THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



3G5 



NOTES ON IRRIGATION MATTERS IN AND 

 AROUND EL PASO. 



H. SCOUGAL, C. E. 



It is not our intention to write up El Paso as a 

 city, but to refer briefly to its surroundings and the 

 wonderful productiveness of the soil of the Rio Grande 

 Valley in its immediate vicinity. Without doubt, by 

 the aid of water this section, of the Eio Grande Valley 

 can be made the equal, if not the superior, of any 

 alfalfa or fruit producing locality not only of Texas, 

 but of the United States. At the present time in the 

 immediate vicinity of El Paso matters appertaining 

 to irrigation are in rather a revolutionary stage. This 

 can be attributed in part to the cutting off of the flood 

 waters of the Eio Grande by the irrigation in Colorado, 



The Government has a number of officials em- 

 ployed at this moment in and around El Paso and 

 no doubt the district will derive some valuable in- 

 formation from them upon which to base the claims 

 of El Paso for Government aid. During the past few 

 seasons of scarcity of water, the residents of the val- 

 ley have become awakened to the fact that what should 

 be the annual rise of the Rio Grande can no longer be 

 depended upon, and headed by the authorities in charge 

 of the Agricultural College at Mesilla Park, windmills, 

 gasoline and fuel engiaes have come largely into use 

 owing to the fact that the underground flow, some 

 forty-five to sixty feet below the surface, has been 

 proved to be abundant, sufficient water having been 

 found below the surface to irrigate every acre of the 

 surface thai is worth tilling. A farm of ten to twenty 



Harvest Scene, New Plymouth Colony Company's Land near Payette, Idaho. 



which has gradually leduced the flow of this river in 

 its course through New Mexico and Texas to practically 

 "nil" except in the time of the big floods, which in 

 these days of climatic changes have become very un- 

 certain. It behooves the people of Texas, New Mexico 

 and Old Mexico, who are interested in irrigable lands 

 along the banks of the Rio Grande, to combine and 

 put their right shoulders forward during the coming 

 National Irrigation Congress and endeavor to get some 

 permanent assistance from the Government, and we can 

 not help thinking that they are entitled to substantial aid 

 in one form or another, either in the form of a dam 

 and reservoir at El Paso, or above that city and also 

 a grant to test the underflow for an artesian flow of 

 water which undoubtedly will be found not far from 

 El Paso at a depth of from 2,500 to 3,000 ftvi. 



acres of land in the neighborhood of El Paso, when 

 properly, that is, scientifically, tilled . and irrigated, 

 has been proved to net the owner as much as an aver- 

 age farm of 100 or 150 acres in the northern or eastern 

 rain belt. Orchards, vineyards, strawberry patches and 

 the minor berries in many cases are netting the grow- 

 ers over $100 per acre. As much as $800 was taken 

 off an acre of strawberry ground in 1903 by Mr. J. J. 

 Smith, an old resident and one of the leading men of 

 El Paso. In short anything grows to perfection here 

 under irrigation and the facilities and rates for ship- 

 ping produce from El Paso are most favorable. 



So far the pumping systems are of the most di- 

 mimitive type of gasoline engines and pumps, some 

 running smoothly and well, others giving more or 

 less trouble, but this latter class are few and are 



