El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-17
Industrial Opportunities In Dem.
ing and the Mimbres Valley

~ Won vIEREGG writes IN
Abroad" magazine pub
lished in England. and Of wide
circulation in Great Britain, concern
ing the opportunities in this section
as follows:
We'll down toward the southwest
corner of New Mexico there is a range
known as the Black mountains. From
one flank Of these hills runs a branch
of the ella river, reaching westward
across Arizona to merge with the Co
dorado. From the other slope goes
one Of the most wonderful streams of
the wonderful southwest--the Mimbres.
For 40 miles or so to the southeast 1t
keeps above ground. Then, save in the
flood season, il drops beneath the sur
face to continue its course through
the valley that bears its name, max
ing a vast oasis A government ex-
pert has declared this water supply per
petuaI-
The valley itself, with one OF the
richest soils that was ever irrigated,
has somewhat the form OF a mesa or
table land, its floor having been raised
by river deposits and erosion from
square miles, almost level There IS
just enough Of a slope-eIght feet 10
the mile, on the average-tO make
easy the work of the irrigator-
In the midst Of this plain valley
with its invisible river lies DemlnS
Look on the map of New Mexico and,
below the Black mountains, you viii
see a plexus of rail lines, northwest
of FL Paso and little more than half
way between that border city and the
Arizona-New Mexico line That rail-
road center is Deming-
These three factors-the river, the
valley, the town-are the components
Of one Of the regions destined TO
loom big in the development OF the
southwest.
The Mimbres valley has the soil and
1t has the water; there is combina-
ton to work wonders The suftc1ency
Of the water supply is attested in sen
ate document No. Al, presented dur
ing the SD congress by a special
agent Of the agricultural department
on irrigation and soil culture
In flood times the river flows 80
miles from its source, passing a dozen
miles southeast Of Deming- The gov
eminent observations, made IN a nor
nal year, embraced a drainage area
of 500 square miles To this must be
added, however, the area below the
point of observation, embracing the
Silver City Draw watershed, whose
total drainage area IS almost twice
that of the Upper Mimbres. IN all,
the area in square miles IS l,4UV-
This Is fed by an average mountain
rainfall Of 20 inches
The water supply from the Mlmbres
alone is nine billion cubic feet-suf-
ficient to cover to a depth of one loot
22A71O acres. But when the Silver
City Draw supply is included, the to
tai Is raised 10 100000 acre feet in the
annual supply. And there is more
the underflow of the lower Minbres
is sweIled by the flOodwaters Of the
lower Burro mountains, of the Cooks
range and of the mountains In the
south of the BASIN
OF all this, there appears on the
surface only the surplus water after
the underground channel is filled
This water is available with wells
~
which some consider superior to all
others. Some of the wells have been
in operation a score of years; ooser-
vations Of these and the newer show
that the supply is constant, varying
neither with the reasons nor year by
year.
The depth of the wells ranges from
so feet up. The average, according
to those who know, is $50, the water
rising to within 40 feet of the surface
This 40 or so foot water lift gives
a varied cost per acre, depending
largely upon the nature of the crop