130 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES 
Spanish is the language of a large proportion of the population of New 
Mexico, in many sections greatly preponderating over English. 
A large number of Indians live in the several reservations, aggregat- 
ing 7,340 square miles, in the northern and central part of the State. 
According to the report of the United States Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs the number was 28,736 in 1932, more than half of them 
Navajos. There are numerous ruins of settlements of aborigines, 
some of them of great antiquity, for there were large villages of these 
people at many places long before the coming of the Spaniards.  Irri- 
gation was extensively practiced by some of these ancient people. 
According to the Census Bureau and the General Land Office the 
area of New Mexico is 78,401,920 acres, of which 14,383,995 acres (1931) 
is unreserved public land, 14,000,000 acres State land, 30,822,034 
acres in farms and ranches, and 9,912,026 acres in national forests. 
Large numbers of cattle, sheep, and goats are pastured in the national 
forests at a small fee, under certain restrictions as to number of animals 
and their distribution to avoid overgrazing. About 12,000,000 acres, 
some of it in ranches, is included in land grants and Indian reservations. 
About 2,000,000 acres is cultivated; of these 600,000 acres is under 
irrigation. The largest reclamation project is that of the Elephant 
Butte Dam, where the Rio Grande isimpounded. The Pecos River is 
dammed near Carlsbad, and there are many small irrigation projects. 
United States census reports show that in 1929 the farms and ranches 
numbered 31,404, with a total value of $220,856,219, including build- 
ings, fencing, and machinery, and the value of crops was $34,648,000. 
Much of the ranch land and other areas is used as pasture for live- 
stock. Cattle in 1930 numbered 1,060,327, and goats and sheep 
numbered 2,587,600 and yielded wool and mohair valued at $3,392,114. 
A large part of the public land in New Mexico is not suitable for agri- 
culture on account of its configuration and the aridity of theclimate. 
The principal mineral resource of New Mexico is coal, which occurs 
in large fields west of Raton, near Cerrillos, and about Gallup, also in 
several minor areas, all in the northern part of the State. The total 
area underlain by coal is very great. Its production in 1930 was 
1,969,433 tons (U. S. Bureau of Mines). There are mines of gold, 
copper, silver, lead, zinc, and other minerals, and a small production 
of clays, gypsum, and building stones. Potash is now being mined 
near Carlsbad, and petroleum and natural gas are obtained in the 
southeast corner of the State and in the San Juan Basin. Accord- 
ing to the Bureau of Mines the values of metals produced in 1929 
were, copper, $18,000,000; zine, $4,520,000; lead, $1,397,000; silver, 
$582,000; and gold, $707,000—in all, $25,206,000. The yield of petro- 
leum in 1929 was 1,830,000 barrels; in 1931 it was 15,360,383 barrels, 
mostly from Lea County, and a large amount of natural gas. 
_ The climate of southwestern New Mexico is in general similar to 
_ that of areas of like elevation above sea level (4,000 feet or more) in 
