148 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



site could be found for such a purpose. The Terrace 

 Reservoir company is incorporated under the laws of 

 Colorado and has headquarters at Colorado Springs. 

 The active management in the valley is in the hands 

 of Mr. W. 0. Meier of Alamosa, W. A. Braiden of La 

 Jara and Mr. J. Lahroy Slusher of Monte Vista. 



In the hope of increasing the yield and the quality 

 of field peas grown in the Sas Luis valley Prof. W. H. 

 Olin, head of the department of agronomy of the State 

 Agricultural school at Fort Collins, started in 1906 a 

 competition among the boys and girls of the valley. 

 The present average yield of the peas per acre is 



points; Elias Gibson, of Manassa, third, with 3,989; 

 Menlo Thomas, of Monte Vista, fourth, with 3,275; 

 and Libbie Smith, of Manassa, fifth, with 3,271. This 

 contest will be continued for three years, and at the 

 end of that time the young woman or young man 

 having the best three-year average will be awarded a 

 gold medal costing not less than $50. 



The value of this work in breeding and improv- 

 ing the field pea can easily be seen in calculating the 

 improvement possible. The yearly acreage of peas in 

 the San Luis valley is approximately 100,000. The 

 average yield of 221/2 bushels an acre, or a total of 



Showing Monitor Heads and Excavations for Filling of Dam. 



twenty-two and a half bushels, and Professor Olin 

 feels that it should be at least thirty-five bushels. In 

 the spring of 1907 he sent out selected seed for one 

 hundred hills to each of the two hundred young people 

 interested in the competition. Instructions were given 

 to plant three feet apart each way, giving plenty of 

 room for sun and air and note-taking during the 

 growing period. When the plants had matured, the 

 best one was taken by each competitor, dried in a shed 

 and then expressed to Professor Olin at Alamosa, where 

 the judging took place. The communities around Ala- 

 mosa, La Jara, Manassa and Eomeo subscribed fifty 



2,250,000 bushels, is worth three cents a pound, or 

 $4,050,000. A gain of 12% bushels an acre will be 

 worth $2,250,000. This amount of money produced 

 in the valley yearly in excess would mean much to the 

 people. 



There are few sections of the country where the 

 laying out of roads has been so well and carefully 

 planned as in the San Luis. As closely as possible 

 the roads are made to comply with the section lines. 

 Of course this is difficult in the foothills and near the 

 rivers. The roads are practically all built to run 

 directly to the points of the compass. The longest 



Cement Core of the Terrace Reservoir. 



dollars to a fund which was divided into four prizes 

 of twenty, fifteen, ten and five dollars. The number of 

 points was made up as follows: Weight of grain, 100 

 points given for each ounce; number of pods, 3 points 

 given for each pod; number of peas, 1 point given 

 for each pea; average number of peas, 100 points for 

 each t>ea in average number; number of peas per 

 ounce, 5 points given for each pea up to 70 per ounce. 

 The winner of the 1907 competition was Miss 

 Hannah Heersink, of Alamosa, with a total of 8,240 

 points; her brother, Adolph, was second, with 4,659 



road is what is known locally as the "Gunbarrel." For 

 a distance of nearly eighty miles north and south 

 without a turn. At the correction lines, twelve miles 

 north and south of Monte Vista respectively, it is 

 thrown oft a few feet, but otherwise it is an absolutely 

 straight road from Saguache to the New Mexico border 

 line. "Straight as a gunbarrel," it is said to be, hence 

 its name. North of the Rio Grande river in the more 

 thickly populated farming district other roads lead 

 at right angles to the east and to the west at every 

 section line. 



