El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-01-04

CASTA FE, " n. Jan. 4--Drainage
= and irrigation OF the central Rio
Grande valley. that section OF tillable
valley land lying south OF AlbuQuer-
cue 20 white Rock, is contemplated by
secretary OF the interior Lane IN his
program for rcclaiming land in the
United States for returning soldiers,
according % James a French. state
engineer. recently returned from
conference at Chicago with state en-
ginsers and at Washington with ir-
1iEarion and reclamation service en-
slneers-
The reclamation service has accept
Cd this as a feasible project and VIII
Incorporate II IN its recomme ndations
70 Mr.. lane The chances are that he
-flI recommend Il and II his program
IS carried ont New Mexico VIII add
another $4,000 acres OF rich land 10
the tillable area Of the state
II IS estimated that the cost OF
DRAINAGE and reclaiminE this land viii
be Sa211.z0o.
The total area In the valley Is
about 2G6-000 ucres. of which -
900 acres are occupied by the river
and river wash. leaving for all
other classes I75oo0 ncres- or
this. IL is estimated that $4,000
acrea would receive full benefit OF
would receive an average Of 20
percent OF full benefit.
Mr. French states that, owing TO the
conditlou OF the land now, from lack
dollars 70 twenty dollars an acre
while. ~ drained. II would be easily
worth 500 an ere
Test " els sunk
For several months past the state
engineer has been prospecting lnls
1and. BIZ sinking test wells and other
wise determining its condition. " nile
some OF the seepaEe water is due to
uerCnl1rion from the river MS gen
craf conclusion is that most OF the
damage has resulted from over irri-
cation and the careless handling OF
IRRIGATION water. such as permitting
dlrches 10 break and flood the land
The land IS OF the same high char
acter as that about y Paso and Is
most productive The Spanlards
farmed it Is they did the lands about
III Paso before the coming OF the
American and its value was proved
hT its fire products Even the Indians
Earmed il success sfullT before the days
of the Ccnquistad0res. and there IS
no question Of the value OF the land II
the water IS drained out
Land Vow Water Logged
Some o. the land is not now under
irrigation bur this is principally be-
cause OF the ssepage; Il has not been
considered worth reclaiming while
water logged The task of reclama-
ton IS so tremendous that it IS con-
sidered essential 10 have Il taken over
By the government AS much OF il IS
lTned in large tracts, some OF Il COW
cred By spanish land grants. the
reclamation service has hesitated to
rake it over. but. under the pressure
ror more food and with desire TO
auf more land for the returning SOL
1lers il IS believed that the govern
meut VIII take over the project and
that e. VIII become one OF the tracts
Ehich the government viii plan 10 re-
calm
Much Of the land IS owned already
~ enall land holEers and the work Of
reclamation would be OF incalculsble :
1euefir TO them. Ny. French's inVesti- 3
cations show that the total number OF
-arEe land holders Downing over 100
scresl IS 60 percent Of the total Ex-
tsiuzinE those holding land under an
cieut Spanish grants, only 10 percent 3
OF the irritable area IS held by per-
sons owning tracts larger than 16o
zcres
Nay Reclaim Colorado Lands
ITr French says this work is linked
rather closely in the minds OF the Of
-iciaIs 81 Washington with that OF the
san Luis valley Il Colorado. which
extends down 10 the New Mexico line,
and that ir IS possible the Colorado
land viii be reclaimed at the same
riue- II was the Colorado people who
fought the construction Of Elephant
Butte dam 20 reclaim the land above
and below e Paso. and work OF re-
claiming their lands would remove