12 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the Rio Grande river near the southern end of the 

 valley. There are numerous other streams, such as 

 Rock, La Garita, Carnero, Saguache, Cottonwood, 

 Medano and Sand creeks, which flow into the valley 

 from the surrounding mountains, but the waters either 

 sink or spread out over the surface, soon after enter- 

 ing the valley from the foothills, thus forming great' 

 natural hay fields. 



The altitude of the valley varies from 7,600 to 

 8,000 feet, about the same height as is the City of 



The valley is about 100 miles long that is, from 

 north to south and varies in width from thirty to 

 forty miles, and slopes gently toward the center. The 

 Rio Grande river enters the valley on the northwest 

 side and flows southeast for about forty-five miles, 

 turning almost due south twelve miles southeast of 

 Alamosa. Portions of four counties are included in 

 its scope. They are Saguache (pronounced Siwatch), 

 Rio Grande, Costilla and Conejos. Saguache is the 

 most northerly and the largest. The northern, eastern 



Mexico. The altitude naturally is a great inducement 

 to health seekers, and together with the purity of the 

 water supply, derived for the greater part from artesian 

 wells, is bound to make the Sim Luis valley one of the 

 most popular health resorts in the world. Monte 

 Vista, the largest town in the region, makes the proud 

 boast that never in the twenty-four years of its history 

 has a case of typhoid fever had its inception in the 

 village. 



A word about the history of the valley is not out 

 of place. Zebulon Pike, after whom Pike's Peak is 

 named, was the first United States citizen to penetrate 

 the valley. His visit was in 1806, when the section 

 was then a part of the Spanish domain. On his re- 

 turn to Washington he reported that this section of 

 the state was "an earthly paradise," but notwithstand- 

 ing hi enthusiastic praise of the region there is no 

 record of attempted settlement until 1846. when cer- 

 tain thrifty Mexicans came and settled along the Rio 

 Grande river, using their home ranches as the base 

 camps for the great grazing herds of cattle and sheep 

 on the plains and the foothill slopes. These first 

 settlers were driven off by Indian depredations and it 

 was not until 1855, when -the United States govern- 

 ment established garrisons at Fort Garland, that t hex- 

 had the temerity to return. Then white cattle men, 

 learning of the richness of the pasture land, came in. 

 Gradually they began to dig irrigating ditches and 

 cultivate and were surprised to find that the region 

 which they had first considered too high and cold for 

 the successful pursuit of agriculture, gave promise of 

 being one of the most fertile they had ever seen. The 

 real development of the valley, however, covers a period 

 of less than thirty years. It was then that the con- 

 struction of irrigation canals was begun, taking water 

 from the Rio Grande and the other rivers. 



and western borders of il arc in the mountains and 

 are devoted to summer feeding of sheep. Lower down, 

 just beloxv the foothills, are large cattle ranches. In 

 the eastern portion is the Luis Maria Baca grant, No. 4, 

 one of the concessions make by the Mexican government 

 to certain of its citizens before the region was ceded 

 to the United States. To the southeast is Costilla 

 county, whose south boundary is the Xew Mexico 

 boundary line. The southeast portion of Costilla is 

 taken up by the Sangre de Christo grant, xvhich is 

 probably five times as large as the Baca grant. Rio 

 Grande county is south of Saguache and west of Cos- 

 tilla counties and is of smaller area than any of the 

 other three. Conejos county is in the southwest por- 

 tion of the valley and extends to the New Mexico 

 border. 



General View of Del Nortc. Colorado. 



