THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



A PKOMINENT NEW MEXICAN. 



COL. MAX FROST, member of the National 

 Committee from New Mexico, is a resident 

 of Santa Fe, a native of New Orleans, La., 

 and a little over forty years of age. He is a lawyer by 

 profession and came to New Mexico when quite 

 young. He has held mauy offices of honor and 

 trust in the Territory; was adjutant- general of the 

 Territory under acting Governor Ritch and Govern- 

 nors Lew Wallace and Lionel A. Sheldon, and colonel 

 of the second regiment of New Mexico volunteer 

 militia for six years. As adjutant-general and as 

 colonel he saw active service in command of Territor- 

 ial militia in several Indian campaigns and against 

 rustlers, and put down serious disturbances with 

 rustlers and desperadoes in Rio county in 1881. He 

 was registrar of the United States land office in Santa 

 Fe from 1881 to 1885; a county commissioner of the 

 county of Santa Fe, and a school director in the city of 

 Santa Fe for several years. He has been for six 

 years secretary of the Territorial Bureau of Immigra- 

 tion of the Territory and it is universally acknowl- 

 edged that in that position he has done most excel- 

 lent and valuable services to the Territory, both in the 

 very fine and able publications of the bureau and in 

 numerous newspaper articles. His work, published 

 in 1894, on New Mexico, descriptive of the Territory, 

 and containing over 100 illustrations and about 350 

 pages of reading matter, is generally conceded to be 



the best and most valuable on New Mexico ever 

 published. He is a great worker, and a man of fine 

 executive talent, energy, vim, and a shrewd politician. 

 He was chairman of the Territorial committee having 

 the Fourth National Irrigation Congress matters for 

 New Mexico in charge, and as such did his work suc- 

 cesssf ully and well in every respect. His re-election 

 as member of the National Committee was a well de- 

 served compliment, and a better man for the position 

 could not have been chosen. For ten years he was 

 editor and proprietor of the Santa Fe Daily New 

 Mexican, and while under his charge the paper was 

 the leading one of the Territory and was very success- 

 fully conducted. He has numerous acquaintances, 

 especially among newspaper men, and is always at 

 work for the advancement of the best interests of 

 New Mexico, materially, politically, and every other 

 way. He is a very forcible and able writer and is 

 about as well posted on everything connected with 

 New Mexico, men and things, as one man well can be. 



THE NATIONAL IKRIGATION BOAED, 



MAX FROST. OF NEW MEXICO. 



THE Board of Irrigation, executive departments, 

 held its first winter meeting in the early 

 part of November, in the office of the director 

 of the Geological Survey. Since the last meeting, held 

 in the spring, two members of this board have resigned, 

 owing to change in their official positions. The place 

 of Mr. Bowers, Assistant Commissioner of the General 

 Land Office, is filled by his successor, Judge E. T. Best, 

 and that of Prof. Harrington by the present chief of 

 the Weather Bureau, Mr. Willis L. Moore. 



At the last meeting of the board it was resolved, 

 that as the first business there should be prepared a 

 statement of existing legislation concerning irriga- 

 tion, the results accomplished in each bureau of the 

 executive department and of the plans for the future. 

 The executive committee made a report covering 

 these points, and after discussion it was resolved 

 that a copy of this report should be sent to each mem- 

 ber of the board for consideration, the matter to be 

 discussed further at the next meeting. 



A formal ballot was taken to fill the position of 

 chairman, vacated by the resignation of Prof. Har- 

 rington, the majority of votes being cast for Judge 

 E. T. Best, Assistant Commissioner of the General 

 Land Office, who was also elected a member of the 

 executive committee. F. H. Newell, chief of the 

 Hydrographic division, has always taken an active 

 part in this work. 



This board, composed of representatives from the 

 various bureaus and offices having to do with ir- 

 rigation and the reclamation of the public domain, 

 was created by order of the Secretaries of Agricult- 

 ure and Interior on March 26, 1895. Its object is the 

 promotion of efficiency and economy in carrying out 

 enactments of Congress, especially those which have 

 reference to the work of the various bureaus, and in 

 preventing duplication of such work by the oppor- 

 tunities for discussion and personal acquaintance. 

 The heads of the divisions concerned are thus en- 

 abled to secure better co-operation and a more thor- 

 ough understanding of the question of irrigation as a 

 whole, and of the relation of the work of each to that 

 of all. 



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