
fulsman and the man of the age. Now
we can in a measure supply that great
need by .harnessing the original source
and Transforming it into another form
of power-I refer to electricity.
"Isn't it strange how people who
have lived for many years in certain
way and following always the same pe--
culiar customs very frequently fail to
realize what great, and often unneces-
sary, hardships they have en-
dured? I do not think that COM
munity fully recognizes what fortunes
are actually in its possession. This
was brought to mind most forcibly as
| I stood on the banks Of the Pecos ana
saw rush by. me in the mad swirl OF
the waters riches-with which those
of the world today are no comparison
-and go to waste just as they have
been doing for ages past. refer to the
great power of that stream; the great
wealth that no one has heretofore at
! tempted to claim or to convert into a
marketable commodity. No, l see no
reason why this city should not be ut
terly transformed. think that Santa
Fe has a bright future. Your people
here are. kindly and are, so far as I
have been able to discern, disposed to
aid in any project having for its OBJ
ject the real good Of the town. have