Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1921-11-29


or farm houses where there are
springs or wells or dams holding
in storage the water flowing from
the hills after rains.
These immense tracts are suita-
BILE for cattle raising, but person
buying land that has not been i'm
proved would find it necessary to
go to considerable expense in pro-
viding water for cattle. This can
be done by building dams to hold
rain water, but the buyer must be
certain that his land contains a
suitable location for dam Buy
ers of small tracts who do not take
the trouble to examine the prop
erty before purchased it might not
find it possible even to store water
in this way.
Must Store Water.
. Farming operations would call
for the storage of water ON large
scale. This would necessitate the
employing Of engineers to study
the land and devise ways of stor-
ing the water in such way that
it could be used for irrigation. The
average man could not jump in
and build a dam which would hold
enough water to supply the needs
of a farm.
1t is not hard for a promoter TO
get hold of 5000 Oor 100, 900 acres
of land which, under present con-
ditions, is an elephant on the
hands of the owner. And land of
that sort is the kind that is being
offered for sale in the United
States in many cases.. This has
resulted in many complaints.
There is good land in every state
in Mexico, with natural locations
for irrigation dams which would
supply large tracts. Some such
dams have been completed, others
have been started, and still others
are under consideration. One of
the largest dams in the world,
built for the purpose of storing
water for irrigation, is in Mexico.
1t is in the State of Chihuahua.
But the surrounding land is not
being given away for song. In
stead, alert men, with an eye to
money, are studying the
possibility of getting some of the
water from the dam for the irriga-
tion of land forty or fifty miles
away. Even this distant land is
not being given away.
Conditions in Mexico.
Conditions in Mexico are not as
they were in the United States
when Uncle Sam gave away 160-
acre homestead to anyone who
would put a plow into the ground.
The good land which is offered to
foreigners is to be sold, and the
men who are doing the selling
know clearly the present value of
the land and it's probable future
value.
Any bargain that is offered calls
for close scrutiny, for there are
few bargain sales in Mexico. The
price of land is lower than in the
United States because markets are
fewer, transportation undeveloped
and general conditions not so
much to the advantage of the
farmer as on the other side of the
border. If conditions were the
same in Mexico as in the United
States land would be just as high.
Another indication that there
are no great expanses OF vacant,
ownerless, tillable land in Mexico,
such as there were in the United
States when farms were given
away or sold for almost nothing Is
he fact that the Mexican govern
nent, in its efforts to give farms
% the landless poor, is compelled
% take possession of large states
Ind divide them among the needy,
,inding no other way.
The American coming here must
either buy improved land, which is
leld nearly always at the highest
price that existing conditions per-
nit, or take unimproved land at
over price. The improved land
S usually convenient to the rail-
'oads, giving the farmer access to
he markets that exist. The unim-
proved land is remote from the
'ailroads, and the farmer must de-
rise means of getting his products
o the points at which transporta-
ion is offered, while waiting for
he building of more railroads.
In either case the man who
ONES to Mexico must have capital
md caution.