The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1908-10-24

y
the people settling on these prair.
les, plowing and raising crops in
this country, ! had very grave
doubts then oi your being able to
make success. But | think this
tar, and the exhibits you have here
IN this building are proof positive
that 1t is only question OF time,
and very short time until this
country will become one OF the
greatest agricultural countries oi
the southwest
was born in the west, raised in
the south and west, and ! might
say by wav OF encouragement that
! have seen the development OF two
or three Just such countries as this.
| remember that when | was a boy
only ton years OF age, my father liv-
I'd on a little tarm, homestead,
IN what was then the edge OF civil
llzatlon, in fact my fathers home.
stead in Nebraska was about the
first hom stead that was ever taxi
en- under the homestead law in that
country. remember that when
the lands had practically all been
taken and It had been iarmed TO- a
number OF years, droughts came
and the country was almost de.
populated; | remember that in 1876
my father left that country and
migrated to Texas. He lett there
because he, and almost everybody
else IN that community made up
their minds that it was no farming
country, that II was TOO dry, too
subject To- drought, and that farm.
ing could never be carried on sue.
cessiully in that settlement. That
was thirty years ago now that sec.
tion is the heart OF the corn belt oil
Nebraska. The land that was
abandoned then is now worth from
SIS 90 TO SIoo. 90 per acre. have
no doubt that land in Quay coun.
~. with the same cultivation, will
prove fully as productive as did
that country. You have here a
glorious country; your seasons are
much longer, the climate is much
better in all respects, aud | see no
reason why this part OF New Mex.
ico should no, be the garden spot
OF the great western country.
Well we went down into Texas;
my father bought one hundred and
sixty acres OF school land in what
was called western Texas, but |
suppose 1t must be near the center
OF the state from east TO west.
We lived there FIVE or six years,
and started out again. My father
almost gave away his little farm;
and in 1886 nearly everybody left
that part OF Texas, believing that
II was 20 lar west, that /, was too
nigh and dry, that it would be- all.
solutelv impossible to ever farm
successfully in that portion OF the
country That has been some
thing like twenty years age, and
that country they tell me is a part
OF the cotton belt" OF Texas, and
that right in through that country,
land that was practically aban-
duned, given away, is now worth
from 5000 10 Sac. 90 per acre,
Now, it does seem 10 me that
this par; oi New Mexico at least is
a tar better country in every re.
spect than that portion oi Texas
thai the land rs more fertile, the
climate better, and that there
should be no reason why farming
should no, bs done successfully
here IN thIS country,
Don I understand me to say that
| am a practical farmer. am
not; it is true was raised on the
farm, but | am not like the fellow
who in addressing a crowd said
Brother farmers; | myself am a
farmer, in tact | was raised, YOU
might say, between two corn
rows, and one old drunken fellow
called out from the crowd, "a
pumpkin, by golly." ! really
know very little about the prac.
tical side oil agriculture, but
have lived in a farming country a
good portion OF my life, and | dc
not remember to have ever seen a
better exhibit OF the products oI
any country than nave seen al
this little iair. | want TO say thai
| have an abiding faith in Quay
county; | believe it is going to b,
the banner agricultural section o
New Mexico; | believe the peopl,
| see before me arc the right class
the kind OF people TO develoI
QUAY county and make her wha
she should be; and | want to sa.
further that the time rs not tar dis
tant, that the time is very near
when this territory OF ours is goinI
TO become a state. think thl
congress, or the next one at least
is going to grant New Mexico tina
boon ior which she has prayed 10
more than hall century. | hs
lieve these people who are her
today, developing this country
are going TO see the star OF Ne
! Mexico placed upon the flag;
believe these very people are gt
ing to build up such q state hei