Albuquerque evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1911-1914, 1911-08-05

. 'I.II' I'. w. iI' i'IIINNi| UNu many
I other matters Of equal mportHn,,.
I sore tnurh"l upon Mr. Muller dealt
. With each topic boo 1u exhaustive mani
/ nor Wni.h threw o. world u' Urut lu
mnns questions Tho paper mad, Do
splendid .Wur'TsIpu nu fn, resources
men present ann Mr. Miller was APP
piondcd 'nthusiustiralb as b., tim
Iuh'd Ills speech 100 part follows
Introduction
The topi, aniUh has been assigned
me-. owing Goo its magnitude. 10, SCOPE
"t ia" h'ld Jud 90, mtroacy of the
questions involved together with th,
Tact thar much hts been said ny moro
able .uthnfitios than myself. mikes
u .N.c'dingk difnrIlt properly to
present th' irrigation resource. of
N"W MryiD" To- this convention. Large
quantities of htrrltur. hay, been
published ana distributed tn ,Ver,.
portion Of 'ho United States dealing
with our resources. particularly of
those wonderfully favored sections lu
which m" respective authors may
i've. These articles. used for real
estate purposes. ar, necessarily loyal
aud enthusiastic giving only the
bright side OF irrigation development.
leaving the settler To- nud ont for him
self hy ,Xp,ricnc, that Their, are
many phases of irrigation connected
with IN, proper scientific usc ct wa
ter under varied conditions OF soil
aud climate, upon witch financial
success depend. and failure To- COM
pr"h"nd which may mean both mon.
/ rtHry loss aud the ruination of the
-
/ 20 explain hoW 10 as, water in irri-
CATION. but To- outline the water sup
plies available for this purpose IN the
different sections of the tarritury
''rh" earliest authentic record We
have as to the practice OF irrigation
COMES from the memoirs or reports Of
Caheza de- Vaya In 1886. Coronado in
l'll aud 90 wears afterwards in l6S3
Antonio de- Esprio, where IN mention
~ frequently made as 60 IN, practic"
of the Pueblo Indian tribes up the
Rio Grandc valley. who cultivated the
soil ana secured abundant Yields Of
wheat. corn. melons etc, by means
of bitches div,rting water from this
river upon the fertile Rio Grande
soil The Spanlards recruited their
harder from these Indians and made
acquisitions upon them for cloth
which IN, Indians manufactured from
cotton They fashioned the cloth
into wearing apparel and tho SUPP
plies enabled Thorn to prosecute their
marches TO thu northern sections 90
th" TERRITORY
tn san Juan county the ruins of ir-
rigatiOn bitches used by the Aztec
Indians centuries age are sull visible
The accuracy with which These ditch |
80 were laid ont and constructed 10y |
IA" Indians without tho aid 90 any
instrument whatever ia evidenced by !
the fact that present ditch-s in San |
Juan county have often followed In a |
large measure m, courses of ,ho old /
They have found that better align
mcnt c3nont Doe secured than that /
laid down by an, Indians
1T rs evident. therefore. that ,rIiga-
ton was practiccd leo Now M,NiCo NJ
an extremely early date. probably |
earlier than in any other portion OF
the United States hut etill 40 oyIl /
effect has been found from the long
continued usr Of water upon tho soils
of fh" river valleys, owing 90 the Yr-
Punishment OF tho soil with plant
foods carried in suspension hv tho
tnrrs in the form OF silt
boo estimating our irrigation roc
sources $50 wlIl urst secure som. IDEA
8s 90 tho acreage claimed for this
purpose Taking the applications
which hay, been ul,d for permits u
approprI1t. winter os basis uf ascrr-
taiuinF tEn area outlined for irrlEa-
ton work, ana while .W, have uulimu-
- land these amounts specified IN
applications are immediately adjacent
to- OF adaptable, Goo th, usp OF water
from streams Iit, hundred and
eighty applications for permits 20 ape
prourutr winter uav, been filed 100 tho
utfic, of th, territorial engineer since
Ann. 1905 Practically all u' these
are designed 90 hs ap.
piled for purposes Of irrigation, a
small percentage. however. az, for
power purposes som, of fh,s, ape
pllguuuns "a very few. ar, dupli-
Dht's For instance 100 case an ap.
phcont wishes Co amend ulng pre-
Nlously made. hc ro-tilcs and oons,-
gI'ntv th" same acreage Is mcntion-
Cd twice In compiling an estimate OF
The total area o. bc irrigated from I
]
applications. duplicnt, filing were O.
not considered, and the said estimate
therefore, BE- practically a total of the I
areas which an, applications actually \
are designed 90 irrigatr 1
Upon the above plan IL rs iounG
That about 1000 400 acres are cst- /
mated aH being available tor irriga. 4
ton. To thts sum should bee added {
about 100000 acres which can he ir- u
rigatrd from "a project located on the G.
ella river in Grant county Under {
The same plan of estimate u h. found =
mat the cost Of the works under 4
these applications viii b. tas. 000. 600
or more. 90 the above estimate az
acreage, Il rs stated from the census &
returns, that less than 7b0. 900 acres n
are already undor irrigation. most OF y
which has been irrigated Tor num- II
Der OF years under small farms. with I,