THE I E K I G A T I u X AGE. 



337 



The Land of Taos 



A Garden Spot in New Mexico Where Great Development Will Take Place 



Within a Few Years. 



The Editor of THE IRRIGATION AGE recently made a trip 

 through southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, and 

 after reaching the southern state line of Colorado concluded 

 to pay a visit to that far-famed country, the Taos Valley, 

 lying along the canyon of the Rio Grande, and fed by numer- 

 ous strongly-flowing streams, rising in the ranges to the east 

 and south. 



Surrounded on the south and east by lofty mountains, 

 flanked on the north by low foot hills and skirting on the 

 west the magnificent canon of the Rio Grande, the Taos 

 Valley of New Mexico nods to an ancient race, a forgotten 

 civilization and, offering up its wealth of soil and its immut- 

 able panorama of scenery, beckons eagerly to the approaching 

 vanguard of a new people, new industry, new life and new 

 activity. 



Long before a certain daring Italian braved the danger of 

 counsel and tradition to sail westward and plant the Spanish 

 flag upon the shores of a new continent, the Taos valley, 

 peaceful and productive, sustained a red-skinned race. Skilled 

 in the arts of peace, home-loving, industrious, its people reared 

 unto themselves monuments that shall last forever. The 

 Pueblos of the Taos form the curious, puzzling links between 

 the long past and the present, and by their grim solitude 

 awaken the speculation and wonder of a new race. 



Ever was the Taos a valley of fulfilled promise. With 

 the primitive implements in their employ, the ancient dwell- 

 ers might only scar the surface, yet bountiful harvests suc- 

 ceeded each planting. So copiously had nature supplied 

 the soil with plant foods that generation after generation 

 lived bountifully by occasionally turning surface soil. 



Four inch plow shares were unknown, rotation of 

 crops was never practised, science had never aided the soil- 

 tillers with a treatise on weed-killing or plant culture, 

 fertilizers were never applied, yet even as far back as the 

 legends and traditions of the race extend, the valley was 

 known as the storehouse of old New Mexico, the west and 

 southwest. Old ditches and their laughing waters tell the 

 plain story of the years, but the mighty march of civiliza- 

 tion will straighten their crooked courses and widen their 

 historic channels, clear away the willows and cottonwood 

 lining their banks ; with the spirit of western progress, 

 crude implements of agriculture and the primitive methods 

 of farming must gently and gradually pass away, never 

 again to return in all the ages. 



The Taos valley embraces possibly 300,000 acres of 

 agricultural and fruit lands ; with abundance of water 

 through conservation by storage for the entire area. The 

 general elevation of this land is from 6,000 to 7,000 feet. 

 Its mountain streams furnish an abundance of water; be- 

 sides, there is a splendid underflow to be tapped by wells 

 ranging from twelve to sixty feet deep. 



The climate is the finest in New Mexico, and that 

 means the finest in the West. Mild winters, a comfortable 

 summer climate, bright sunny days and uniformly pleasant 

 nights. Three hundred days of sunshine every year, a 

 bracing air, perfect drainage, produce a healthfulness for 

 those seeking that forceful feature among the other good 



things of life. Typhoid and malaria are unknown. Acute 

 diseases rare, pulmonary troubles cannot exist and hay fever 

 is unknown. It seems to be a country of longevity, as one 

 meets here many men and women from eighty to one hun- 

 dred years old. 



Its soil is what might be termed "wash" or "filled" loam, 

 the kind that never wears out. It is deep, active, responsive 

 and full of life. Some of the lands in the Taos Valley have 

 been farmed in a crude way for hundreds of years and are 

 capable of producing enormous crops when properly cultivated. 

 The lands of Taos are, therefore, not unproven, untried or 

 experimental. 



It is safe to say that there is sufficient water flowing from 

 high mountain ranges east of this valley to cover every acre 

 in the valley, provided the water is carefully handled, and this 

 is entirely independent of the flow of the main stream of 

 the Rio Grande itself. 



A number of eastern and middle states men have recently 

 become interested in this section and have made some fine 

 development in that part of the valley lying south and east 

 of the town of Taos. Owing to the fact that a ride of some- 

 thing like fifty miles by stage is necessary from one direction, 

 and over thirty miles from another in order to reach the 

 valley and the town of Taos, this section is but very little 



HBHHa^BBHl 



Canal of The Ranches Orchard & Land Co., Near Taos, N. M. 



