THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



23 



Again, separately, these dry arroyos may con- 

 duct but a small amount of flood water at a time, 

 but taken collectively, their capacity swells to large 

 proportions, and by constructing a dam and storage 

 reservoir at some favorable point where the com- 

 bined waters of many such water courses may be 

 conserved, the results are eminently satisfactory. 



In T^os county, in the northern part of New 

 Mexico, there is such a project now under way 

 which is calculated to irrigate about 6,000 acres of 

 land which, in its present condition, is utterly un- 

 productive, and yet it has been proven that when- 

 ever these lands have been watered they have pro- 

 duced generously. The water to be conserved un- 

 der this project will be derived almost entirely from 

 floods following summer rains, and the water shed 

 is composed of several thousand acres of rolling 

 hills through which many small arroyos and washes 

 now conduct these flood waters into a deep ravine 

 with an outlet in the Rio Grande. By constructing 

 a wide dam and 

 large reservoir it 

 will be possible 

 to conserve these 

 waters, and 

 through diver- 

 sion ditches to 

 conduct them on- 

 to the lands re- 

 ferred to. Much 

 of the work on 

 this project is 

 already finished 

 and the entire 

 scheme is now 

 nearing a suc- 

 cessful comple- 

 tion. 



In C o 1 f a x 

 county the own- 

 ers of one of the 

 largest stock 

 ranches in the 

 State of New 

 Mexico have 

 constr u c t e d a 



dam and reservoir at a favorable point along a small 

 mountain stream, which serves as a main drainage 

 system to many thousand acres of surrounding 

 foot-hills and rolling lands, and the flood waters 

 which annually rush down these hillsides during 

 the summer rains are carried through gullies and 

 arroyos into this stream which, before the construc- 

 tion of this dam, became a swollen torrent and a 

 serious menace to the ranch property. There is 

 now conserved in this storage reservoir approxi- 

 mately 5,000 acre feet of water, enough to secure 

 the crops against at least two years of any possible 

 drouth, as well as affording ample water for use of 

 livestock when the streams are low. This is a 

 practical example of what may be accomplished 

 along this line, and one of the best evidences of its 

 feasability. 



The Eklund dams and reservoirs, in Union 

 county, in the northeastern part of New Mexico, 

 are another illustration of what may be done in this 

 regard, and are constructed along similar lines to 



Four-way Distributing Box of Concrete, 



El Paso 



the one above referred to. Where vast quantities 

 of flood waters once swept down the hillsides, un- 

 checked, following the lines of least resistance and 

 forcing an outlet through sheer strength of its 

 mighty impulse, often leaving destruction or damage 

 in its path, now may be seen a series of well con- 

 structed dams with diversion ditches carrying these 

 flood waters onto the thirsty soil, over which it 

 once rushed with such disastrous results. Tamed 

 by the genius of mankind, these flood waters become 

 the servant of men and a first aid to the production 

 of larger and better crops. 



Another private project of this character is the 

 Arroyo Hondo dam and reservoir in Santa Fe 

 county, which gives promise of being the means of 

 bringing under irrigation a large acreage which now 

 either depends upon dry farming methods, or is not 

 cultivated at all, being used chiefly for grazing pur- 

 poses. The breaking up of much raw land into 

 cultivated farms and orchards will follow the suc- 



' cessful carrying 

 out of this pro- 

 ject, and will be 

 of great benefit 

 to the state in 

 general and to 

 Santa Fe county 

 in particular. 



Another fea- 

 ture of these 

 dams and reser- 

 voirs, and one 

 which appeals to 

 all true sports- 

 men, is the fact 

 that many beau- 

 tiful lakes are 

 formed in other- 

 wise arid places, 

 where wild 

 ducks and geese 

 gather, and in 

 which game fish 

 are planted, af- 

 fording fine sport 

 for hunters and 

 anglers during the open season. 



More serious attention has been directed to 

 the conservation of these flood waters in New 

 Mexico since the launching of the Elephant Butte 

 project on the Rio Grande, the Carlsbad project on 

 the Pecos, and the Rio Hondo project on that river, 

 by the United States Reclamation Service, within 

 the past ten or fifteen years, and as an indication of 

 what may be accomplished under proper irrigation 

 methods in New Mexico, a few figures taken from 

 the Reclamation Record for November, 1916, may 

 be of interest. According to the statistics therein 

 presented, the cash value of the total production for 

 1915, under these three Government projects, was 

 as follows: 

 Carlsbad Vegetables, fruits, cotton, 



cane and hops $ 245,684.00 



Cereals, hay, grain and forage 140,376.00 

 Rio Hondo Cereals, hay, grain and 



forage 14,943.00 



(Continued on page 27) 



Receiving Discharge From Artesian Well, 

 Texas. 



