The Parker post., 1914-04-11

superior even to the war chiefs, and
their incantatiOns, prayers, fasts and
! lengthy rites made their positions
among the tribes no sinecures. These
were also the physicians of the tribe
treated diseases by laying on hands,
by prayers and chants and the weav-
ing of spells They could have given
some of the faith curists of this pres
ent day valuable points on practice.
But it was in their agricultural
methods that the PueblOs shone with
brightest lustre Their fields were
small, but they knew the gift of the
waters, and they were cunning in
leading the great river aside through
their laterals, sub-laterals and ditch
es of varying degree, and flowing
| it upon their thirsty fields. The re-
suit was that in the midst of a
| parching desert they made them gar
dens that would have won the envy
Of the Egyptians themselves.
Besides these lands, ; the Elephant
Butte dam will provide for the irri-
cation of 10000 acres in New Mexi-
co and 5000 acres in Texas. But
this statement conveys the most in
adequate impression of the capacity
of this project; for the big dam pro-
vides storage for 2,642,292 acre feet,
and the average annual flow of the
Rio Grande at this point is 100000
acre feet. Now the lands comprised
in this project will require only 6OO,-
900 acre feet per annum; and figur-
ing every possible source of expendi-
ture and depreciation, there would
be left in the reservoir for emergenc-
les not less than 100000 acre feet
or sufficient to irrigate the entire ac
reage during more than two years
of total drought.
1t should not be lost sight of,
either, that the dam is designed to
save and utilize the annual flood
waters of the Rio Grande, which un-
der natural conditions, have been
sweeping down destructively to the
gulf-a menace to lives and property
and a total loss as far as the dry
season is concerned. This dam not
only utilizes this enormous annual
waste, but prevents the destruction
it has been wont to wreck along the
lower course of the river. The nor
NAL water flow is not interfered with,
because under normal conditions the
dam is kept filled by the floods
For the benefit of those who
do not know, it should be said that
farming by means of irrigtiaon is
one of the oldest and most success
full systems of agriculture known to
man. 1t is not only a success, but it
is one and the only system of farm
ing which gambling with weather
conditions is eliminated and the far
mer may, with the certainty of math-
ematics, sit down and calculate his
crops before he plants the seed.
This is true, only of course, when
the means of irrigation is both ade-
quate and stable-as it will be in
the case of the Elephant Butte's
project. But when these factors are
assured, and when the soil is fertile,
as it is in this section, the farmer
may go his way in peace whether
the rains fall in their season or not.
He literally makes his own weather
for his crops. A twist of the wrist,
the widening of a ditch by lifting 4
shovelful of earth, and he has water
ed his crop as effectually as though
Jupiter Pluvius in person had come
by with his sprinkling can and his
most watery mood. The watering of
his crops is under his absolute con-
troll. Only his own negligence can
defeat the fecundity of his fields.
And this has been proved, over and
over and over again, right here in
this locality for untold centuries;
only never before has man approach
ed his task so scientifically and with
such double assurance of success
At the present time the farm devel-
opment has advanced to the point
where approximately $4,000 acres of
land in New Mexico are in cultiva
tion under this great project. Some
thing like $4,000 acres stretch around