The La Jara chronicle., 1911-05-12

to look for a site on the Rio
Grande and construct from the
ground up We believe we should
secure at least an extra storage
capacity of nearly $4,000 acre feet
in addition to the present avail
able supply for the $4,000 acres
Of land proposed to be included in
the Alamosa district lying south
west of town and referred to in
one of our former articles.
There is absolutely no question
about needing this extra water,
for we are often short of water
late in the season-even under
the earliest and oldest bitches
while some seasons we are short
during the entire year for the
later bitches. $4,000 acre feet
storage capacity is none too much
As in dry seasons, seasons when
there is little snow in the noun
tains, our reservoir supply, and
the seepage water from the
drainage bitches, would be the
source of our main supply. If
our storage capacity is sufficient
so we can carry over an acrefoot
per acre of water from years of
abundant rainfall to be used in
the dry season we would surely
have the best irrigation system
possible to obtain. 1t would be
better to err on the side of hav-
ing an over abundance than to
fall short on supply. The dry
seasons are periods of high prices
and will be the years when we
will reap the greatest profits, if
our water supply is sufficient.
So we must not lose sight of
either the necessity for drainage,
or the equally imperative neces-
sity of providing reservoir water
if we wish to make the most of
our opportunities, thus bringing
our land up to its greatest pro
ductivity and fortifying against
all probabilities of failure.
SO drain the land. Buy reser
voirs. Secure sites and build res
ervoirs, and do it at once. 1t
will require the utilization of
every available reservoir site
now approved by the government
to supply sufficient water for all
the tillable land of the San Luis
Valley when the same is drained
and placed in cultivation. There
is little question as to the suffici-
ency of water to fill all the pro-
posed reservoirs during average
seasons. And an absolute GER
tainty of an abundance of water
to fill them during flood seasons.
But the land will never be
drained or the reservoirs built
unless the citizens of the valley
take the initiative.
The first thing to do is to form
the districts. And we believe
the next one in order is one to be
formed of the lands lying south
west of Alamosa. There we have
two available reservoirs that. can
be purchased, practically ready
to bring water onto the lands of
the proposed district, very little
ditching being necessary to bring
+l,a;,, ,,o+ar, into fbo Jict ri ot
where it can be distributed
through the existing bitches and
laterals.
We favor proceeding with the
Alamosa district next for the fur
ther reason that the. seepage
water developed will probably be
greater in per cent, than in
most any other part of the valley,
it being one of the strongest ar
tesian belts Again the character
of the soil cannot be beat, con-
sisting as it does of sandy loan,
such as produces our best grain
and other crops, and further it
adjoins the Metropolis of the Val
ley-Alamosa-with the best rail
road advantages in the entire val.
ley. 1t will be easy to settle with
| actual farmers on account of
, these advantages, and a standing
advertisement to all travellers
| passing through the valley as
, to what can be done in all other
| portions of this embryo empire.