Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-10-24
Little Damage
In Pecos Valley
Roswell Banker Says City Sut
Tered More from Newspapers
Stories Than From Flood.

i w iaNCct tCPVtsos SuthNsNN hViN AhV"s
distorted newspaper accounts than
from the recent floods. Captain John
w, Poe, president Of the Citizens Ma
tional Bank OF that city, who was in
| Santa Fe. recently said In an inter.
view that II the flood had lasted a
day or SO longer some Over1stren-
nnous correspondent would have had
tie whole city carried away by the
raging waters. The damage done to
the city" said Mr.. Poe. was compara-
lively nil The railroads suffered the
| loss of q bridge Ia miles above
Roswell and one above Carlsbad, be-
sides damage to the tracks. but the
loss In the city could be covered by
! 81 500, The loss to merchandise was
hardly $500 and the half dozen adobe
houses that were dissolved by the
waters was loss that was easily
remedied without causing any priva-
! ton. The sixmile dam at Lake Ava
/ Ion which diverts the waters from the
/ river into the canal was destroyed at
a loss of $l00,000 and the dam which
forms Lake Mcmillan, the storage
reservoir of the Irrigation Company,
was also badly damaged. The injur-
the city Of Roswell wass the most
costly in the immediate vicinity and
$1,000 will easily cover that The
opera house" that was carried away,
according to the newspaper reports,
was an old adobe structure that was
a wreck before the floods. Our opera
house proper was burned last spring.
In the neighborhood OF Roswell
the damage to crops was very slight,
as the really heavy losses were sus.
tanned by the farmers on the Upper
Hondo many Of whom lost everything
At the worst the waters In the city
were bur two feet deep. II is my
opinion that the poor management OF
the ak to ten miles OF irrigation ditch
es above the city was the cause OF the
floods in Roswell, bu. Is not very like
ly that anything OF similar nature
will ever occur again as definite steps
have been taken to remedy the de-
fects. The building OF the Hondo
Reservoir, to which all opposition, |
believe, has been withdrawn. Will
control all flood waters now. II will
be located IL miles west of Roswell.
will be quarter Of a mile wide, four
feet deep and will flow one foot per
second for four days.
THE apple crop this year IL very
fair and the orchardists are realizing
good profits. Buyers are at Roswell
from Kansas City and other big ship
ping centers and the famous Pecos
Valley fruit is going east in train
loads. One Of our orchardists with a
nine-year-old orchard Of 36 acres
has recently sold his years yield for
$4,000, unpicked. This is a fair eS-
ample OF what we are doing in the
fruit raising line. The Hagerman
orchard Of 700 acres, the largest in
the section Of the country, has fine
crop and Mr.. Hagerman employees a
small army to harvest the immense
| crop Of the ucious fruit. He has
also a cider. vinegar and evaporating
plant. There are several new so to
100-acre orchards In the vicinity Of
the town Of Hagerman.
What we need most Is a railroad
that will place us In direct communi
cation with the Capital and the west
ern country and our greatest hope is
that tho Santa Fe Central will build
into our town plan that has been
under discussion for some time. do
! not thing that the railroad fully rea-
lie the resources as yet Of the
Pecos Valley. which is by far the
most promising portion OF the Ter.
| ritory The Santa Fe Central is the
| road that can do us the most good
for in addition to placing us in direct
communication with Santa Fe, 1t
would be Of inestimable advantage to
our fruit shippers in giving them
an opportunity 10 connect with some
of the big lines. As II is, trip of
100 miles through Texas and Colorado
Is necessary to reach the Territorial
capital. The Santa Fe Central will
earn our everlasting gratitude and
incidentally much larger dividends
for its stockholders IL the company
will bull the 80 miles between our city
and their present terminus"
l.