THE UNFRUITFUL MADE 

 FRUITFUL. 



It has been my pleasure to visit recently the Pecos Vallay, a val- 

 ley which was a few years ago, an arid waste but which r 

 through the skill and intelligence of man, has become a very fruitful 

 district. 



Six years ago The Pecos Irrigation and Improvement Company 

 undertook the reclamation and settlement of the Pecos Valley, lying 

 principally in southeastern New Mexico By the construction of mas- 

 sive dams, extensive reservoirs and great canals at intervals along 

 the river for a distance of 170 miles, 250,000 acres of land have been 

 rendered irrigable, and an abundant and unfailing water supply pro- 

 vided, not only for this large area, but for the additional 150,000 acres 

 over which the canals will be extended as rapidly as may be necessary. 

 Seventy five thousand acres have already been settled upon by farm- 

 ers, more than half of which area has been brought under actual cul- 

 tivation. Hundreds of thousands of fruit and shade trees have been 

 planted, and large sums have already been expended by the farmers 

 in the importation of improved live stock. The Pecos Valley, which 

 six years ago was an unbroken, barren plain, practically uninhabited, 

 is now dotted with farms, orchards and vineyards; while towns and 

 villages are springing up in many places, in which the foundations of 

 prosperous communities are being securely laid. And finally, these 

 results have been achieved by the expenditure, on the part of the pro- 

 jectors of the various enterprises, of fully $4,000,000. 



The prime factor in the great transformation, thus successfully 

 inaugurated, of a desert into a land of verdure and fruitfulness, is the 

 Rio Pecos. 



A unique feature of the Rio Pecos is the manner in which its 

 waters are reinforced as they flow through the Valley. Not only is 

 is the river fed by numerous tributary streams but as well by thous- 

 ands of living springs which flow from fissures in the limestone floor 

 wherewith the entire region is underlaid. The flow of these springs- 

 is constant, never-failing, never- changing; no such series, both as re- 

 gards number and volume of flow, can be fouud, certainly within the 

 arid region of the United States, and possibly on the globe. In some 

 parts of the Valley are lakes fed by these gushing founts, the flow 

 from which is so great as to justify the name of river. In the vicin- 

 ity of Roswell the flow of water from springs is alone sufficient to ir- 

 rigate 35,000 acres; and from the river bank three miles above Carlsbad 

 a single spring pours forth a supply sufficient for the needs of a city 

 A very simple demonstration has been afforded of the replenish- 



