Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1905-01-28
SAN JUAN COUNTY
A REALM OF RICHES
Joe PreWitt Relates to the New
Mexican the Story of a Wonderful
Sections Sure Progress.

$ become one of the best of growers ol
tell you after while about the rail
: roads we are going to get, you can SCI
: that San Juan County may become
, great sugar beet producing section, ,ant
: the development OF these Indian!
: would tend to the greatness of tina
: profitable product. especially as it ha!
J been thoroughly demonstrated that thu
, soil and climate of San Juan County
are admirably adapted to the growth
OF the sugar beet, bringing it to higi
state of perfection.
An Important School.
''The Government is building an In
dustrial School for the Navahos al
Shiprock on the San Juan River
Pennington on the San Juan River
and will expend on buildings and i'm
provements this year the sum of $125,
600. When completed, this school will
have so employees.
Prospects For Coal.
| THE coal area of San Juan County
covers many thousands of acres south
of the San Juan River, but as l am
not familiar with the extent of the
veins nor of the quality of the coal,
l am unable to give you much infor-
nation about them, but the coal meas
ures on the north side of the San Juan
River crop out at Fruitland, and ex-
tend in northeasterly course cross
ing the La Plata, continuing to the
state line and to the Durango coal
fields, making the known veins north
of the San Juan River some twenty
five or thirty miles long and from
three to five miles in width in San
Juan County, some of them being cut
SO as to show over forty feet in depth
OF coal. There is one vein of coal on
the La Plata that is being worked to
supply the local trade and the vein is
hsgh enough. They knock the coal
down, back the wagon into the tunnel,
load it up and haul it out, with an un-
known depth of coal under the team
and with a face of coal above the
tunnel more than forty feet thick, and
coal on both sides. Now, if l was not
so amply able, to prove this statement
would hesitate to make it, as it
might cast doubt on the other things
l have said and am going to say
about San Juan County but as am
from Missouri, 1 always take great
pleasure in showing this bunch of coal
to people who like to be shown, and
especially invite the doubters to come
to San Juan County. that 1 may give
them an ocular demonstration of the
correctness Of this statement These
coal measures have been regarded as
Ignite, but from recent development, |
along the La Plata River, it has been
demonstrated that there are great
bodies of bituminOus coal showing |
good coking qualities.
Some Big Companies.
"The Phelps-Dodge people have been
doing development work on some coal
veins on the La Plata River about a
mile south of the Colorado line, upon
which they have recently put plant
If machinery for pumping and hOisting
TO enable them more rapidly to devel.E
op the property; and have under
stood they have located and are devel-
oping a large acreage of coal land.
"rhere is another company develop
ng coal on the La Plata River which |
las worked from six or seven to TWEEN
,y-f1ve or thirty men for the last four
or five months. This development is
going on under the supervision Of John |
Mcneil, coal operator of Denver.
Whom he represents is not known,
hough it has been said by some that
t is the Rock Island Railway, while
)thers claim 1t Is the Colorado Fuel
Ind Iron Company, but so far as
Inow, it is Mr.. Mcneil. The Santa Fe
Central Railway has had representa-
ives in San Juan County, looking up
he coal situation within the last few
months, and there have been Others
tut do not know who they repre-
ented.
Sufficient to say. the coal resources
4 San Juan County are becoming
;nown very fast, and that knowledge
s being gained by the expenditure of
money by those who want to know.
Railroad Possibilities.
"The railroad situation as see 1t, is
bout this, the Arizona & Colorado
lailroad Company has seven corps Of
ngineers in San Juan County at this
Lme representing about $50 men and
n expenditure Of about fifteen to
wenty thousand dollars q month.
nderstand it has six corps working
long its proposed lines farther south.
has made surveys from Durango,
olorado, along the Animas River to
.ztec and Pennington crossing the
an Juan River east of Pennington,
bout six miles, following Canon Gal.
,gos in southeasterly course, and
rossing the Santa Ne Pacific Railway
Continues Oh. Page e'x.) ~