1HE IRRIGATION AGE. 431 



farms with fine thoroughbred registered Herefords and Shorthorns 

 has gained an astonishing impetus here. Large sums of money have 

 been and are now being expended by a number of individuals and 

 companies in bringing into the Valley some of the finest animals 

 money can buy. 



Among the principal breeders of Hereford Stock now located in 

 the Valley are Col. C. C. Slaughter, The Littlefield Cattle Co., and 

 the Milne Bush Land and Cattle Company. 



Since the fall of 1896 the sheep industry in the Valley and the ad- 

 jacent territory has more than trebled in value and in the amount of 

 income realized from it. The encouraging conditions have caused the 

 investment of a large amount of capital in sheep, and the returns re- 

 alized have placed the business in the list of most desirable for remun- 

 erative investment. A large number of fine rams have been pur- 

 chased by flock owners for the purpose of improving either the mut- 

 ton producing or wool bearing qualities of their flocks. 



The sheep interests of the four counties of Chaves, Eddy, Lincoln 

 and Gaudalupe have been centered here by the organization of The 

 Southeastern New Mexico Sheep Breeders' Association. In sheep, as 

 in cattle, a good manager cannot help but succeed. 



In the arid region no town with an agricultural, fruit-growing 

 and fine stock-raising population to support it is a possibility without 

 a bountiful supply of good water with which to irrigate large bodies 

 of land. In this respect Roswell has no peer in the Southwest. Five 

 streams, each fed by immense springs, furnish an enormous quantity 

 of water, by which some 20,000 acres of fine lands, lying close to the 

 town, are irrigated, and the surplus flows into a canal 30 miles long, 

 from which nearly as much more land is irrigated. In addition there 

 are some 30,000 to 40,090 acres susceptible of irrigation, which will be 

 brought into cultivation as fast as there is a demand for it, as it all 

 lies under the irrigation system. 



The lands close to town include a large number of old, well im- 

 proved farms, with bearing orchards and vineyards, and hundreds of 

 acres of alfalfa, on which graze as fine cattle, sheep, hogs, horses and 

 mules as can be seen anywhere. 



The supply of water referred to is supplemented by the develop- 

 ment of artesian wells, of which there are some 100, flowing from 200 

 to 2,500 gallons each per minute. The water is excellent, and of a 

 uniform temperature of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. New wells are 

 being rapidly bored, and the development of water by this means for 

 both domestic and irrigating purposes has assumed proportions which 

 demonstrate the fact that the supply of water obtainable from this 

 source is practically inexhanscable, and that this development is in its 

 infancy here. Artesian water can be had on government land, still 

 subject to entry. Where artesian water cannot be had, water for do- 



