The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-02-11

The following writeup of the Pecos
Valley is by Robert Corcoran, of the
FL PasO Herald, and was published
in the Herald of that City:
A score of years ago when the
school boy looked in his geography
on the map of Texas. he saw an i'm
mense stretch of desert country, COW
ering northwest Texas and eastern
New Mexico. designated as "Llano
Estacado" (staked plaias). There is
no such place today. All of that vast
domain is dotted with thriving villag-
es and towns and pierced by trunk
lines of railroads. The bowling of
the coyote has been followed by the
shrek of the locomotive. and the cit
les of the prairie dog have been re-
placed by the homes of men, All OF
this transformation has X place
before the eyes of the middle aged
man of the present day. But so accus
toned have our people become to Am
erica achievements that it has excited
but little comment.
The Magic Transformation.
here is at his moment going on
in eastern New Mexico-in the coun-
ties of Roosevelt. Chaves and Eddy.
particularly a more rapid change than
was the amazing transformation wro't
in western Texas. The ranges brok
en- up and subdivided into thrifty ma
ny farms for thrifty husbaldenmen,
the COW puncher and the sheepmen
had no but to retreat before
the onrushing tide of civilization n
population. So he next went west,
across the state line, into the terri
tory of New Mexico. Here was an
ideal place to Craze his stock a vast
plain easily o~btainable. Now. if the
ubiquitous farmer could be kept away
the COW man mad reached his para
disc; he could raise his cattle with
little cost and enjoy life like a feud-
al baron. undisturbed by any fear
of the rent man or tax collector. So
stories were circulated all over the
east and north. through the newspa-
pers and otherwise, that these vast
New Mexican plains were arid n
uninhabitable, and that rain never
fell: and therefore, farming was out
of the question. THESE stories were
believed until recently, and the bron-
CO buster roamed where he listed, I'M
disputed of all he surveyed
But now it is different
To the innocent eyes of Alice in
Wonderland" no more wonderful
sights were presented than are today
being unrolled before the eyes of the
world-on these so called arid" New
Mexican plains. Let the reader fol
low me along the Pecos Valley rail-
road from Texico to Carlsbad-some-
thing over 200 miles-and learn a
new lesson in the voluminous history
OF American thrift, enterprise, suffer
ing and daring.
Texico.
Texico is on the uncertain line that
at present divides Texas from New
Mexico. / say uncertain" because
the dividing line has never been le-
gally settled, and Texas has a claim
for a strip of New Mexican land about
80 miles wide. This thriving town
is an up to ate illustration OF squat
ter sovereignty" No one in hat town
has a clear title to an inch of ground.
yet houses and lots are bought and
sold, daily, almost hourly. 1t is a
veritable bee hive of humanity. There
is not a brick house in the town: but
several hundred frame houses crowd
ID with people. The new arrivals in
the town some days number as many
as a hundred. The people are all
Americans from every state in the
union. Most of them are homeseek-
ers. though some grafters and hooters
are among the number. The strid-
ent voice of the and agent can be
heard on all sides Money seems to
De plentiful. Ten saloons and as ma
ny gambling Houses add to the gayety
OF the place; but a feeling of general
good fellowship ~pervades the crowds.
There is little boisterousness and less
riotousless. 1t is a typical western
frontier town with the necessity for
the services of judge lynch eliminated
One would think that people would
hesitate whether or not to invest their
money in property which they could
not get a clear deed to. They rely
Upon the generosity of their Uncle
Sam. The government will soon have
to settle the state line question and
clear the titles. Then the wise ones
think that the precedent established
in Price, Utah, where a similar state