NEW MEXICO. 



633 



y Salaza ; Attorney-General, William Breeden. 

 Supreme Court : Chief-Justice, Samuel B. Ax- 

 tell, succeeded by William A. Vincent, who 

 was followed by E. V. Long; Associate Jus- 

 tices, Joseph Bell and Stephen F. Wilson, suc- 

 ceeded by W. H. Brinker and William F. Hen- 

 derson. William B. Fleming was also for a 

 time one of the Associate Justices. 



Land Titles. On this subject the Governor 

 reports as follows : 



While there is good ground for suspicion as to the 

 sufficiency of a considerable portion ofland titles, it is 

 yet the fact that the title to much the larger portion 

 of the lands is as perfect and conclusive as can be 

 found anywhere. As a rule, the lands actually occu- 

 pied are held by an unimpeachable tenure, having 

 been handed down from generation to generation, and 

 showing a regular chain of title by transfer and occu- 

 pancy tor 200 years. The only possible cloud upon 

 this class of titles arises from the ignorance of the 

 holders as to the American system of land tenures, 

 which leads them to suppose that there is no neces- 

 sity for a public record for their holdings or a formal 

 patent from the Government. There is also a large 

 area of good lands in different sections of the Terri- 

 tory, amounting in the aggregate to many million 

 acres, subject to homestead and pre-emption entry. 

 A large portion of these lands are in mountain valleys 

 fairly watered and timbered, and are the finest in the 

 world for the production of root-crops, small grains, 

 and fruits. The only really serious embarrassment in 

 connection with our land titles is the fact that many 

 large_ tracts are held on pretended grants from the 

 Spanish and Mexican Governments, while many more 

 that are held on genuine and indisputable titles from 

 those Governments have been enormously magnified 

 by the fraudulent extension of their exterior limits. 



Growth. All but one of the counties in the 

 southern half of the Territory have largely in- 

 creased in population, while some in the north- 

 ern half have diminished. The increase in the 

 Territory has been, in round numbers, as shown 

 by the late census, 14,000. Of this the south- 

 ern counties have made a net gain of 11,600, 

 and the northern counties 2,400. 



Irrigation. In large portions of the Territory 

 water is being developed by boring and sink- 

 ing wells. On the Jornada del Muerto, a re- 

 gion 90 by 40 miles, hemmed in by almost im- 

 passable mountains, known as the " Journey of 

 Death," from the fact that numbers of people 

 and animals have perished from thirst in at- 

 tempting to traverse it, water is now obtained 

 in abundance at several places, at depths rang- 

 ing from 20 to 100 feet. On the Staked Plains 

 on the eastern border of the Territory, and 

 also on the San Agustin plains in the west, 

 and on the great plain about the city of Deming 

 in the south, a large number of wells have been 

 sunk and an abundance of water developed. 



Indian Raids. In May and June destructive 

 raids into the Territory were made by renegade 

 bands of Apache Indians, located on the White 

 -Mountain or San Carlos Indian reservation in 

 Arizona. During that raid, it is believed, fifty 

 itizens of the Territory were killed, large 

 amounts of property in cattle, horses, and im- 

 provements were destroyed, and general devel- 

 opment in the southwestern portion of the 

 Territory was stopped. Early in October an- 



other raid occurred, in the main by the same 

 bands, in which several persons were killed, 

 with a further destruction of property. The 

 eastern line of the San Carlos reservation is 

 but thirty miles from the west line of New 

 Mexico, inside of which lies a region 150 by 

 200 miles in extent, constituting the richest 

 mineral and grazing district in the southwest. 

 This district has been devastated by these In- 

 dians almost yearly for many 'years. Large 

 numbers of the Territorial militia have been 

 acting in conjunction with the United States 

 troops in the defense of the settlements. 



Education. The last Legislature enacted a 

 public-school law, which, though imperfect in 

 some essential features, is a step in advance. 

 Public schools are being generally established, 

 and the public attention is being awakened to 

 the importance of education. According to 

 the report of the Commissioner of the Census 

 of 1885, the number of children that attended 

 school within the year was 10,232, while for 

 the census year 1880 the number was 4,755 ; 

 the number of persons who can not read is now 

 42 091, while in 1880 it was 52,994. 



The University of New Mexico has about 

 200 students of preparatory and lower grades, 

 and an industrial department for Indians. The 

 university was opened four years ago, and is 

 under Protestant control. 



Railroads* There are now in operation in the 

 Territory 1,109 miles of railroad, constructed 

 within the past five years. The extension of 

 the Atlantic and Pacific from its crossing of 

 the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa F6 at Albu- 

 querque eastward to the Texas boundary, 200 

 miles, is practically assured during the coming 

 year. 



Valuation, etc. The assessment rolls for 1885, 

 made up on March 1, show $37,500,498 of prop- 

 erty assessed for taxation, against $28,422,839 

 for 1884, an increase of $9,077,659. This prop- 

 erty consists in part of 778,271 head of cattle, 

 36,153 horses, 1,470,824 sheep, and 44,619 other 

 domestic animals. The net gain in farm prod- 

 ucts since the census of 1880 has been $1,000,- 

 000, and the value of manufactures for 1885 is 

 $3,500,000. The wool-clip for the year was 

 3,376,150 pounds. 



Live-Stock. In 1882 there were fewer than 

 500,000 head of cattle grazing over the plains 

 and along the valleys of the Pecos, the Rio 

 Grande, the Gilas, the Canadian, and the Ci- 

 marron. The subjoined is believed to be a 

 fair estimate of the number and value of the 

 stock now grazing over the ranges of New 

 Mexico : 



