Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1904-05-07
In Hageyman.. Felix District in
Chaves County--.Can There
Carrying More Water Than
Ever.
5,7oI ACRES
CULTIVATED
Many Well to Do Farmers Settling
There.--Six Hundred and FertJ
Acres Bring $4,000.

special Correspondence New Mexican
Ha2erman May 5-The country
known as the Hagerman-Felix district
around the town of Hagerman and from
fifteen to 20 miles south of Roswell in
the Pecos Valley has wonderfully i'm
proved during the past eighteen
months. A large proportion of the
farms in this region are irrigated from
the canal of the Felix Irrigation Com
pany which draws it's water from the
North and South Spring, Berendo and
Hondo Rivers and is greatly benefited
by the drainage from the great arte-
sian well district in the neghborhood
of Roswell. In spite of the continued
drought throughout New Mexico, this
canal by actual measurement, flows
this season from ten to fifteen cubic
feet per second more than it ever has
before, It's flow has been constantly
augmenting for the last five years.
There are now under the canal actu-
ally in cultivation, SOL acres of land
upon which water rights are issued, en-
titling the holders to 30 acre inches per
annum at water rental of $125 per
acre.
Although the canal in the opinion of
conservative engineers. is easily capa-
BILE of irrigating 10000 acres, the
owners do not intend to sell more than
1000 acres of water rights in all A
good many farmers along the canal,
some of whom have artesian wells, buy
special water from the canal at the
rate of five cents per acre inch. Very
careful measurements are taken of the
water used by each consumer, by
means Of Cippoletti weirs and in ac-
cordance with government tables,
method satisfactory both to the farm
ers and to the company. Much of the
Canal Company's success and the sat
isfaction of the water consumers is due
to the careful and efficient supervision
of f. D. Balcom, of Hagerman, it's SUI
pe"intendent.
Ct the $500 acres in regular cultiva-
ton under the canal, about 1900 have
been broken up and put in crops during
the past year and those who have not
been through this district within that
time will be surprised at the improve.
ments visible from the train windows
as they pass through the country. The
people who have bought the lands have
not done so for speculative purposes.
They have come to New Mexico to find
for themselves new homes on land
which they know, as practical farm
ers, will bring them good returns on
their investment. They have built
good houses thoroughly prepared their
land and put in crops-they have come
to stay. They are the kind of people
who make good citizens such as are
needed in New Mexico. Some of the
purchasers during the past eighteen
months-of farms already in crops and
of dry lands with water rights, which |
have since been put into cultivation, |
are NJ. G. Cartwright and James Will
hanson of Terrill, Texas, who bought
the well known $40 acre Felix Ranch
for $4,000; R. w. Terrill and Joseph
A. Robertson who have each fine 80
acre tracts; John w. Warren, former
ly of Texas, but now an enthusiastic |
resident of the Pecos Valley, who has |
227 acres upon which he has erected a |
fine house, his relative, S. E. Wascom |
adjoining him with 80 acres, and John |
Mahan who has 200 acres of the finest |
land in the valley.
Recently quite number of men from |
Ionia County, Michigan, good farmers, |
who understand their business, have |
bought farms. Among them are ThOm- |
as Welch, 112 acres; H. Clay Tallmann
80 acres, Ernest Benton go acres and
Mr.. Mason, 80 acres All Of the lands |
mentioned, and others, were bought
from ]. J. Hagerman of Roswell There
have been many more sales and trans |
fers of lands in this vicinity, some un-
der the canal but many above it, but
within the artesian we'll belt
Over 1000 acres of apple orchards
have been planted here within the past
wear. The older residents of the dis |
trict, whose trees have borne fruit for
1he last two or three years, have done
so very we'll with it that it has encour-
aged apple culture by others and in
four or five years, the northern Pecos
Valley will have about 5000 acres OF
bearing apple trees. which means. un-
der only fair conditions and judging
from what has already been produced
from the orchards now in bearing, an
annual shipment of 1,20O carloads of
apples. at net profit of so cents per
bushel which is very conservative,
this will mean over 100000 annually
to the orchardists of this region.
There are many exaggerated state
ments made about this and other irri-