Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1909-12-24
FOUR SURVEYS
BEING MADE
Development of Lobato Grant
North of Santa Fe
Planned
RICH IN VARIOUS RESOURCES
Railroad to Be Built Up Chama
Railroad to Be Built Up Chama
and Ell Rito Valleys by
Owners.
Special Correspondence of the New
Mexican

Special Correspondence of the New
Mexican
Abiquiu, ~ NJ, Dec, 2f.-The
Henry A. Allen Company of Chicago,
consulting engineers. who are in
charge of the construction OF the irri
CATION project on the Arroyo Hondo.
six miles south of Santa Fe. and also
of the engineering and development
of the Lobato grant in Rio Arriba
county. which is now owned by Colo
rado Springs capitalists. have four
large engineering corps in the field,
one of which is in charge of princi-
pal Assistant Engineer w. E. CALI
day and has reached Abiquiu relocat-
ing the old grade of the Denver and
Rio Grande railroad
Mr.. Calliday's corps is about to run
a location survey up FL Rito creek for
a branch line to FL Rito to connect
with the old d. &: r. G. grade.
Timber Cruisers at Work.
A party of expert timber cruisers
from the Pacific coast, in the employ
of Henry A. Allen Company, are es-
timating and classifying the heavy
timber on the grant under the direc-
tion of Assistant Engineer Mcdonald
and Geologist J. W. Reed of the same
company.
Headquarters at Ell Rito.
The general headquarters of this
survey are at El Rito where Chief En-
gineer R. w. H. Baldwin directs the
general conduct of the examination,
which will be complete geodetic. ir-
rigatiOn, timber and railroad survey
for the purpose of preparing a tech
nical banking house report upon the
completion of which the bonds will
be underwritten.
An Energetic Engineering Firm.
Henry A. Allen & Company, besides
handling the Lobato grant and the
Arroyo Hondo irrigation project, have
charge of the construction of the
Washington Springs, Spa and Gretta
railroad at Washington, D. c., and
several big water power propositions
in the west. They are consulting en-
gineers for capitalists in Chicago. AL
bany and Buffalo. Col. Henry Allen.
who was in Abiquiu in September
with Engineer Baldwin, was one of
the engineers selected by former Pres
ident Roosevelt to examine the Pana-
ma canal and is considered one of the
greatest authorities OF the day, in the
matter of irrigation plants and me-
chanical and hydraulic engineering,
for which knowledge he was selected
for the Panama canal task. Colonel
Allen will probably be in this vicinity
in few weeks.
Work Progressing Rapidly.
Despite the snow and the unusual
| cold, the work is being pushed as rap
idly as accuracy and thoroughness
will permit, Chief Engineer Baldwin
states and will be completed in a few
| weeks
Great Significance Of Work.
The development and improvement
of this grant, is perhaps one OF the
most important projects ever under
taken in the territory and certainly
within Rio Arriba county. The title
to the lands is unquestioned and the
resources of the tract are almost un-
limited. Chamita is located near the
! southeast corner just outside OF the
grant. El Rito is within the grant at
the northeast corner. The historic
and second oldest town in the terri
tory Abiquiu within the Abiquiu grant
4 is lust west of the center of the Lo-
bato grant. The Chama river ira,
verses the grant, having fall OF al
most 800 feet in its course blsectlng
the grant. Ell Rito creek. a tributary,
| also furnishes considerable OF a wa
ter supply as do other tributary
streams. The population is OF Amerl-
can-Spanish descent, most OF 1t, ex-
4 Cppl tH6 OiuSIl tpCcpA1s oP>eSrNAAo A~o
| lash huently. The agricultural and
horticultural possibilities of this sec
! tion are identical with those of the
Espanola valley, except that the cir
mate and altitude are superior for po-
tatoes. For years past, potatoes OF
the famous Greeley Varieties have
been grown with success and with
nothing but the crude methods of ma
tive irrigation. The California beans
thrive here as do vegetables of every
variety. The fruit orchards if prop.
erly cared for would compare favor
ably with any in the territory With
the coming of railroad and the ad-
vantages of an abundance of capital,
the development of this tract of $50,
900 acres means new era for this
portion of the coming Sunshine state