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The National Geographic Magazine 



lifted into a concrete-lined conduit, which 

 discharges into the main canal. During 

 the irrigation season this leviathan pump- 

 ing plant will lift 30,000 acre-feet, or 

 about 11,000,000,000 gallons. 



The value of land in this part of 

 Kansas, in its natural condition, varies 

 from $5 to $15 per acre. When re- 

 claimed by irrigation it is easily worth 

 from $100 to $150 per acre. The prin- 

 cipal crops are sugar-beets and alfalfa, 

 considerable quantities of which are al- 

 ready under cultivation. Apples and 

 melons are especially profitable crops 

 when irrigated. This section is tributary 

 to the Santa Fe system. 



NEW MEXICO PROJECTS 



There are three national projects in the 

 Territory of New Mexko, two of which, 

 the Carlsbad and Hondo, are practically 

 completed and will water . 30,000 acres 

 this season. 



The Hondo Project provides for diver- 

 sion and storage of the flood waters from 

 Hondo River, a tributary of the Pecos, 

 and will reclaim 10,000 acres of land in 

 the vicinity of Roswell. No public land 

 is watered by this project, but lands in 

 private ownership are for sale at reason- 

 able prices. 



The Carlsbad Project is located on the 

 Pecos River, in southeastern New Mex- 

 ico, on the Santa Fe system. The entire 

 acreage is in private ownership, but sev- 

 eral thousand acres are included in ex- 

 cess holdings and must be disposed of to 

 farmers who will purchase water-rights 

 under the government system. The price 

 of land varies from $20 to $60 per acre. 



The climate is mild. In winter the 

 temperature during the day is seldom be- 

 low freezing. The summer temperature 

 seldom goes above 100 degrees and the 

 nights are always pleasant. 



The soil is a light, sandy alluvium and 

 very fertile. The chief crops in the val- 

 ley are peaches, pears, apples, cherries, 

 small fruits, alfalfa, cotton, sweet pota- 

 toes, celery, and garden truck. Five 

 crops of alfalfa are grown each year, 

 yielding a total of 5 to 8 tons per acre. 

 Fruits, cotton, and alfalfa are the most 



profitable crops, and fodder-corn, cane, 

 and milo-maize yield good forage crops. 

 Stock-raising is profitable, owing to ex- 

 tensive range lands to the east and west. 



There is a good market for horses and 

 mules at Carlsbad, and hay is always in 

 demand here and at other points in the 

 valley. Cotton, after being ginned, is 

 shipped to Houston or Galveston. 

 Kansas City, Wichita, El Paso, Fort 

 Worth, etc., afford markets for all other 

 excess supplies. The Pecos Valley is a 

 good winter feeding center for range 

 stock. 



Cotton gins, cotton-seed oil and oil- 

 cake factories, and canneries with ad- 

 junct machinery for the manufacure of 

 denatured alcohol are needed in the val- 

 ley. There are at present water-power 

 plants at Carlsbad and at a point five 

 miles below, and there is room for addi- 

 tional plants further down stream. 



The Rio Grande Project involves the 

 construction of a storage dam 255 feet 

 high, opposite Eagle, New Mexico, across 

 the Rio Grande, which will form a reser- 

 voir 175 feet deep at its lower end and 

 40 miles long, with a storage capacity of 

 2,000,000 acre-feet, for the irrigation of 

 180,000 acres of land in New Mexico. 

 Texas, and Mexico. 



The Leasburg Diversion, which is a 

 part of the Rio Grande project, consists 

 of a low, 600-foot concrete diversion dam. 

 with pier, embankment, and sluice-gates, 

 head-wier and head-gates. In connection 

 with the diversion dam 6 miles of full- 

 sized canal were constructed to connect 

 with the old Las Cruces Canal. Con- 

 struction was begun November 27, 1906. 

 and water will be supplied to 10,000 acres 

 this summer. The valley has splendid 

 railroad facilities and contains many 

 thriving cities and towns, of which El 

 Paso, Texas, is the metropolis. 



OUR INEAND EMPIRE 



Beyond the Rocky Mountains lies the 

 true desert, a land of mysterious silence : 

 a land of potential greatness, awaiting 

 the magic kiss of canal-borne water to 

 wake to teeming fecundity. It is often 

 called the inland empire. 



