Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1911-04-06
RICH LAND
Of PROMISE
Territorial Engineer Charles
D. Miller Impressed With
San Juan County
BIG IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT
Plenty of Water, Fertile Lands,
Ideal Climate, Enterprising
People.

Territorial Engineer Charles D.
Miller returned last evening from a
tour Of San Juan county, during
which he covered several hundred
miles. In going over the possibilities
Of highway from Gallup to Farm
ingtou. he visited the Navajo Indian
School and Agency at Shiprock, wes-
tern San Juan county. which is in
charge Of w. T. Shelton. formerly OF
the t. S. Indian Industrial School in
this city, He there inspected with
much interest the reclamation work
that is being done by the United
States Indian Service under the dir
ection of General H. F. Robinson.
the engineer in charge of Indian Ir.
rigation work in this jurisdiction.
Six miles of bitches and fumes have
been completed thus far and diver
sion OF waters of the San Juan
through them will be made this
spring. Lands irrigated under this
canal will eventually aggregate 1000
acres which will be allotted to the
Navajo Indians in ten-acre tracts.
! This plan of Superintendent Shelton
TO provide a profitable industry for
his wards and TO settle a family on
each ten acres is a very practical
and commendable one and develop
ment in the right direction. 1t will
go far toward bettering existing con-
! ditions on the reservation.
In talking of the possibilities and
! resources of San Juan county, Mr..
Miller wakes enthusiastic My Wis.
il to that section" he said was prob
ably more complete than any other
inspection made by this department
One thing made a great impression
on me- and that was the get tOgeth
er' spirit that is being manifested
among individuals of different towns
and sections of the county. The con
troversy among irrigation promoters
appears to be in fair way of working
j itself out and it will be my one aim
! to get construction work started on
the larger appropriations. Work
will be started next week -op
! the Turley Southside project or Ham
mond Extension and this will cover
/ $4,000 acres on the San Juan river.
/ The waters of Las Animas will also
/ be utilized by initial construction
work this month. This office intends
TO continue pushing this feature. De
| lays caused by unnecessary litiga
ton will not be countenanced.
The people of the county were
very cordial and my stay was very
pleasant indeed Our department
has always lauded the possibilities of
| San Juan county. The abundance of
water, the remarkable qualities of it's
soil and climate together with the
high class of it's citizenship, make
San Juan county a region of great
promise. Conditions warrant the
construction of the proposed railroad
from Pennington to Santa Fe. and it
looks as if such railroad built by
private enterprise would pay from
the start by reason of the great tom
mage of coal and fruit and timber it
would command in addition to the
. natural passenger business. Here
at Santa Fe, connection with three
!, railroads would throw open the mar
kets of the world to San Juan coun-
ty. 1t is not like building through
, an undeveloped, unpopulated region,
, but it would be a road serving from
q. the start a great population between
J two important cities and over a route
r that would furnish an abundant
2 tonnage