HOME BUILDING IN THE PECOS VALLEY. 



THE STORY OF A MODERN IRRIGATION ENTERPRISE IN NEW MEXICO. 



IF it were announced to-morrow that a new conti- 

 nent had been discovered in some remote quarter 

 of the globe, and that upon that continent was a val- 

 ley which for peculiar reasons offered extraordinary 

 opportunities for the achievement of industrial inde- 

 pendence, and that into that valley capital had gone, 

 and with splendid daring laid the foundation of a 

 modern civilization if such an announcement were 

 to-morrow flashed over the land and under the sea, 

 the very next day the world would he ablaze with ex- 

 citement and enthusiasm. The appeal to popular im- 

 agination would be irresistible. The appeal to the 

 human instincts of avarice, of adventure and of con- 

 quest, and, above all, to the intense human longing 



in the valley of the Rio Pecos as in the story of any 

 of the. colonial settlements made upon American soil 

 in the past. We cannot see to-day that the historical 

 significance of the modern instance is at all to be 

 compared to those of former times, but like our pre- 

 decessors we may be building better than we know. 

 Those who founded the first English colonies in 

 America regarded themselves as merely fellers of 

 trees and builders of homes. They were more inter- 

 ested at the moment in finding bread and butter than 

 in founding institutions. And when we contemplate 

 the enormous possibilities, political, social and indus.- 

 trial of Western America, it is easy to imagine that 

 what is being done to-day in the Pecos Valley will 



EDDY DISTRIBUTING RESERVOIR, PECOS VALLEY SYSTEM. 



to find better conditions of living, would instantly 

 start armies of -home-seekers toward the newly dis- 

 covered land of opportunity. 



SOMETHING NEW ON AMERICAN SOIL. 



And yet these conditions should have precisely the 

 same interest for the public if found somewhere un- 

 der the American flag that they would possess if 

 found in a new and mysterious domain. The Pecos 

 Valley o,f New Mexico is just as truly a field for hu- 

 man conquest as were the shores of Plymouth bay 

 when the pilgrims landed there. In both instances 

 there were difficulties to be overcome, problems to be 

 solved and institutions to be created. There is as 

 much dramatic interest in things transpiring to-day 



be seen in the future to have meant very much in- 

 deed to the country and the race. But let us look for 

 a moment at what has already been done. 



AN EXAMPLE OF DARING ENTERPRISE. 



Six years ago the Pecos Valley belonged all but 

 absolutely to barbarism. It was a long and dreary 

 waste of perfectly desert soil. In places water had 

 been taken out of convenient springs to coax a little 

 verdure around a few cattle ranches, but in the true 

 sense the first blow had not been struck for civiliza- 

 tion in this valley. Chas. W. Greene drifted in from 

 the north, bent upon newspaper work in connec- 

 tion with the Santa Fe New Mexican and the 

 collection of material for a new book of brands. 



