Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1910-11-29
IRRIGATION
PROJECTS
Forty of Them Completed in
New Mexico in Two
Years
WORK ON FIFTY-SIX OTHERS
Territorial Engineer Sullivan
Writes Letter of Thanks
to Press.

According to the records of Terri.
torial Engineer Vernon l.. Sullivan,
there have been completed in New
( Mexico during the past two years, for
ty irrigation works on thirty more.
one-hfth of the work has been COM
pleted and on twenty-siX others con-
struction has been begun, making a
total OF ninety-six projects. on which
under the direction of the territorial
engineers office, work has been or is
being done.
The following letter from Engineer
Sullivan. indicates that he appreciates
the help that the press is giving in
the irrigation development of the COM
! monwealth.
November 29th, 1910.
Editor, Santa Fe New Mexican:
! Dear Sir-Since resigning to take
up new fields of work it has been very
gratifying and pleasing to me to note
/ the pleasant comments that have been
made verbally, in the papers and by
/ letters and it is my desire to thank
/ you and the people through the col
umns OF your paper for your conf
dence and good will.
With the coming of statehood and
the adoption of short but effective
/ constitutional provision, insuring the
appropriation OF water, with beneficial
use as a basis measure and limit of
right and priority of appropriation
being recognized, and supported with
one of the best irrigation laws known,
/ together with the Carey Act, which
applies to government lands; the dis
| trict irrigation law. which applies to
+ patented lands; the systematic col
lection of photographic data; the ad-
! judcation of water rights; a more
scientific use of the waters and the
conservative appropriation OF same,
! together with the advancement OF the
construction of good roads, there
seems to be no reason why New Mex
leo should not develop rapidly along
these lines.
/ 1t is my expectation and earnest
wish that within the next ten years
we may realize that which out depart
ment has worked so hard TO start,
part OF which will be the irrigation of
one-half million acres of the fertile
soils OF San Juan county from those
large rivers that San Juan and Ami
mas the Strengthening and confning
Of the Rio Grande and the drainage
and reclamation of land along the
river as preliminary outlined in my
address at the National Irrigation
| Congress held at Albuquerque; the
irrigation of the Tucumcari and Lo-
gan valleys from the enormous flood
waters of the Canadian; the adjust
ment of the water rights and the de-
velopment of the Pecos valley; the
completion of those large irrigation
projects being built by the u. S. re-
clamatiOn service; the irrigation of
thousands OF acres in the northern
and eastern part of the Territory from
those large projects now under con-
struction; the development of the
water power over the Territory, espe-
cially those large projects on the Gila
that will furnish power to the rich
mines in the Mogollon, Burro and
Black mountains; the Upper Pecos
water to pump the underfiow of the
Estancia val ey; the La Luz waters
TO turn the wheels OF the pumps in
the Alamogordo valley and many 9th
or fI,
Isuch as the pumping OF the underfow
for the Deming, Melrose. Portales and
other valleys where there is an exist
ence of a large underfiow; the stor-
ing of the flood waters of the thou
sands of arroyos where water is now
lost completely and a completion of
a system of well constructed high
ways.
In making this development it will
be necessary to guard against the
greed and avarice of promoters and
spectators and to enforce conserva-
tism in the appropriation of water, re-
membering that, when you hear per-
son criticizing the engineer as to the
Suldil duOttuJ VI water Il6ES ID avail
able for appropriation, you can con-
slider that ninety-nine times out of one
hundred that the critic is in error, for
there is no mine easier to salt than
the salting of your ideas as to the
Iamount of a given water supply. There
are so many losses of water in the
: conservation of same that the aver
age person and a great many engi-
!neers fail to consider. The territorial
engineer has many times had the
pleasure of talking with people of
2 broad experience while watching
!. large flood in the river that he had
g Just measured and their idea as to
: the amount of water and what it would
e irrigate if the flood was to continue
" certain length of time is invariably
i many times greater than what it real
d ly was or what it would irrigate. 1t
e is my desire, for the good of the de-
1 velopment of the Territory, to call
your attention to these matters, for
one acre of land well irrigated and
properly cultivated and seeded to a
!. paying crop will net more returns to
:. the farmer than one hundred acres
e that does not pay expenses.
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