THE CENTRAL RIO GRANDE VALLEY 



Albuquerque Commercial Club 



each one being governed by a board of acequia or ditch commissioners, 

 consisting of three members and a Mayor Domo, or canal superintendent, 

 the four being elected annually by the members of the comunity. at the 

 ditch, or acequia election. These elections are always friendly and the 

 canal superintendent is always nominated with a view to his ability to 

 make his canal give best service. There is much room for improvement 

 in the present system, in straightening canals and stopping waste of 

 water, but the community ditch never fails to get the water to the land 

 and it is doubtful if the modern system has yet been found winch can 

 get the water to the land more cheaply. In any irrigated district, how- 

 ever, economy in the use of water is essential to expansion and the 

 irrigation system in th'is valley must be and is even now being improved 

 and modernized. This will come quickly with the rapidly increasing 

 population of American farmers who, not content with the slipshod 

 methods inherited from the Indians, are seeking to bring every acre to 

 the fullest degree of productivity. Already one large irrigation canal on 

 modern lines ts completed near Los Lunas, which will add 5,000 acres to 

 the irrigated area, while other important systems are proposed for imme- 

 diate construction. 



Eventually the National Reclamation Service will make use of the 

 ideal storage reservoir site offered by the high walls of White Rock 

 Canyon at the head of the valley. Surveys have been made and stream 

 measurements are now being recorded with a view to the future con- 

 struction of the project, which, when it comes, will replace all of the old 

 comunity canals and irrigate every acre of land within the valley. Mean- 

 while the old system serves its purpose well, delivers to the lands under 



