El Nuevo mexicano., 1916-06-22
and TNITtHtLL STARTED GREAT (,
LAS VEGAS Project UPON rs WAY
New Mexico Exposition Boosters Given Credit For
Interesting Col. Fay; Greatest Dairy Country
Extant, Expert Believes

#A
The San Diego Union has the fol
lowing about the final success Of the
great Las Vegas Irrigation Project:
The Las Vegas irrigation project
which has been in the courts OF New
Mexico since 1906, has been success.
fully and finally arranged through the
efforts OF Col. n. r. Fay with the
Robert c. Storrie Company Of san
Francisco
The project includes the damming
Of Gallinas river, a perennial stream,
and the distribution of its waters
through bitches over 10000 acres sur.
rounding Las Vegas with 10000 con.
tigu0us acreas of richgrazing land.
Active work has already been
started under the direction Of j.. II.
|DoekweiIef, n OF the noted engineers
Ecf the Pacific coast.
AS a result Of Colonel Fay's sue
cess, Las Vegas is booming. w. o.
Allen, whom he first sent to New
Mexico to report on the feasibility of
the scheme. says that buildings have
begun to go up everywhere and the
city of 10000 promises to double or
tribe its number in a short time.
II is the finest dairy country I have
ever seem said Allen. alfalfa a
be grown on the irrigated land and no
better grazing ranges can be imagined
than those that sweep from the ends
of the canals.
IL is proposed TO sell every settler
eighty acres Of irrigated land and the
rest grazing land.
Five big colonization companies
are bidding on the land and the West
ern Sugar company of Denver has in
vested and has made offers to con.
struct sugar mills. These offers are
all up to the Robert G. Storrie com
panyiof San Francisco
Las Vegas is giving Colonel Fay
credit for its prosperity. Its paper,
the Las Vegas Optic, is devoting col
uinns to him.
BY the treaty of Guadalupe, Mexico
coded 10000 acres around Las Vegas
to the United States, and the govern
ment in turn gave the land to the city.
Las Vegas sold all but "a, 600 acres. A
lang grant board was appointed which
tried to develop an irrigation system
and almost succeeded when the ID. Al.
Garfield company, OF Denver, began
the work Of construction and develop
ment. The people were so anxious to
put the development through that they
decided the land to the company, which
failed when its bonding company Of
Chicago went under.
The land then was in litigation un-
til it vas cleared in August, 1914, the
city again obtaining title.
It was shortly after that date that
COLONEL Fay's attention was drawn to
the situation through Guy A. Reed
and Waldo Twitchell, Jr., in charge Of
the New Mexico exhibit at the exp0si-
ton. They interested Colonel Fay in
the project, knowing his experience in
water preservation and development,
and he took hold. One or the main
purposes of the New Mexico exhibit
was to make this irrigation project q
success, and Reed and Twitchell are
delighted with the results.
Fay interested some OF his local
who sent Alien to New Mexi.
co to investigate. Allen reported that
The scheme was reasibIe and Fay
eventually succeeded in interesting
the Storrie company. The papers
have all been signed up and approved
by Judge David J. Leahy, presiding in
the Fourth district court of New Mex
cd.
Fay was in Las Angeles signing fin
Al papers when ne became ilf and had
TO be hurried back TO San Diego.
where he has been confined with ivy
poisoning and with malaria, which he
contracted in Cuba as a soldier in the
5panish-AmericaR war. He is expect
ID to be out today.
when the change in the charter
,ook place the water department was
aiken away from me-" he said yester
lay. Il didn't have much to do and
/ would apply my experience
and activity to something practical.
The Las Vegas situation Interested
ne. saw that I could put 1t through
it is going thfough. The StoFrie
company does business in the millions.
L. has put the high pressure water sys.
EN- into San Francisco and now is
the Market street tunnel
through Twin Peaks, opening all chat
country to development by the people
If San Francisco. The company has
developed municipai projects all
k.orAf. nI.f,f.~~.. a..a rr--~.ts I