706 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



The Engle dam will restrain the largest flood ever known in the turbulent 

 Rio Grande, holding back the flood waters now wasted until needed in the 

 months of low water flow. 



In addition to the big dam four diversion dams will be required to turn 

 the waters into immense canals which will distribute it over 180,000 acres 

 of land. One of these dams, the Leasburg, is now completed, and 22,000 acres in 

 Mesilla Valley are already under irrigation from the normal flow of the river. 



Historically this is one of the most interesting sections of the United 

 States. When Coronado and his followers swept up the valley of the Rio 

 Grande in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola with their fabled golden treas- 

 ures, he found the Pueblo Indians operating crude canal systems and culti- 

 vating their crops. The same ditches, some of them enlarged and extended, are 

 in use today, but in many instances the ditches are small and crude, and the 

 lands are tilled in the most laborious fashion, largely by hand. With the 

 initiation of Government work modern methods were introduced by progressive 

 farmers, there has been a healthy growth of cities and towns, and it is safe 

 to predict that the time is not far distant when the Rio Grande Valley will 

 be one of the progressive, up-to-date agricultural communities that characterize 

 the West. 



STUDIES FOR REFORESTATION 



By a. G. HAMEL 



Forest Assistant 



HISTORY repeats itself" is an old adage that is often heiird and one 

 which seldom fails. This is especially so in case of the history of the 

 development of the resources of a country. History is an accumulation 

 of experience and experience is what makes perfect. European nations have 

 been through the same crisis, with regard to their resources that the United 

 States is passing through at present. Some have passed through it successfully, 

 while others gave no heed until it was too late, so we must profit by the 

 experience. 



Much criticism and abuse has been heaped upon the Forest Service, more 

 especially by those who are unfamiliar with its work and the results which 

 men engaged in it are attaining. When immigrants first settled in this 

 country the forests were abundant, covering the hills and vales as far as 

 the eye could see. Agricultural land was needed and as a result the primeval 

 forests fell before the advance of civilization. Man in a few years destroyed 

 what nature had taken centuries to perfect. This continued until now what 

 was once a dense forest is nothing but a barren waste with a few high stumps 

 and burned trees left as a monument to the once covei-ed hills. 



