ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT. 



His attention being directed to a modest scheme 

 of reclamation at the head of the valley, he pro- 

 ceeded to study the conditions presented and im- 

 mediately his capacious mind grasped the possibilities 

 of a grand undertaking. He made the acquaintance 

 of C. B. Eddy further down the valley, and the result 

 was the development of a large plan of reclamation. 

 Later, J. J. Hagerman, one of the famous millionaires 

 of Colorado, was interested, and with him came a 

 stream of capital, backed by unlimited courage and 

 faith. 



In this six years there has been constructed one of 

 the largest and most substantial systems of irrigation 

 works on this continent, covering a territory more 

 than 200 miles in length, with 1,200 miles of main and 

 lateral canals. But the land covered was off the line 

 of the railroad, and so 

 these plucky men built 

 a new railroad from one 

 end of the valley to the 

 other, and equipped it 

 with the finest modern 

 locomotives and rolling 

 stock. But even a rail- 

 road does not answer all 

 the demands of com- 

 merce for rapid commu- 

 nication, and so these 

 men built telegraph and 

 telephone lines, and 

 brought a locality form- 

 erly almost as remote as 

 Central Africa into the 

 closest touch with the 

 world. Not satisfied with 

 even canals, railroads, 

 telegraphs and tele- 

 phones, they made cities 

 and towns of the best 

 modern type, erecting 

 fine hotels, business 

 blocks, public buildings 

 and beautiful residences. This, in brief, is what has 

 been done in six years by American brains, pluck 

 and capital in the transformation of a desert. Should 

 it not appeal to-day with greater force to American 

 men and women than if it had been done upon some 

 new continent in a remote portion of the globe V 



1. THE PECOS VALLEY AS IT WAS 

 AND AS IT IS. 



The accompanying map shows the general location 

 of the Pecos country. It is in the extreme south- 

 eastern quarter of New Mexico, bordering upon 

 Texas, and within a few hours' ride of Old Mexico. 



NEW MEXICO, PECOS VALLEY IN EXTREME SOUTH- 

 EASTERN PORTION. 



The valley has an average width of ten miles, and its 

 surface is remarkably even, although in places there 

 are high bluffs and gently sloping mesas, with shallow 

 canyons along the river. Until the present develop- 

 ment began, the country was utilized for range pur- 

 poses, and is, therefore, full of the romance of the 

 frontier. The valley is flanked on the west by the 

 Guadaloupe and Sacramento mountain ranges, but 

 on the east slopes away to the Staked Plains of 

 Texas. The fact that it is so abundantly watered 

 made it a favored cattle range in the past. The soil 

 is largely of limestone formation and closely resem- 

 bles that of the richest and most populous valleys in 

 Central New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The 

 natural growth is the mesquite tree and the dry 

 grasses of the arid southwestern plains. 



THE RIO PECOS. 



The valley is watered 

 by numerous rivers and 

 springs, but the chief 

 source of supply is the 

 Rio Pecos, which is one 

 of the more remarkable 

 rivers of the arid region. 

 It rises high up in the 

 Rocky mountains, gath- 

 ering its supplies from 

 snowy peaks, draining a 

 tremendous area and 

 emerging from the lower 

 ranges into the plains a 

 river of very respectable 

 size. Its channel is deep- 

 ly erroded and its volume 

 constantly reinforced by 

 surface springs and un- 

 derflow waters. The Pe- 

 cos carries more or less 

 mineral qualities, but is 

 well adapted for irriga- 

 tion. 



THE WATER SYSTEM IMPOUNDING THE HONDO. 



The great canal system of the Pecos Irrigation and 

 Improvement Company begins at the northern end of 

 the valley, in the neighborhood of Roswell. Here 

 the Pecos receives one of its largest tributaries, the 

 Rio Hondo. This stream is born of the snows of the 

 Sierra Blanca range, and near its mouth is reinforced 

 by a series of wonderful springs. Five of these 

 springs furnish supplies ranging from 400 to 825 

 gallons per second, respectively. Here a large reser- 

 voir has been constructed from which is taken the 

 Northern Canal, which is thirty-five miles long at 

 present and capable of extension. It carries a stream 

 thirty feet wide and six feet deep, watering 67,000 

 acres of land. 



