Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1910-12-20
GLOR|ES Of
SAN JUAN
Editor Butler Tells Why That
Section Is Happy and
Prosperous
NOT A SALOON IN THE COUNTY
Magnificent Opportunities For
Raising Fruit and Max
ing Money.

William Butler, publisher and editor
of the Pennington Times-Hustler, is
naturally a booster for San Juan
county What is more, it is not alto
gether theory with him for he has
gone into fruit raising and is makins
good in that line of endeavor. Mr..
Butler was delegate to the Demo
cratic convention and sang the fol-
lowing paean of his home county:
1t is my opinion that an agricultural
and horticultural section, San Juan
county, New Mexico, stands unexcell-
ed in the world and rarely If ever
equalled. In the trst line we grow
everything from the semi-tropical
fruits, such as the prunus simoni, soft
shelled almond and English walnut
to the apple and the peach in all their
perfection. While this is a fact, San
Juan county is still an empire of un-
developed resources. AS an instance,
during the main irrigating season of
the months of April, May and June,
when all our irrigating bitches are
filed to their present capacity, our
rivers are still so full of water as to
be unsafe for fording most of the
time. What we need is men and cap
ital to utilize this vast amount of
waste water on the unsurpassed fertile
lands that are now lying unused in
our county. For those who are wise
enough to come to the county now and
get in on the ground floor there awaits
a sure and certain competence.
This year our fruit crop was not
more than an average one. George E.
Allen, whose fruit farm is within two
miles of Pennington sold $4,000 worth
Of peaches off six acres, of orchard
AS an indication of the profit and
possibilities of fruit culture in that
section | will mention my own per-
sonal experience this year. | have
two peach trees of the Champion va
riety, from which this fall | gathered
and sold 80 boxes each or a yield
of 900 pounds of marketable peaches
per tree. These peaches | sold with
out packing, the buyer taking the
run of the tree at cents per pound
or a gross receipt of S12 per tree.
Now figure 10 trees per acre at this
rate and you will get some idea of
the profits in fruit raising. My FL.
berta trees did even better for they
bring better prices.
Another feature about our county
is that the fruit culture attract an
especially high class of citizenship
This is due to the fact that while there
is a big profit in the business it also
gives a leisure time for self improve
ment. There are not many counties
where the farmers who do the actual
work on the farms go to the seashore
or some other place of recreation for
a part of the year, but they actually
do this in San Juan county. You see
in fruit growing the people work for
| 8 or months and then when their
crop is harvested and marketed they
have leisure period of from three
| to four months when they can go back
and visit the home folks" or go to
| the sea shore and hear what the wild
waves are saying, or go where they
may wish. This also makes a read
ing, thinking, cultivated community.
| They read the magazines and leading
! papers; insist on good schools and
fine churches; they create and main
tain high moral atmosphere.
No Saloons.
| This may explain why San Juan
county is the only county in the ter
ritory where there is no saloon Two
years ago in May we drove the last
saloon out of Pennington and out of
San Juan county. Since that time
there has been $150,00O of new build
ings erected in our town. Among these
is general store building that is
the finest west of Pueblo and which
cost 100000. It is stocked with goods
valued at $4,000 Our banks have
| Seeu IHelI uepOSlLS increase ana our
merchants their cash trade growing
larger. The First National bank with
a capital of $4,000 has loans aggre.
eating little over 100000 and plen.
ty of cash in reserve.
These things show how driving out
the saloons kip a town or com.
munity!
We expect to see railroad construc.
ton started during the coming year
that will give us a standard gauge
line to the east and<also to the south
Early next month construction work
will begin on big irrigation canal
that will cost more than a million dol
lars when completed. This will bring
some twenty to thirty thousand acres
of new land into cultivation and fur
pish homes for 5000 new families
San Juan county is forging rapidly tc
the front and will soon be one of the
richest and most populous counties in
the new state.