Las Vegas daily optic., 1907-01-14
STORY OF THE
MAN With HOE
-sEEp AND cATTLE LANDS DIS
APPEAR sEFoRE ADVANCE
OF TnE FaanEa.
PASSING OF GRAZING
Great Bsss~y eraarsss Where ones
Rsassa AtsaAens a. ssfaao VIII
Seen . un6er Cultivation.

CwYn { Barnes In National Live
ss~k Reporter
The ~san ii q Gun vita the Hoe
bag aTo raiaea the ssoek ranges Al
the aoFsA~~s, and has practically
eliminated the osen range pToFn&t-
.toa in the stases along the Canadian
border
Texas, In the last tew years. has
Mkewase seen n great change take
paaee Within her borders, the hug"
pastures cut up into farms. the great
hliiowy pFalries where once ranged
millions of buffalo and later almost
as many sheep and cattle have been
ruthlessiy turned into cotton and
cane fields and finally tackled the
great "I.lano Essaeado." 'or stsked
plains Of our bOyhood days. those
vast reaches % grass lands, the wal.
eEiess and treeieks part of the great
American desert, and II has been
conquered, and now today where once
men starved for water are cities ana
farms Railroads cross and recross
II In every direction and the land
that vas thought only fit for stock
grazing purposes Is found 20 be a.
good as the famous prairies Of In.
nois.
Land that ten years ago was con.
sidered dear At a dollar an acre can't
Be touched today for si5 or go. and
the end Ia seemingly not yet.
prospered In Arizona and New Mex.
leo.
But We Who live In New Mexico
and Arizona made but light Of the
approach Of the army OF land seek
ers. Texas might be all right. but
when they struck New Mexico. why
they'd find II was quite q different
story. Hadn't We lived here always?
Didn't We know what We could and
couldn't do when II came 10 farming
On New Mexico's prairies and des.
erts? But nothing daunted. the land
hungry tide of immigration reached
the New Mexico line, and to them
the land Just over the line was no
whit different from that TO the east
Of II. The tide swept over and work
ed its way across the border coun
ties. Fools" we said, "they will
starve out In q year" That was five
years ago and they haven't starve1
out yet. Quite 20 the contrary: the.
have prospered and gone ahead mos
tremendously fast.
At portales, New Mexico, lust q
few miles over the northwestern
Texas line. five yearA ago party
Of Us were there looking for cattle
portales then had two frame build
ings. two or three tents and a rail
road station. 1t was 300 to 400 fee
down to water and as far as the ey,
could reach In every direction wa
one vast open unbroken prairie-ths
primeval stock range. Today the
town has two weekly papers. two Ma
tional banks, plenty Of substantial
buildings. both private and business
while every acre OF land about 1t fo1
miles is under cultivation and crops
equal to any are raised there yea
after year.
At that time in Portales We met
man hauling water in a wagon. HI
was the type of the vanguard Of tn,
settlers and was droning along tn,
road with four water barrels in hii
wagon. We asked him how far h.
had to haul his water. Bout fou
miles ! reckon was his reply.
Why don't you dig wen ON you
claim" We inquired.
Wal, podner." he said, the mean
time sucking vigorously at a dirt,
corn cob pipe. its Just matter o
distance. for caikerlate It's about a
far to dig as It's TO haul. Just abou
as far one way as tOther"
Valuable Land In Peeos Valley
Two years ago thin wave of set
tiers swept over the pecos valley IL
the southeastern corner of the terr,
tory. They found one great broa
open cattle and sheep range They
found also that you could punch i
pipe down almost anywhere and ge
a flowing well that would spout Il
Or II feet high a ten-inch pipe, The,
found that these sheep and cattle
ranges would raise almost anything
you put in the ground. The thin
wave grew to a mighty flood. and to-
day land In the Pecos valley Is held
from s1oo an acre up. AZ they tooF
nm the land In these border counties