114 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



PRICES OF LANDS. 



Unimproved lands in the valley are held at an 

 average price of from $50 to 60 an acre, including 

 water rights. Improved farms, with orchards from 

 two to three years old, may be bought from 250 to 

 $400 an acre. Owners of full bearing orchards will 

 scarcely part with them at any price, for they afford 

 a certain, unfailing revenue which, considering the 

 capital invested and small amount of work required, 

 cannot be excelled in certainty or amount by any 

 other industry or investment. 



These prices may at first blush look high, but com- 

 pared with California, Idaho or Washington prices 

 they are reasonable and when nearness of market, 

 abundance of water and certainty of crops are con- 

 sidered they are remarkably low. 



They will not, however, remain at such reasonable 

 figures very long. Plans for putting every acre of its 

 area under ditch and for colonizing its rich lands are 

 under way, and soon its lands will be a prize hard to 

 secure and values will rise accordingly. The home- 

 seeker who is looking for the location where the most 

 favorable conditions for a happy existence may be 

 found should look in the direction of Grand Valley at 

 once. 



5,000 to 7,000 feet above the level of the valley which 

 has an average altitude of 7,200 feet above the sea 

 level. The continental divide shelters it on the west 

 and north and the Sangre de Cristo range on the east. 

 Mount Blanco, 14,000 feet high, towers in the eastern 

 range like an immense sentinel of the range. 



WELL WATERED. 



The Rio Grande river enters the valley midway on 

 the west side breaking through the sheltering range 

 of mountains at Wagon Wheel Gap. It flows east- 

 ward to the center of the valley and then southward, 

 making its exit through a deep gorge which it has cut 

 through the Conejos range on the southern limit of 

 the valley, into New Mexico. A number of creeks 

 water the northern portion of the valley, all uniting in 

 the San Luis river which flows into a chain of lakes, 

 the San Luis lakes near the center of the valley and 

 from which there is no visible outlet. In the southern 

 part of the valley the surrounding mountain ranges 

 are drained by the Alamosa, La Jara, Conejos and 

 San Antonio rivers, all emptying into the Rio Grande. 



ARTESIAN WELLS. 



Besides its water supply from creeks and rivers the 

 entire valley is underlaid by an immense body of 



ARTESIAN WELL IN THE SAN LUIS VALLEY. 



II. THE GREAT SAN LUIS VALLEY. 



Just at the present time when drouths and simoons 

 have demonstrated that farming in portions of Kan- 

 sas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois is a game 

 of chance with great odds against the farmer, the 

 eyes of hundreds who are looking for a new field in 

 which to begin anew are turned towards the great 

 San Luis valley, and scores of visitors from the burnt- 

 up districts of the Mississippi valley are visiting San 

 Luis to "spy out the land" for themselves and friends. 



ITS EXTENT. 



The San Luis valley is a great plateau of almost 

 level land 125 miles long from north to south and 

 averaging 50 miles wide from east to west. It is en- 

 tirely enclosed by mountain ranges which are from 



water which is tapped by over 3,000 flowing artesian 

 wells varying in depth from 100 to 1,000 feet and in 

 capacity from 25,000 to 900,000 gallons per day. The 

 pressure is such that the water is carried from these 

 wells through the highest buildings in the valley and 

 the flow is such that considerable land is irrigated 

 from them. At Alamosa the entire townsite of 640 

 acres is irrigated by two artesian wells. Although 

 many of the wells in the valley have been flowing for 

 several years the supply does not diminish, but con- 

 tinues the same in all seasons. The cost of putting 

 down these wells is small, not exceeding 20 cents per 

 foot. 



Besides the immense body of water forming the 

 supply for artesian wells, water is to be found in 

 surface wells by digging twelve to fifteen feet. The 



