THE IRBIGATION AGE. 



305 



BLUEWATER \&LLEY 



:::: NEW MEXICO :::: 



Favorable Transportation Facilities Strong Home De- 

 mand for Products Fruits and Grains Yield Heavy 

 Decomposed Lava Dust Supplies Rich Fertilizer 

 Water Supply Permanent and Unlimited Grandeur 

 of Scenery Attracts Tourists. 



Irrigation has developed with such rapid strides 

 in the past two years that practically everyone in the 

 United States is familiar with the subject, and all con- 

 cede that he who owns an irrigated farm is lucky, and 

 those who do not own an irrigated farm ha-ve made up 

 their mind that "when the good ship comes in" they 

 will acquire one. In the selection of irrigated land, 

 however, it is well to select the soil that will return the 

 largest profit to the purchaser and become a "nest egg" 

 for the future. 



Returns from the lands, of course, depend upon the 

 price received from the crops raised. In this respect 



ley for dairying and poultry. Milk in the nearby towns 

 brings as high as forty cents per gallon, butter forty 

 cents per pound and eggs from 30 to 90 cents per dozen. 



There is a large area of unfencecl grazing lands in 

 the Bluewater Valley, which are roamed at will by the 

 cattle of the settlers. The dairying industry can be 

 carried on cheaply and profitably. The Bluewater De- 

 velopment Company maintains as fine an experimental 

 farm as can be found anywhere. All the vegetables and 

 forage crops are demonstrated in their highest stage of 

 perfection, and the farm is in charge of two experts 

 who advise and assist new settlers. 



Lands in the valley are practically level, and as 

 large tracts have been cultivated there is very little 

 clearing of sage brush to be done. Soil is a deep, rich, 

 dark red loam, strongly impregnated with magnesia 

 salts and oxide of iron, derived from decomposed lava 

 dust, the richest fertilizer known. 



Fruits being grown in the Bluewater Valley this 

 year are apples, cherries, plums and pears, strawberries, 

 raspberries, currants and gooseberries. Apples should 

 be especially fine on account of the color derived from 

 the decomposed lava in the soil. 



Of the forage crops, alfalfa, wheat, oats, barley and 



r 



of r:l::c\vatcr Reservoir. 



the Bluewater Valley, in New Mexico, is as favorably 

 situated as any tract of irrigated land in the west. Lo- 

 cated 100 miles west of Albuquerque, upon the main 

 line of the Santa Fe Railroad, near the junction of its 

 lines, the farmer in the Bluewater Valley has all the 

 advantages of quick transportation. Moreover, the 

 home market will consume, at high prices, a-11 the for- 

 age crops which he can possibly raise. The Bluewater 

 Valley is a garden spot, an oasis in the midst of a ter- 

 ritory two hundred miles square where the only other 

 industries are lumbering, mining and cattle and sheep 

 raising. 



Lumber and mining operations employ hundreds 

 of men who produce nothing agriculturally but are large 

 consumers. Fresh vegetables and all other agricultural 

 products for these camps bring high prices. One who 

 has lived upon canned milk and canned peas and canned 

 corn and canned tomatoes (in fact "canned everything" 

 with the exception of the air he breathes) can appre- 

 ciate the avidity with which the mining and the lumber 

 population, as well as the stock men, buy fresh vege- 

 tables. 



There are great opportunities in the Bluewater Val- 



Indian corn thrive and produce large yields. Oats run 

 100 bushels per acre and have been selling for the last 

 two years at 90 cents per bushel. Wheat will yield 40 

 bushels per acre. Potatoes and sugar beets are probably 

 the best root crops. The potatoes are large, smooth, 

 solid and meaty. The seed planted is from the Red 

 River Valley and the non-irrigated seed from Greeley, 

 Colorado. 



Sugar beets have been produced with a sugar con- 

 tent of more than 20 per cent, with an exceptionally 

 heavy tonnage to the acre. Arrangements hnve been 

 made with the Colorado factories whereby beets from 

 the Bluewater Valley can be marketed advantageously. 

 This is effected by an absorption of a portion of the 

 freight rates by the sugar factories themselves. 



In respect to water and facilities for its storage, 

 the Bluewater Valley is especially favored. Lands are 

 watered from a fine reservoir, first located by the 

 United States geological survey. It consists of a large 

 deep basin covering 3,435 acres, the only outlet to which 

 is through a narrow, rock-ribbed canyon. Across the 

 mouth of this canyon a dam has been constructed, form- 

 ing an impounding basin. The outlet is a tunnel driven 



