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smelters of the Southwest. Many golden opportunities for investment will follow in the wake of the first railway line constructed through San Juan County.

IMMIGRATION.

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The people of the San Juan region are immensely enterprising and take pride in good schools, churches, and good society, and there is less crime than in almost any other Western county, and any well-bred Christian family will find this a congenial place to live. It is rapidly filling up with a thrifty class of enterprising American citizens. farms and ranches are being opened up, and hundreds of new orchards are being planted, and the two leading towns of the county, Aztec and Farmington, have doubled in wealth and population in the past two years. San Juan County offers as many safe and profitable investments at this time as any other county in the great Southwest. Men with even limited means can acquire small tracts of land that will make them an independent living and happy homes, while the men with more means and capital can possess elegant homes with fine orchards and better improvements in the finest country on earth.

SANTA FE COUNTY.

The county of Santa Fe does not occupy as conspicuously large a place upon the map as some of the other principal subdivisions of New Mexico, but, owing to the rare charm attaching to its history and to that of the unique political capital whence it derives its name, its peerless scenic and climatic attractions, and its rich and diversified resources, it naturally takes first rank in interest among its sister counties.

It is the central county of the Territory; is rectangular in form; extends south a distance of 72 miles from the thirty-sixth degree of latitude and measures 30 miles from east to west; embraces a total area of 2,212 square miles, and is more than twice as large as Rhode Island and 252 square miles larger than the State of Delaware. Of this area, 975,000 acres are officially pronounced available for cultivation and pasturage, while thousands of the roughest mountain acres are clothed with fine timber and ribbed with valuable mineral-bearing veins. It is crossed from east to west by the great transcontinental railroad of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe system, which operates over 70 miles of road in the county, and is tapped from the north by the New Mexico division of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, which extends from Espanola to Santa Fe, or 38 miles in the county. The Santa Fe Central Railroad line has also been surveyed and will be built in the near future from Santa Fe to Cameleon, by way of San Pedro, to connect near Cameleon with the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific system. The extent of this line in Santa Fe County will be about 50 miles. A branch line of the Santa Fe system runs from Lamy to Santa Fe, a distance of 18 miles. A short branch of the main line also extends to the Madrid coal fields. Excellent wagon roads also reach all the towns and settlements. Telegraph lines connect the principal towns in the county.

From the summit of Mount Baldy the surface of the county presents a vivid and magnificent panorama of mountains, mesas, and valleys, with numerous streams of limpid water rushing down huge mountain shoulders, over precipices and massive bowlders, into deep and narrow gorges and widening valleys, flashing in the sunlight like ribbons of silver in their hurried and heedless race to the Rio Grande

on the west, and with the lofty mountain peaks of southern and northern New Mexico and even Colorado swimming in the blue air of the dreamy distance. The main range of the Rockies or the Sangre de Cristo Range on the east and the Valles and Jemez mountains beyond the Rio Grande on the west shelter this favored locality from violent winds and render the climate remarkably mild and equable, considering that the altitude of the valleys varies from 5,500 to 7,500 feet above sea level. Doubtless this circumstance, together with the fertility of the soil, excellence of the water, plenitude of timber, and the many marked manifestations of rich veins and deposits of gold and silver bearing mineral a few miles south, prompted the intrepid Spanish explorers to locate a permanent colony and mission at Santa Fe, or the city of the holy faith of St. Francis, as early as 1605. The wisdom of this selection has been plentifully demonstrated during nearly four centuries that have since melted into the past. With the exception of the twelve years following the bloody and transiently successful revolt of the Pueblo Indians in 1680, Santa Fe has ever since been recognized as one of the most important outposts of civilization and commerce in the Southwestern world, being continuously the political, ecclesiastical, and military capital of this region under both Spanish and Mexican rule, and, though it has seen the frontier line of the United States carried thousands of miles out into the Pacific Ocean, it still maintains its supremacy as the capital city of New Mexico, the county seat of Santa Fe County, and the most delightful residence city in the Rocky Mountains.

MATERIAL RESOURCES.

The assessed valuation of the real and personal property of Santa Fe County for the year 1901, excluding the large amount exempt from taxation under the law, reaches $1,750,000, while the real value is probably five times as much. There are about 500,000 acres of public land in the county, subject to entry at Government prices, and 557,880 acres more are included in Spanish and Mexican grants, the titles to which are purchasable at low rates and on easy terms. It may be added further that the county affords about 475,000 acres of good grazing land, partly covered with timber, and about 500,000 acres of arable land, 200,000 acres of which could be irrigated. In the absence of exact data, the land actually being cultivated by means of irrigation is conservatively estimated at 25,000 acres, while probably 20,000 acres more are yearly planted to crops subject to the chances of enough rain in the growing season to mature them. Wherever the valley and mesa lands of the county have been brought under the magic influence of systematic irrigation the results have uniformly proved most satisfactory, and naturally this stimulates enterprise annually to enlarge and extend existing irrigating systems and thus gradually increase the number of acres that can be depended upon to yield regular profits.

This is notably true of the Espanola Valley, in the northern part of the county. Plentifully watered by the Rio Grande and its tributaries, the Chama, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz, this beautiful valley is now most of it under cultivation, and evidences of contentment and prosperity are noted on every hand. The acreage of wheat, corn, oats, beans, and kindred crops increases each year. Alfalfa yields three and sometimes four crops per year. Sugar beets carrying a very high percentage of saccharine matter can be readily grown

there. The orchards of apple, peach, pear, plum, prune, cherry, apricot, and nectarine trees have for several years been regular shippers of the choicest fruits of the earth, and their vigorous and thrifty appearance gives promise of multiplying profits in the future. All kinds of small fruit, including strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and currants flourish. Many extensive vegetable gardens, where lettuce, radishes, onions, asparagus, green pease, sweet corn, beets, tomatoes, celery, parsnips, and other table luxuries are raised in great profusion and perfection for the mountain markets of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, have not only proved to be constant breadwinners, but surplus producers. So far as productive qualities are concerned, these remarks may be applied to nearly all of the irrigable and arable lands of the county, particularly the Espanola, Santa Fe, Tesuque, Santa Cruz, and Nambe valleys.

The distinguished and lamented Archbishop Lamy introduced the culture of choice fruits, flowers, and vegetables into Santa Fe and elsewhere in New Mexico about fifty years ago. The good man lived long enough to witness the complete success of his experiment and personally taste the rare flavor of its luscious results. It was soon found that all the most desirable varieties of temperate zone fruits, including the largest and finest flavored French cherries, could be grown here in perfection and in quantities only limited by the extent of land and available water supply; that the soil and sunshine of Santa Fe would produce roses rivaling those of France and Italy in beauty and fragrance, and that the conditions were peculiarly favorable to the cultivation of all kinds of edible vegetables. It thus happens that the orchards and gardens in and about the capital city are not only veritable beauty spots, either when blushing with sweet prophecies of better things to come or burdened with matured and mellow fruitage, but provide many families with the comforts of life. Some of these orchards and gardens are irrigated from ancient acequias taken out of the Rio Santa Fe, and others are watered direct from the mains of the local water company.

POSSIBILITIES OF IRRIGATION,

The extent of land so far devoted to the twin arts of agriculture and horticulture is comparatively small because the natural flow of water in the mountain streams is not sufficient during dry seasons to justify taking out much longer or larger irrigating ditches. These streams carry immense volumes of flood water during the months of February, March, and April, when the snow is melting in the high altitudes and the spring rains are in progress, and again become rushing torrents during the heavy rains of July and August; but, coming from precipitous heights and pouring into expanding valleys and plains below, their invaluable surplus is soon absorbed by the porous soil or taken up by the thirsty air. So, during the months of May and June, when most needed for irrigating purposes, the supply of water is smallest. The remedy is obvious. Wisely located storage reservoirs, like those in southern California or in southeastern New Mexico, capable of holding until needed the flood waters of winter, spring, and midsummer, would render it possible to reclaim and make fruitful thousands of acres of as good land as any now under cultivation in the county.

Careful observations in the cañon show that the Rio Santa Fe has a flow of 80 acre-feet per day during the months of February, March,

and April; that the rainfall in Santa Fe during July and August varies from 2.50 to 6.25 inches, while in the mountains and canyons composing the watershed of the river and embracing an area of over 100 square miles the rainfall during these two months is not less than 10 inches; that the rainfall in September sometimes amounts to nearly 3 inches; and that after the irrigation season closes, or during the months of November, December, and January, there is always surplus water. In the light of these facts, after making liberal deductions for evaporation and seepage, competent hydraulic engineers reach the conclusion that the storage of the flood or waste waters of the Santa Fe would reclaim and render valuable from 20,000 to 25,000 acres that are now arid and practically worthless.

The Nambe, with numerous natural storage basins along its course, carries three or four times as much water as the Santa Fe, and hence is capable of reclaiming fully 60,000 acres. The Tesuque has about the same, and the Galisteo about half the flow of the Santa Fe. The reservoir and waterworks of the Santa Fe Water and Light Company, as well as the extensive ditches and laterals of the Espanola Valley, including a complete ditch system just constructed by the Government for the San Ildefonso Pueblo, show that a beginning has been made in utilizing the waters of the streams in Santa Fe County for irrigation purposes. Owing to the great fall of these streams in their course they could also furnish ample and cheap power for industrial enterprises.

Next to the Rio Grande, one of its tributaries, the Santa Cruz, in the extreme northern part of the county, carries the largest volume of water. South of the Santa Cruz flows the Nambe, or Pojoaque, into the Rio Grande. The Pojoaque has the Tesuque as a tributary. The Truchas and Santa Clara carry but a small volume of water, but still sufficient to irrigate a considerable area if their flood waters were stored. The Santa Fe has a tributary called the Arroyo Hondo, along whose head several hundred acres are under cultivation and which at times carries a large amount of flood water.

FEASIBLE STORAGE ENTERPRISES.

The surplus waters of the nine streams named could be conveniently stored and distributed over the Santa Fe plains as needed, and it will be perceived that, without taking into account the Rio Grande, their combined capacity would be sufficient to reclaim over 100,000 acres in addition to the lands they are now watering. These lands can be secured under the provisions of the United States land laws, or on most favorable terms of private owners, and considering that their soil is as fertile and easily tilled and only requires water to become as fruitful as lands in the Espanola Valley that annually yield excellent returns and are held at from $30 to $300 per acre, the thoughtful reader will be able to form an approximate notion of the large direct and indirect benefits that would flow from the proposed system of storage reservoirs. It would not only richly reward the capital and energy invested in constructive work, but would prove a blessing to many deserving men by affording them much coveted opportunities to gain good homes and comfortable incomes in this almost ideal climate. Ten intensely and intelligently, cultivated acres, one-half planted to the varieties of fruits that flourish so well at Santa Fe and in the Espanola and Tesuque valleys, and the other half devoted to the culture of table vegetables, would furnish ample occupation and

support for a family. The small fruits and vegetables would pay well from the very start, while the trees would begin to bear fruit in five to eight years. Celery of superior quality, possessing in a high degree the delicious nutty flavor so much prized by epicures, readily grows here, and might be made a source of large and constant profit. Acres of asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, oyster plant, and parsnips would reward industry. Experiments prove that sugar beets, grading higher in sugar content than those of California and Colorado, readily grow here, and will be raised on a large scale as soon as the eyes of capital are opened to the wisdom of erecting factories at Santa Fe for their reduction. Fields of alfalfa, wheat, oats, and corn would pay. Irrigated lands are unfailing crop producers. The rapid and successful development of the Cochiti, south Santa Fe County, and other near-by mining districts, with the certainty that the number of consumers there will soon be multiplied to thousands, guarantees the best possible market for all that these lands could produce. What an inviting field for the establishment of colonies. What tempting and unsurpassed opportunities are thus presented to the many invalids who are seeking and finding fresh health and vigor under the benign influences of the almost perpetual sunshine and the pure, dry, rarefied air of a region over which skies of the softest blue tenderly bend, as if bestowing a special blessing.

In consequence of the large shipments of cattle and sheep during the past few years, the extensive areas of fine grazing land are not nearly as well stocked as they should be. According to figures furnished by the cattle sanitary and the sheep sanitary boards and reliable estimates, the live stock in the county in 1901 is classified as follows: Horses, 2,000; cattle, 10,000; sheep, 200,000; goats, 40,000; mules and burros, 1,500. Clearly the field for stock growers is full of invitation. The experiment of raising goats on a large scale, chiefly for the sake of their pelts, has been undertaken by the Onderdonk Livestock Company near Lamy, and has proved very successful. This company will also go into the business of raising high-grade cattle.

MINING-PAST, PRESENT, AND PROSPECTIVE.

In marked contrast with the prolific orchards, fields, meadows, and gardens of the northern valleys and mesas are the gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, zinc, and turquois bearing mountains and hills about Cerrillos, Dolores, Golden, San Pedro, and Santa Fe, and the great anthracite and bituminous coal measures at Madrid and elsewhere in the southern part of the county and around Santa Fe. Unquestionably the gold found in the localities indicated was one of the principal reasons why the Spaniards took such desperate chances to plant and maintain colonies in this county centuries ago. They extensively worked the famous old and new placers at Dolores and Golden 200 or 300 years ago, rescuing therefrom millions of dollars' worth of gold, mainly by means of the labor of enslaved Pueblo Indians and the rudest possible methods, even obtaining scanty supplies of water by melting snow with heated rocks; and their descendants are still working these inexhaustible deposits of pay gravel by means of “dry washers." Much of the gold is quite coarse. Years ago a nugget was found near Dolores that yielded about $400, and after heavy rains nuggets worth several dollars each are often picked up. Except for the absence of water the stream of gold from these fields would be immense and continuous. Modern skill and enterprise have partly

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