Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-10-20
ta*pEints~4 B.. rs4asli


LSstN !" 9AE bBA&
B~caa se nj mas iaseTeSs in the aands
ut ah~ Las Hesa4 grant. l have laa~ay
made u CAREFUL satsAs ii the annual
and moBshly rainfall thsrssla taken
tssaAa the government reports 0f Las
Vegas, So Interested ana | in the re-
>aia Of thss@- Investigations which ran
sanl. strengthen the roAVacsh1n l have.
that We are rniial+%a tn n place In the
agricultural bel8 vi the United Ssxfes
thai I give Ih* ia 40 s.sas s.4adtss rs.
can testify Ia gh*ir rvMr~wgness aAk~n
As Ihrs weEv from ghe goserunarni
sseords. For theta I ams drtp.y Ia
As-htrd 10 n H~ii.-, vt The weather
/ uTsau Ut lhls rtaH.
Tha. aNesa = lalhfall f,IE lh,- pas;
tsn year,. that ~ rr'5m 1876 io 1895
IL u IL inches The. Ers-asvs, rainfall
in any one uf Uh.ss~ t~ais Nas IN tsa,
- NJ inches f.4llns lh,- n.N. ia 1%'l
wlth "A gt@"Gt IT %=lt inches The
smallest amount, fai4nS In anN ,,n,. of
ihrse tan yeats. wA~ in l"I3, Which
shows only H;~ inches tor lh.. rn,irr
.essr ane inch and - trifit. over our
rainfall! for last ntnnih Jm,N. 19,n;
The maximum mH.nth rainfall for i:H'.
&as MAJ. with I*I lnChth Taking
oar avrtasv tn the past nine years.
aud eliminating 1899. which can hard
II br caIed an average scaI. III, year
~ rainfall In Las Vegas MAS /" ~
inches or a Irifle only less than that
nj Dclhart and Amarillo whele IN.
question Of arid farming has passed
long aga thu experimental stag,
July IS First.
Nov. a. T." months. The highest
aV"rag rht.lOngs Ito July. With "a ten
Year record Of 3,:i inches. next comes
September With 2.S4 inches, with the
smallest rain measurement average
In January Of "37 inches. In no on"
month Of the crop growing season.
that iS from April LIST Ia Sctptcmhci
goth. Was there i0r these ten years
u smaller aV"rag" noun Of rain than
l,03 inches. which IL the April pre-
Cll'itati0n record for that time.
Again the average rainfall for the
past dtcad" for the growing season.
April TO October. is II VI inches. a
frifl" less for ali this tim" than II
inches, OF three inches more than IN.
"a Colorado aud Utah experimental
lists in wheat. oats and cereals en-
phatically assert. necessary to the sue
cessful growth Of crops IN inches
In Utah as was told at the Dry Farm.
ing convention. farming II success
fully carried on with less than II in
chcs Of rain rain per annum In Las
Vegas wee have II inches for six
months of that time. The Inference
is easily drawn,
Interesting Statistics Cleaned
While the first complete authentic
years rainfall at Las Vegas is accord
cd in 1889. some notable and interest
ing statistics are cleaned from the i'll
complete figures Of the weather bu-
rpau prior to that time. Here are j
few Of them. In September. 1850, 30
rain fell' but in December of that year
3.13 inches is reported. For the past
ten a the greatest rainfall in n
one December In 10 inches Oecem'
her. 1901 while the smallest for n
one September is 0.19 inches, In 1897
Nv this We may infer what weather
observers are ptrSistently telling us,
that the rain season is changing.
bringing us now moisture when We
most need il during the crop growing
months rather than in winter when
it is of practically no crop value.
Once again Nc find that the six
months of average rainfall in 1878,
April to October. was 21.41 inches,
: inches more than the average for the
past ten years, an extraordinary rec
ord. July. 1879. had S.15 inches. al
most aS much as our record last
month. In September Of that year
$40 inches followed the record-hreak.
ing July. Unfortunately the whole
years record is unobtainable.
Rainfall Has Changed
There can be no doubt of two things
in carefully examining this tale oil
the years downpour. First. that the
rainfall of Las Vegas has changed
within the past forty years, coming
now when needed for the husbandmer
and farmer during the growing seas
on, rather than in winter when prac
tically of nc agricultural use or ad
vantage. Second. that We have. with
the possible exception of Johnson
Mesa, In Colfax county. the larges
average rainfall Of any portion of thu
territory of New Mexico. AS compar
ed with Deming. for instance, with ;
yearly average of $40 inches. the ef
feet is marked and certainly pleasing
With a crop average of 1895 inches
no district in the west, and I do no
except the Panhandle country. cal
for ten years show a greater precipi
tation. Why then may we not CLAIM
to be an agricultural district.
One thing more that We modestl,
point out and that Is our wind velocit.