Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1905-03-31
HEARD IN
HOTEL LOBBIES

~.
E. H. Westerfleld, are registered at
the Claire, is connected with the i'm.
migration department of the Rock Is
land Railway and has been all over the
southwest investigating lands and irri-
CATION prospects. He has been in the
Estancia Valley for several days and
will return there from here. Mr.. West
erfield says that that valley has fu-
ture before it if the people will only
waken up to the ways and means OF
getting the best out of their lands that
is possible. The soil in the valley is
as good as any in the country, not
even excelled by the famous valley of
the Nile, the water is there beneath
the surface and the climate Is such
that any kind of crops. which do not re.
quire more than ten to fifteen inches
of water, can be successfully grown,
Mr.. Westerfield says that he has a
party OF capitalists in Chicago who
want to come to the Estancia Valley
and locate farms and that they are
ready to spend all the money that is
necessary to improve and operate the
same. He is to make a report to
these men concerning the conditions
and prospects and as far as he has In.
vestigated the report will be favor
able.
Kansas has always been known as
a good state but perhaps only few
people have had the opportunity to see
just how good it really is as has N.
c. WesterfIeld. In his official capacity
as we'll as In his own interests, he has
visited all sections of the Sunflower
State and he has collected world of
figures and statistics concerning what
has been done and what is being done
along agricultural lines there. He is
an interesting talker and although he
gives facts, which are usually supposed
to be dry reading yet when he gives
them they become more than interest
ing. While in Kansas recently he in
vested In several sections of land in
the artesian valley of Meade County in
the southwestern part of the state. One
instance which he mentioned in talk
at the Claire Hotel last evening, seems
almost incredible. but he has all the
figures with him, verified personally
from officers of banks and his own in
vestigations. Three years ago farm
er from the east settled near Fowler,
Meade County, Kansas. He started in
with $40 acres of land on which he
paid 1900 and the balance Of $1,000
he had to pay twelve per cent inter.
est upon. When he had made his
first payment he was left with 81,
three of four hogs, two or three COWS
and few chickens as his entire stock
in trade. He had no house on the land
and no money to build one and was
forced to borrow enough money to buy
what lumber was necessary to con-
struct sod house. A grocery mer.
chant extended him credit upon which
to buy the necessaries of life, and so
he started. Today he has bank ac-
count. he does not owe one penny to
anybody, his land is clear of encumb'
rance and he is now looking around to
buy another 100 acres. He has $50
head of hogs, 15 head of horses, 15
two-year-old steers, 10 yearling steers
and 8 COWS. His annual income from
the farm amounts to something over
$1,000. This man put his hogs in the
alfalfa field and kept them there until
about four weeks before sending them
to market, when he fed them up heav-
lily. But with the exception Of this
four weeks they had nothing to eat ex-
cept the alfalfa, and when he market
ed them they returned him $3.50 per
acre as the value of the alfalfa. This
seems almost too big to be true but
Mr.. Westerfleld made thorough inves'
tigation and is perfectly satisfied that
the results are as stated. What this
man, and others, have done in that
Kansas country, Mr.. Westerfleld says
that any industrious farmer can do In
the Estancia Valley. The conditions
are about the same, the rainfall Is
practically equal in both districts, and
If anything the Estancia country SOL
is a little better. About the only dlf
ference is that the Estancia Valley has
more acreage and can furnish homes
and farms for more people than car
the Kansas country. Alfalfa is the
crop which should be grown more thar
any other and from all indications the
market will never be glutted, no mat
Ter how many acres are put In.
lcREpiTAsLE WORK FROM
TAOS SCHOOL CHILDREN
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