Omaha daily bee., 1910-12-30
COSTILLG ESTATE TO EXHIBIT
San Luis Valley Project to Be Repre-
sented at Land Show.
RICH IN HEALTH AND WEALTH
CoIorads Garden Spots Advantage
set Forth tB Grabhie ForE for
omshs visitors-BiG IrFi-
GatiOa Project.

gatfoa Project.
Products from one Of the largest IS
tstes IN the United states will be dis
PLAYED A. Omaha January IS TO q. in con-
nection with the display from the Ban
Luis valley Of Colorado st The Pee land
show.
The Costina estate. now controlled by
the Costilia irrigated Land company Of
Denver was given a grant from the MeSi-
can government nearly seventy years ago.
This grant. which was given 20 Joseph
Beaubien. included some Of the land be-
tween the Cuiebra mountains in southern
Colorado
This estate remained as undivided until
secured BY a syndicate Of capitalists and
now an irrigation system Is under way,
by which 900 acres will be placed under
cultivation
The exhibit 81 the San Luis valley will
occupy . large section on the stage az
the land show and all the commercial
clubs from this famous section have
united IN sending exhibits TO be used in
this display. There will be especially ex-
hlbits from the Costlis Irrigated Land
company and the Three Rivers Irrigated
Land company.
r. ". wilsey. the general manager Of
the Costina company, says:
we viii make this exhibit at Omaha
Just 10 show the people Of the Missouri
river territory what has been done by
others who have moved 70 the San Luis
valley.
The Irrigation projects in this valley
are ones where there Is no question as to
water rights and where settlers will not
have 10 worry over the problem OF too
much land in the spring and too little I'm
the summer The wonderful climate Of
the valley Influenced the first settlers TO
move there ahead of the others. and the
question with a great many Of the people
Is health first and wealth afterwards, al
though nov many OF them have both"
Ris Intake Tower.
A part OF the Irrigation plant which Is
being put In on the Costila estate in
cludes the great intake tower which is to
be steel and concrete and 1875 feet high
Ninety-tive feet OF this will be cement and
gates win be reached from a suspension
bridge from the shore. Elwood Mead, the
head Of the irrigation department of the
Australian government. says THE water
system Of This company will be adequate
to water 10000 acres"
The san Luis valley is crossed diagonaIly
from northwest to southeast by the Rio
Grande del Norte the same stream which
l.OOO miles 20 the south forms the boun-
dairy between Texas and Old Mexico. From
the mountains 10 the westward the Coneios
Aamosa, La lara and San Antoine rivers
flow into the Rio Grande. From the east
the Culebra. Trinchera and Costilla creeks
and their tributaries flow a large amount
Of water. Tho noHthern end OF the valley
Is closed basin. with a chain Of lakes
al the lowest point. but many streams
come from the sangre de Christie and
sI.-N..
valley lies level, II all has a slope which
enables irrigatlng canals to be built at
low expense There Is now under irriga-
tlon In the valley about 100000 acres of
land. Of which about half is watered by
the Rio Grande. Up TO a few years ago
this irrigated land was generally held In
large tracts but recently 1t has been
largely divided into eighty or 1eO-acre
farms and sold to new settlers. To meet
the demand for San Luis valley land
dozens OF new irrigation enterprises have
been inaugurated, most OF which depend
upon reservoir construction to make their
supply Of water dependable.
G~NInRy of section.
The San Luis valley was once a great
fresh water lake, extending more than 100
miles north and south and forty miles east
and west walled in on every side by noun
through. which the water cut its way
toward the south. There was great vol
canic activity on the mountains on each
side and tho rivers that flowed into the
lake brought down many cubic miles of
debris The coarseF material settled near
the mouths Of the rivers. but the finer
particles covered the lake bottom nearer
the center. Thus the lake gradually filled
into an almost level plain In the mean
time the gorge which drained Il gradually
deepened until the lake bottom was left
dry, With half dozen rivers flowing
across II, not in valleys, but almost an
top OF the ground.
Because OF the peculiar nature NJ i,s
formation, land in the San Luis valley air.
fers In Appearances from that which people
from tho east are accustomed to- As the
rivers filled the old lake up with soil and
other materials the larger stones and peb-
bles and the heaviest, richest soils were
deposited together around the outer edge
OF the valley The finer, lighter soils were
orought TO the center. On the outer edges
the slope Of the valley is now from thirt,,
20 forty-five feet TO the mile, and this
with The very loose, coarse subson. sives
almost perfect drslnase. Toward the esntsr
OF the valley the soil is denser and m.
slope much less, ranging from nothing mn
70 four. feet to the mile People from tho..
parts OF the United States where the finer
and darker the soil is the richer and more
valuable Il Is, are often surprised 70 find
that in the San Luis valley the eoarser
ground is the higher prieea.
Sub-ITrtgatiOn of Sell.
The peculiar nature OF the San Luis
valley gives much OF the land another
great advantage-it subirrigates. BY aub-
irrigation OF "subbing," as It is genersIb,
called In the San Luis valley, is mean,
that BY surface irrigation the land erad,,s
ally fills with water 50 II is moist 10 thu.
surface When this condition is reached
all that Is necessary is 70 Keen
very small amount OF water IN m.
bitches, running through the fields o,tar
l5o Zee, apart This water sinks into the
soil and the whole level rises, so that ,hs
surface 10 kept evenly moist and m ,ns
very best condition for growing eron.
There are some areas In the San Luis ~,
ley which through persistent over-irriea-
a. 80 4,