The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-09-19

of them were also in debt for water
them by the old Company, and they
were able to pay very little. Fully
one-half of the farmers who mad set
tied ulder the canal we're ruined, and
had left the country. OF all the notes
due from the farmers to the old Com
pany, and which l bought with the
canal, the makers were not able to
pay none than thirty per cent. Those
who had left, of course, paid nothing.
With many of those who had remain
ed l made liberal compromise, CIV
ing them a chance to make a new
start Including the land l had bought
from other sources and that which
] bought from the Company, l owned
about 5000 acres in all in the year
| 1900. 1 think 1 began selling this to
farmers in 1902 for about $45 to SIS
an acre, including water right. They
paid one-third cash, and the balance
on time The notes were all paid at
or before maturity. The water rentals
were promptly paid, and the whole
community became, and is now, the
I most prosperous in this Valley. Last
February the farmers bought the ca
nal from me, each man owning
share in the canal proportionate to
his ownership in the land irrigated.
A large part of the purchase price
was paid in cash. 1t is well known
that irrigated lands in the Hagerman-
Felix district sell for higher price
than any other farming lands in this
Valley, in spite of the fact that the
owners of these lands pay $1.25 per
acre per annum for water.
Now 1 attribute a very large share
of the prosperity of the Hagerman-
Felix region to the economical and
intelligent use of water, combined
with thorough cultivation of the land.
Water cannot be used economically
and with profitable results without
thorough cultivation, nor unless irri-
eating bitches are kept free from
weeds and other distractions, and as
tight as possible. SO that they will
not waste water If there are rat
holes, or gyp holes, Or patches of
gravel, they must he dug out, filed
with impervious earth and made
tight. If a farmer knows that he
must pay for water which he allows
to run to waste, the same as if he
puts it to beneficial use on his land,
he will stop all leaks and keep his
bitches clean, SO the water can go
where it will do good. This lesson the
farmers il the lower valley never
learned, and they never learned it un-
der the Northern Canal until they
had to pay for the avoidable waste.
In fact. 1 never heard that the farm
ers under any canal or ditch, here or
elsewhere, would use water economi-
cally so long as they did not have to
pay for their own carelessness aid
waste.
Probably no place can be found
where water is wasted more glaring-
ly tnan under the old bitches in this
Roswell district. They were badly To-
Gated and poorly constructed in the
early days when people knew little
| about this kind of work, and when
there was an unlimited supply of wa
ter in proportion to the land which
the owners of the bitches wanted to
cultivate. The amount of water which
goes through them was never meas
| ured by their owners until recent
years, and it is seldom measured
now. Almost nothing has been done
to improve them. Where the land is
gyppy or gravelly, the waste is e1or-
nous. There are no end of holes made
by crabs and water rats, and the big
trees which grow along their banks
are a prolific cause of waste. By ac-
tual measurement many of the ditch
es lose from 35 to so per cent of their
water before it reaches a point where
it can be put to use on the land. Ev-
eryone takes all the water he can
get, and no matter how much it may
be, ne growls because he cannot get
more. One result of waste of water
gion (Which is as good as any land
in this country does not produce one
nalf the profit per acre that similar
land does in the Hagerman-Fehx coun
| try. Another bad result is that a con-
siderable per centage of the best land
| in the Roswell region is water-logged,
sub-irrigated, made alkaline and half
ruined because of excessive use or
waste of water, combined with want
of drainage Another result is that a
large share of the land owners in this
region have gotten it in their heads
that they need very much more water
than they actually do need.
In a recent decision the Judge
awarded the plaintiffs in a ditch case
enough water to cover their land
eight feet deep in a year, or 5 feet
inches deep in an irrigating season
of eight months. being enough to ru-
in the laad and the crops. If they
should get the water awarded them
If the farmers I'M the older parts
lof Colorado, Utah. California, or Ari-
zona. had used water as wastefully
as many people do here. there would