File:The land of sunshine, a handbook of the resources, products, industries and climate of New Mexico (1904) (14595786099).jpg

Identifier: landofsunshineha02newm (find matches)
Title: The land of sunshine, a handbook of the resources, products, industries and climate of New Mexico
Year: 1904 (1900s)
Authors: New Mexico. Bureau of Immigration Frost, Max, comp Walter, Paul A. F
Subjects:
Publisher: (Santa Fe, N.M.) J.S. Duncan: public printer
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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y sections, ^and the un-doubted existence of large artesian belts, all promise thatsooner or later a large j^artof New Mexico will be under suc-cessful irrigation. Sufficient data have been gathered and published in thereport of the Territorial commission of irrigation in 1898 andby the United States geological survey to make it quite prac-tical to pick out the most available reservoir sites and to de-termine upon projects, which at a minimum cost would benefitthe greatest number of people. The Territory may properly be divided into three distinctregions, the eastern plains, the Rio Grande Valley and thewestern plateaus. The eastern portion is an extension of thehigh plains of Texas, broken by the waters of the Canadianand Pecos rivers. This broad stretch of open grazing landcontinues to the uplands which form the southern extensionof the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. This portion is a favored section for the cattle growers andsheep raisers. Beyond this broken country is the Rio Grande
Text Appearing After Image:
THE LAND OF SUNSHINE. 43 valley, and still further west are elevated arid table lands.These extend to the mountains, which lie about the headwatersof the Gila and Salt rivers. In the extreme northwestern partof the Territory, where are the fertile valleys of the San Juanriver and its tributaries, there has been recently a consider-able development of irrigation. In the Rio Grande section there a few very large irrigationcanals and many small community ditches held by the Indiansand small settlers. The origin of these ditches is lost, evenin local tradition, and it is probable that many more of themwere in use before the advent of the Spaniards. Under thecommunity system each ditch is held and controlled by theowners of the land it irrigates, these living usually togetherin a village or pueblo. In the fall of each year a mayordomois elected, who has full control of the ditch for the followingseason. He assesses the land for the labor necessary to cleanthe ditch and to keep it in repair

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