THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Ill) 



the river, between two spurs of the Rocky Mountains. 

 Beginning at the north at Fort Seldon it extends almost 

 to the corporate limits of El Paso on the south, a dis- 

 tance of fifty-five miles. In width it varies from five 

 to-seven miles. On the east and west its boundaries 

 are the lofty ranges of mountains, the highest of which 

 the Organ Mountains rise to a height of 8,000 

 feet above the sea. The general elevation of the valley 

 is almost 4,000 feet. 



Irrigation canals and ditches constructed so long 

 ago that the date is forgotten are being used today in 

 much the same primitive manner in which the ancestors 

 of the present race used them, nor have the methods 

 of agriculture changed to any appreciable extent among 

 these descendants of Old Mexico's pioneers to the 

 United States. They are indeed strikingly like those 

 practiced by the farmers of Spain ever since the fif- 

 teenth century. 



PRIMITIVE METHODS. 



The method of raising wheat among the Mexican 

 irrigators of the valley is not unlike that which pre- 

 vailed a thousand years before the Christian era. The 

 tillers of the soil in the days of the Pharaohs, if they 

 could be called back, would require no training to take 

 'a position on one of these Mexican farms. Early in 

 the springtime the Mexican and his family journey 

 forth into the fields and collect and burn the forest of 

 weeds which have accumulated since the preceding 

 summer. Then goeth forth the sower, equipped 

 with a pailful of wheat, which he scatters broadcast 

 over the land. The plowman follows, driving generally 

 a small pony. Only the surface of the ground is stirred, 

 and this seldom to a depth more than three inches. 

 Then the field is divided into square beds by furrows 

 turned up by the plow, the edges being raised by high 

 borders to hold the water. The squares are filled with 

 water from the ditches, the water is being applied again 

 ajid again, until the soil is thoroughly saturated. The 

 Mexican" haciendado now becomes a gentleman of leis- 

 ure, with ''time to burn." He squats in the sun or in 

 the shade of his adobe hut, and, cigarette in hand, 

 watches Dame Nature hustle for him. 



Early in June, with his family, which includes 

 sons, cousins and nephews, he proceeds to the field, 

 armed with his sickle, manufactured at a very remote 

 date, and cuts the crop. The straw is left standing, 

 as it has no value to the Mexican. The grain is brought 

 to the threshing floor, which is made of beaten mud. 

 A herd of goats or sheep, and often ponies, is brought 

 up and driven round and round until the grain is 

 threshed out. This will call to mind the Biblical de- 

 M-ription of "treading of the corn." The short straws 

 arc now raked away, leaving the wheat and chaff. Now 

 follow? the winnowing, which is performed as it was 

 in the days of Abraham. The grain is tossed high in 

 the air and the wind carries away the chaff. 



CARELESS FARMING. 



Corn is second in importance as a crop in Mesilla 

 Valley. The seed is sown at intervals'in a small fur- 

 row by hand. As soon as the. plant shows up well the 

 ro\\< are hilled, and throughout the season the fields 

 arc usually planted in rotation. Alfalfa is a very im- 

 portant crop in the valley, and its value for forage is 

 fully recognized. Being a perennial plant requiring 

 but one planting, it is very popular with the Mexican 

 agriculturist. The present systems are wasteful of 



water, and owing to the careless farming, the crop yields 

 are very light. Lately all the irrigators have been 

 complaining of shortage of water. The construction 

 of immense canals in Colorado on the headwaters of the 

 Rio Grande has greatly lessened the flow of the stream, 

 and there is crying need of storage to hold back the 

 great spring floods now wholly unutilized and run to 

 waste. 



THE PROPOSED' RESERVOIR. 



The reservoir site is at Elephant Butte, and is 

 described as one of the most favorable locations for 

 storage found in the West. The reservoir will be forty 

 miles in length, and its capacity will be 3,000,000 acre 

 feet, or ample for the 180,000 acres of land to be sup- 

 plied by it. 



The cost of the project, including reservoir and 

 all diversion works and canals above El Paso, is es- 

 timated at $7,200,000, or $40 per acre on 180,000 

 acres. This is below the value of irrigated land in the 

 valley, and those best informed pronounce the project 

 desirable at the price. The main item of cost is the 

 dam, which will require 300,000 barrels of cement, a 

 large amount of machinery, gates, etc., entailing a 

 very heavy outlay for freight. It is estimated that the 

 dam will cost approximately $5,300,000. As projected 

 the dam will be arched up stream and on a six degree 

 curve, the upstream edge or crest having a radius of 

 955.4 feet. The dimensions are as follows : Height of 

 dam from bedrock formation to top of parapet walls 

 or crest, 255 feet; thickness at bottom, 180 feet; on 

 top, 20 feet; length of crest, 1,150 feet. The roadway 

 is five feet below the crest, between parapet walls on 

 each side, at a natural gap on the west side of the val- 

 ley, is several miles above the dam, and about 175 feet 

 above the level of the present river bed. It will have a 

 total length of 800 feet. 



At a public meeting recently held in the .valley 

 a resolution was unanimously adopted declaring in 

 favor of the project and iirging Congress to pass leg- 

 islation to enable lands in Texas to be benefited by this 

 reservoir and contribute to its cost. 



C. J. BLANCHARD. 

 United States Reclamation Service. 



Washington, November 22. 



GREAT IRRIGATION ENTERPRISES IN CAL- 

 IFORNIA. 



In the Sacramento Valley, California, great irri- 

 gation systems are being built which will add, within 

 the next few months, 500,000 acres to the irrigated 

 area of this country. During the past two or three 

 years this great valley has been the scene of elaborate 

 irrigation surveys by the United States Agricultural 

 and Interior Departments, and the abundance of water 

 supply and comparative cheapness of application havt 

 been commented on at length in exhaustive official, re- 

 ports, which have spoken in high terms of praise of 

 the productive capabilities of Sacramento Valley soil 

 and climate and the immense wealth certain to be 

 created by the development of irrigation systems. It 

 is said that the National Government, has now in con- 

 templation an immense irrigation project for the Sacra- 

 mento Valley, but the people of California are not 

 waiting on national enterprise. 



