16 CAVE AND CLIFF DWELLERS. 
only a few miles beyond the boundary, 
and to secure which Mexico was smart 
enough to get in the offset to which 
I have referred. It is, I think, the “sink” 
of the Mimbres River, which, as a river, 
lies wholly in the southwestern portion of 
New Mexico. It disappears, however, 
before it crosses the boundary, to reappear 
as sixty or seventy huge springs in Mex¬ 
ico (any one of these would be worth 
$20,000 to $25,000 as water is now sold 
in the arid districts), which drain into 
a beautiful lake, backed by a high sierra, 
the Las Palomas Mountains, altogether 
forming a very picturesque scene. All 
the country around is quite level, and 
thousands of acres can here be irrigated 
with this enormous water supply; while 
it can only be done by the quarter sec¬ 
tion in the Southwest on our side of the 
