IRRIGATION IN NEW MEXICO. 



JOEL SHOMAKER. 



New Mexico comprises an area of 122,580 square miles, or 78,374,- 

 400 acres. The Territory was created by act of Congress, Sept. 9, 

 1850, and in 1890 had a population of 153,593, including 1,956 colored. 

 The official census report gives 4,458 farms owned and cultivated, 

 and 3,085 or about 70 per cent being irrigated. Small farms are 

 noticeable here as in Utah, the average size of the irrigated farms 

 being only 30 acres. The first cost of water right averages $5.58 and 

 annual maintenance fee $1.54 an acre. There are sixteen county di- 

 visions, possessing similar characteristics, enclosing numerous fertile 

 valleys ranging from 2,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level. Several 

 mountain peaks reach an altitude of 13,000 feet and hold the winter 

 snows in perpetual reservoirs for mid-summer irrigation. 



Irrigation has been practiced in New Mexico for many centuries, 

 and in some instances the primitive canals of the native Indians and 

 Spanish invaders of ancient days are yet in use. The principal irri- 

 gated areas are narrow valleys along the river banks, where the 

 Mexicans originally owned small individual ditches, taken from the 

 streams by means of temporary dams of brush and rock. The pro- 

 ducts of these farms include all the fruits, cereals and grasses of the 

 temperate belt, and such semi tropical plants as oranges, lemons, 

 figs, peanuts, sweet potatoes and cotton, all of which grow in great 

 profusion in some of the warmer sections. The water supply is well 

 distributed and most of the smaller streams are appropriated by farm 

 partnership or co-operative ditches, constructed at little expense, and 

 kept in repair by the labor of the owners. Water is an appurtenance 

 to the land and a proportionate volume is transferred each heir in the 

 division of old estates or the sale of cultivated areas". 



In 1890 there were 35,504 families residing in New Mexico and 

 25,867 families occupied farms, all except 721 being free of mortgages 

 or other incumbrances. The corn crop of this Territory for 1897 was 

 a total of 661,581 acres, which yielded 4,282,648 bushels, and oats 

 258,795 bushels. In 1895 the official returns gave 2.936,612 sheep 

 owned in the Territory. The average wool clip hardly reached five 

 pounds on account of many natives having a poor class of sheep, but 

 the more enterprising wool growers have the best Merinos and Cots- 

 walds. Stockraising has always been a leading industry in New 

 Mexico and the last official census figures give 7,247,820 as the actual 

 number of live-stock owned by farmers and rangemen. The entire 

 Territory is well adapted to ranges as the tablelands are covered with 



