The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-11
RANDOM

The world is round like a ball.
even this remark-but who cares for
such opinions? The great Avalon dam
at Carlsbad is practically finished.
To put it in the words of Engineer
Reed, supervisor of construction, "All
that is needed to complete the pro-
ject is a few more days work of Mex
leans, mules and a little brains" The
delivery of water from the reservoir
began some time ago, and there is a
surplusage running over the spillway
that keeps the Public Utilities power
plant going near the town. h huge
iron spillway gates, ordered in Octo-
Der hav not yet arrived, but every
thing is in readiness for hanging
them as soon as they come. Then
there is still some earth and stone
work to be done on the top OF
the big dana matter of mule and
Mexican power.
Speaking of M%exicans, reminds US
that the natives employed on the
AIISdNlOn pant IAoh dDOuJ 40 AAhIAC
conception of the magnitude and i'm
p~ortance of the project as the mules,
but Labor Superintendent Roarke re-
marked that they were more easily
handled than 4 mules. The Mexican
in fact is a faithful and industrious
workman until pay day. They were
paid off on the third, n not one of
them returned to work on h fifth.
They had not yet spent their wages.
Down town we were informed that
not a single native had been arrested.
They are i~noffensive people, and at
Carlsbad very few of them take
enough interest in American institu-
lions to vote on election day. These
natives nave been practicing irriga-
ton on a small scale in America for
hundreds of years, but the new era
inaugurated by the Anglo Saxon and
the national government is beyond
their comprehension.
Leading even in the discovery OF
America, the Spaniard n man OF
mixed Spanish blood finally falls be
hind the aI~-conquering ace that col
onized the bleak New England hills
Had the English and the Dutch made
their first American settlements on
the Pacific, instead of the Atlantic
coast, and worked toward the East
the deserts would have been reclaim
ed hundreds of years ago. The great
Southwest would have been today the
center of population in the United
States, and the East would remain
a wilderness for years to come. Here
we have land ready for the pillow and
awaiting only the magic touch of wa
ter. In the Gas there were forests
to be cleared, the soil was rocky and
soon wore out" after being cultivat-
ed. Here the soil is rich beyond all
comparison, and the climate makes
living a joy instead, of a struggle AT
last the great Southwest has been
discovered by the world-makers, and
the easy-going people who possessed
all the possibilities of an earthly para
disc without improving the same,
are employed as common laborers in
the ~uncovering of riches they never
dreamed about.
So it has been in all the history of
the world-inferior races have prac-
ticed irrigation, while the superior
contended with rocks and forests, de
pending upon Providence and devel-
oping strength to overcome Difficult
ties. Irrigation was really the easy
way, but it mean settling down to
the cultivation of a small farm and
garden-and the world-conquering
race was too restless for this. Now
the end of adventure has been reach
ed, and reviewing the back trail, We
become convinced that the Egyptian
was wiser in his day than the man
who pushed put on the frontier, so
far as merely present enjoyment of
life was concerned.
But even as the wild West turns
back to learn of the Chinese n 9th
er ancient peoples who have farmed
by irrigation for thousands of years,
there is a revolution in the methods
and the West becomes a teacher OF