El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-03-17
MESA LANDS ARE
VALUABLE FOR
FRUIT
r. Y. Anderson Gives Prac-
teal Talk at Business
Mems Luncheon.

Citing the example of California,
Colorado and other fruit growing sec
tions. r. Y. Anderson in his talk be-
fore the business men today on the re-
sources of the Rio Grande valley, made
the statement that the 80 miles of mesa
land above the Ell Paso valley was as
valuable as the valley land proper and
that lit was even better adapted to the
raising of fruits and vegetables. The
two staple crops of this section.
In California they had dry ridges
which correspond to our mesa lands
the speaker said. They were thought to
be worthless. but today there are more
than 1000, 900 acres of this socalled
worthless land which is producing the
great quantities of fruit which pass
through here to the eastern markets
Lana that was worth 81 an acre in the
old days is now sold for $1,000 an acre
when il is sold, which is seldom In
Santa Clara County, California, they
put down wells and pumped water onto
the land from depth of 500 feet or
more. The same was done in the san
Joaquin valley and also in southern
California.
Inexhaustible Mesa Wells.
Sup on these mesas a well 160 feet
deep has a flow sufficient to furnish
water for a town of 5000. At Newman,
N M. Henry Newman has told me
that he has a well which is an in
exhaustible source OF water supply and
that he is growing fruits vegetables
and melons up there 1t DIS the same
all along the mesa and the only reason
1t is not occupied more generally is
the condition of the land titles When
these lands are put in cultivation they
will be more productive than the val
ley.
We haven't land enough IN the val
ley to feed this section. The valley
will in time be devoted largely to al
falfa culture The uplands will then
be used for fruits and vegetables On
the highlands there are no early or late
frOsts which the valley has A su-
perior quality Of fruit can be grown
here and the demand is for fruits and
vegetables. Inside of five years all Of
this land will be divided into five, 10
and 20 acre tract farms and there viii
be at least Toe. 900 more people settled
in this section than at the present time.
All the land pays tribute to Ell Paso and
il depends upon the business men to
bring about the desired results by ad-
vertising the country and to work for
the success of this section of the south
west"
Smudge Pots
D. NJ Payne. who presided. closed the
luncheon session with a description OF
the methods used in Colorado or rails.
ing the temperature of the orchards by
the use OF smudge pots and its sue
cess in the prevention of frosts. He also
told of the vast market for the fruits
of this section if the land owners would
raise an unlimited supply OF these
fruits, which would attract the buyers
from the large Eastern houses and
would insure a better market and
higher price for the products of the
valley.
C. B. Gernick, of Toledo, O.. was a
guest at the luncheon
The chamber of commerce officials
expressed q regret that more of the
members of the chamber did not hear
the talk of Mr. Anderson today. as it
was one of the most interesting of the
Sractical talks which have been given
before the business men at their lunch
cons this year.