The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-08-15
TELLS OF THE FALL AND
RISE OF CARLSBAD.

RISE OF
CWill c.. Barnes in the Breeders
Gazette.)
When one hears of the great Pecos
Valley of southeastern New Mexico,
country adjacent to that lively city.
But away to the south of Roswell sew
enty-five OF more miles, lies another
section of the valley which aside from
it's lack of the great artesian wells OF
the upper valley is just as great, just
as productive and has an equally
splendid future.
h little city of Carlsbad, which
lies in the center of this second val
ley of the Pecos. was originally called
Eddy in honor of Charles B. Eddy,
VINO, with J. ]. Hagerma1 and Mr..
Tansill, of Chicago, founded the town,
built the railroad to it and gave it the
first large water supply. And, such is
the gratitude of communities, as the
town grew and waxed proud they re-
scented the name Eddy as too incon-
~sequeltial for such a metropolis, I'M
by an act of the legislature a few
years ago the town changed it's name
from Eddy to the more dignifed and
resonant Carlsbad.
About fifteen years g Mr.. Tansill,
who made millions selling Punch"
cigars, organized a big water compa-
ny and they put in a huge dam in the
river some ten miles above the town.
where they impounded a large acreage
of water quite sufficient for the needs
Of the valley for many years. Then
the valley grew like Jonah's gourd.
The desert was made to blossom like
the rose; alfalfa fields stretched for
miles where had been but vast sage
brush flats.
The town grew rapidly, a sugar beet
factory costing nalf a million dollars
was erected and prosperity was on
every side. Then one luckless day the
great dam of dirt and rock weakened
under the strain of a mighty flood in
the Pecos river and gave way, leav-
valley below.
Pluckily the water company went
to work and in a year the dam was
rebuilt, stronger and higher and bet
ter than ever, and the farmers about
Carlsbad took up their work again
with renewed zeal. But alas for hui
man foresight. The floods came once
more, and a second time the huge
bank of earth and roc melted ava
in a day, and for four years the lands
lay die. The trees persisted, the al
falfa die out and it looked as if the
desert would again claim its own.
But the people we're plucky, and
while many grew discouraged and
left, more stayed and planned a great
err dam under government auspices.
To cap it all, the beet sugar factory
burned down n night, n things
did indeed look blue for the good peo-
pie of Carlsbad. However, by dint of
hard work and untiri1g energy they
managed to get the United States rec
lamation service interested in their
affairs. Government engineers came
out and reported that the site for the
dam was admirable, the soil u1ex-
celled, and that it offered a splendid
opportunity for a government enter
prise where with a minimum of cost
the maximum of results could be had
There was to be no delay in open
ing up the country. 1t was already op-
en- and with the finishing of the dam
+ba rotr,rpS FROM, the Uatar uSorS as
sociation would be immediate and
large. They builded upon the site of
the two other dams, an ideal spot
truly, a broad valley through which
the river flowed, and at its foot a
comparatively narrow gorge between
rocky walls where a dam 1850 feet
long and so feet high would back up
the river and form a mighty lake for
a reservoir. Here the government engi-
neers went to work and have thrown
across the Pecos a splendid dam OF
earth and rock reinforced with a on
the work out from both sides toward
the enter until they gradually closed
in on the river. Then they turned the
entire river into h main canal and
quickly closed up the gap, and were
favored by good luck in having no
floods to trouble them while the work
of closing the gap lasted.
The concrete core is shaped like a
huge wedge some twenty feet on q
base and tapers up until at the top
it is only a foot wide. Heavy steel rods
are imbedded in it all q way up.
both horizontally and perpendicularE.
This core is built clear down into the
bed rock all tae way across and is
braced on both sides by a great mass
OF stone and earth. and at the soutaern