El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-07


Add to these causes the general one
OF the Intelligence and progressiyeness
or the farmers which the Mimbres
valley has been so fortunate in secur-
ing. and one is safe in predicting that
road building will be extremely active
mere until there is network OF good
roads covering every portion of the ir-
rigable lands in Luna county.
Luna COunty's Road Development.
In the matter Of actual accomplish
ment. this county has much Of which
70 boast. A year ago the road across
the sands OF the Mimbres north OF
Demlng was built. half Of the money
being cOntri outed by the county and
half by the territory For many years
the little valley OF the upper Mimbres
was the only region productive OF
fruits, vegetables and farm produce in
the whole valley. The greater part OF
this was marketed in Silver Citv and
various mining camps in the surround
ing mountains. the farmers and truck
growers preferring the hard rocky and
often precipitous mountain roads to
the four or five miles Of heavy sand
which divided them from Deming. For
50 miles down from the head of. the
Mimbres to the sands inst outside NJ
town. there has always been a hard
even road skirting the mountains and
across the mesa lands but the moment
the sand was reached, an empty agon
was a good load for an ordinary team
Realizing that this condition meant
the annual loss to Deming OF thousands
OF dollars in trade the good roads com
mittee Of the chamber Of commerce got
busy last summer a year ago and sue
ceedeQ IN getting from the territorial
good roads commission a promise Of as
nuch money to build this road as the
county would contribute. The good
ROADS committee then prevailed upon
the county commissioners to approprf-
ate $500 for this road and CORES
ponding amount was obtained from
the territory, and the good roads com
mission also sent q skilled engineer
MI Meriwether. TO plan and oversee
the work OF actual construction The
result was that in a very few months
last fall there was built a perfect turn
pike across the sands OF the Mimbres.
The result OF the expenditure Of this
comparatively insignificant sum Of
money in building this foad has al
ready brought thousands - dollars into
Deming that otherwise would have
gone to Silver City and the MINING
camps OF the mountains Instead OF its
Being a days drive now from the near
est farms up the Mimbres with a load.
It is but three-hour drive. An aufo-
mobile makes the run from Silver Cifv
70 Deming In an hour and a half and
the people from the Cooks mining dis
trict now make two trips to Deming
where they made but one before
Good Roads Breed Good Roads.
Good roads breed good roads. They
reproduce their kind indefinitely slim
ulated By the success Of the road to the
north. the farmers south Of DeminE.
headed by S. J. Smith Leon GodcbauT
and Sam 7 Clark. started out to raise
funds for building a road Is miles to
the south It was the work of but
few weeks to raise the sum Of $500
by private subscrlp ton promise was
obtained from the county commission
ers- for an equal amount from the coun-
ty funds, and the territorial good roads
commission (by the way, one of the
worthiest institutions in New Mexico9
promised to cooperate to the extent Of
$500. There is now from the three
sources $500 it'll which to build this
new road. This sum of money would NOT
mean much in a country where there
are expensive bridges to build rocks to
be heWn away, sWamps to cross and
so on, but it means great deal in the
Mimbres valley. whore no streams.
ravines or Rullies scar the Landscape:
where the most expensive operation is
grubbing out mesquite roots and where
in most places the sand can be scraped
away, leaving a perfect road below
Aside from cooperative road build
ing in Luna county. there are individ-
uals here who have accomplished no
mean results in this direction Notable
among these is Mr., 6. n Sadler, farmer