THE IKKIGATION AGE. 



339 



lies the entire body of lowlands and is an enor- 

 mous future source of water. From this sump, the water 

 is to be pumped in two lifts of 50 and 60 feet each to the 

 mesa above, and from thence distributed by ditch over the 

 Company land. This ditch is to be about 8 miles long. 

 and to cover about 7,500 acres additional. 



A power plant is to be built on the right bank of the 

 Rio Grande river, which forms the northern boundary of 

 part of the Company land, just above its confluence with 

 the Rio Pueblo. At this point a diverting dam is to be 

 built so as to give a fall of 25 feet on the wheels ; the 

 power canal will be some 500 feet long, part in tunnel, in 

 which distance a fall of 15 feet is already available, and 

 which will make only 10 feet of dam necessary. From 

 this point the power will be transmitted to the pumps 

 situated at the sump about eight miles distant, and the 

 surplus from the old ditch and the water collected by the 

 drainage ditch raises to the reservoir on the mesa, thence 

 distributed. 



Besides, the company has water rights on the Ran- 

 ches river, which water can be easily and cheaply run 

 directly on to the upper lands by two miles of ditch, and 

 covering from 1,000 to 1,500 acres additional land. 



The water shed to this land consists of mountain 

 country, 7,000 to 12,000 elevation, well timbered, where 

 snow remains in summer, and rainfall is in the neighbor- 

 hood of 20 inches. Its extent is sufficient to easily furnish 

 water for every inch of irrigable land in the valley. 



The principal field crops are wheat, oats, rye, barley, 

 corn, sugar beets, alfalfa, peas and potatoes. Wheat is 

 of a superior quality, of large plump grain, weighing 

 fifty-five to sixty-eight pounds per bushel, and averaging 



Old Spanish Church, Destroyed in 1846 During Taos Rebellion, 

 Taos Pueblo, N. M. 



Pueblo River, Source of Water Supply for Ranchos Farms. 



on virgin soil from fifty to sixty bushels per acre. There 

 are four flour mills in the valley. Oats yield forty, rye 

 twenty, and barley is a heavy crop. Corn does well. Al- 

 falfa produces five tons per acre. All kinds of vegetables 

 grow to perfection and produce wonderful crops. Pota- 

 toes rank with the famous "Greeley Spuds," and cabbages 

 weighing fifty to seventy-five pounds are not rare. 



Field peas are grown there to such advantage and 

 yield that a true statement of products would be doubted. 

 When fed to lambs and hogs the yearly income per acre 

 will double the price at which the lands of Taos are now 

 selling. 



It has been proven that the lands of Taos are fruit 

 lands. One orchard has produced for twenty years with- 

 out a part:al failure a record without a parallel in eastern 

 or western orcharding. It produced this year $9,000 worth 

 of apples from twenty acres, and its owner does not claim 

 to have given it any special care or attention. A young 

 orchard just coming into bearing on these lands sold for 

 $300 per acre during the last year. Mr. C. E. Watson, of 

 Chicago, has recently purchased 1,280 acres of land in this 

 valley, and has shipped his entire equipment from Chicago, 

 and is now making ready to plant 400 acres to orchard the 

 coming season. Mr. Watson is one of the largest handlers 

 of apples in this country. He has been a buyer of western 

 apples for a score of years, is familiar with all of the fruit 

 sections of the entire west, having visited them all and 

 tested their products, and his selection of this location for 

 his own investment should be all the evidence required upon 

 this subject. A letter written by him upon this matter is 

 convincing proof that it is taken into consideration that 

 he and his associates will expend $250,000 in backing his 

 judgment in the adaptability of the land in the Taos Valley 



