Newspaper Page Text
EX. PASO HERAULT
Saturday, Dec. 31, 1910.
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Work to Comnieiice on a Large Scale March 1, 1911
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180,000 acres of rich lancLwtll be under irrigation by 1914. Means much to If Paso, A
this lad is in ihe Rio Grande Valley, north arid south of Et Paso, ' j-
WHAT IRRIGATION WILL DO FOR THE "EL PASO VALLEY
Land that cap now be 'had for $50 an acre
Thousancte'bf acres will be turned in to gar
will, in three years, when the Elephant Butte dam is completed, sell readily for $1
den spots. El Paso Valley land is richer than the famous fruit land of California.
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4'- The El Pasor Valley is located in western Texas, on
the banks of the Bio Grande, that flows from the mountain
valleys of the north for hundreds of miles, spreads out
when it reaches El Paso, and for a distance of fifty miles
winds through the lower valley like a ribbon of steel. The
key to the entire valley of the Bio Grande both above and
below El Paso, is at Elephant Butte, in the upper valley,
where the river runs between two rock walls. There the
government is now spending $9,000,000 in constructing a
reservoir Jhat is second only to the great Assouan dam on
the 2sTile in Egypt. Prom this great storage reservoir
water will be taken to irrigate the valleys of the lower
Bio Grande, including the Mexican side of the river below
El Paso. Practically the total flow of the river will be
stored. behind this concrete wall and will be sent down the
canals when most needed to make the crops and orchards -
grow and produce. This dam will rest on a base of bed
rock and will extend from one granite wall to the other,
with the spillways and intakes for the main canals run
ning through solid rock to prevent any danger of injury
to the dam itself in times of flood. Extending back from
the dam for a distance of 45 miles will be an immense arti
ficial lake that will be formed from the impounded waters
of the river. On this plans are already being made for the
erection of summer resort hotels and the. establishing of
motor boat lines for the use of the visitors to the great
artificial lake.
The dam will not furnish water alone for the El Paso
Valley, for there will be hundreds of acre feet more than
needed behind the concrete wll when it is completed.
There is a string of small valleys along the lower Bio
Grande, beginning at the Las Palomas Valley near 'the
dam site, and including the Bincon, Mesilla and El Paso f
valleys. The latter is divided by the river below El Paso
into the Mexican and Texas valleys, the river being the
international line. Treaty rights with Mexico have been'
established and tne southern republic is to receive a part
of the total flow of the, river after it is stored in the Ele
phant Butte reservoir. But the storage capacity of this
great dam is to be 2,000,000 acre feet, or enough water to
cover that number of acres with a foot of water, and after
the completion of the reclamation service work there will
never be any danger of a shortage of water after the melt
ed snows from the Bio Grande watersheds have been i
caught and conserved in the reservoir. A main canal 175 v
miles in length will distribute the water over the territory -to
be irrigated, each section receiving its proportionate
suT)t)ly at the hands of the government reclamaton service.
There are no free lands to be secured that will come
under the Elejphant Butte project, all of the land that is
now signed up for water rights being owned by individ
uals. These water rights are obtained by the payment of
$40 an acre in the form of ten annual payments of $4 an
acre. This sum is to be used in the repayment of the na
tional government for the money spent in constructing the
Elephant Butte dam, and the farmers of the valleys that
are included under the scheme, will eventually own the
complete irrigation system, although it is" provable that
the government will continue to have supervision over the
water supply in order to insure an equitable distribution.
Although there are no free lands to be obtained under
the Elephant Butte project, hundreds of acres of lands on
the mesa, too high to be reached by the irrigation waters,
can be obtained at a very reasonable price. They can be
put under cultivation by the use of gasoline engines to
purnp the water from the wells that are known to exist on
all parts of the mesa. The same soil, the same climate and
atmospheric conditions exist on the mesas to the east and
west of the El Paso valley proper as are found in the
valley itself. This plan has been tried successfully near
Deming? New Mexico, and is being adopted in other parts
of the west where it is impossible ... to. get gravity water
onto the land. There is an abundant underflow coming
4 from the mountains. and great mesa higher up, and which
can be raised and run onto the land at a very small cost per
acre. These underground waters, like the river water,
contain plant food in solution that has been gatSereo! tronr
the rich soil of the mountains above and which is given to
the plants when the water is taken up through the roots.
June is the summer month in the El Paso Valley, the
month of ripening fruits and growing grain. The summer
sun gets in its best licks for eight hours daily and the
farmers make the most of the growing weather by culti
vating and irrigating their crops. The heat of the sun,
which at no time is oppressive, owing to the elevation and
nearby mountains, works the wonderful magic of nature
and the crops grow and produce under its rays like the
flowers under the magician's wand. As the E1 Paso Val
ley is primarily an agricultural community, the summer
season is welcomed as the greatest wealth producer that
the country possesses and few are the complaints against,
the heat. If it is warm during the day, the cool nights
recompense for it and it is never warm in the evening or
at night. The mountains are near at hand and it is never
necessary for the residents of the valley to go away from
home to enjoy the privileges of a summer resort, for with
in a few miles are the mountains, where the high altitude
cools the heat and the nights are ideal for sleeping. June
is the warmest month and it -comes at a time when the
heat is most needed to ripen and flavor the fruits and
-grains. The apples are given their warm coloring by old
Sol as he shines down during his eight hour shift every
day, the grapes are tinted and the sweet grape sugar is
formed in them from the heat of the sun, as it is done in a
chemist's laboratory. The heat causes a more rapid
evaporation of the irrigating waters and in this way more
plant food is taken from the moist ground and distributed
through the plants to cause them to grow and mature more
rapidly.
While agricultrue and fruit growing is the principal
industry of the El Paso Valley, the cattle business is one
that receives a large share of attention and which is the
source of much of the section's wealth. The ranges on the
mesa and in the mountain valleys are covered with fine
blooded cattle that are being fattened for the Kansas City
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and eastern markets. There are af number of large cattle
ranches, any one of which could easily be used as the stage
setting for a western cow puncher story and from which
drove after drove of cattle are shipped to the fattening
" farms and the packing houses of the north and east.
Profiting by the example of such men "as Col. B .E. Smith,
the alfalfa king of Texas, the farmers are coming to see
the value of alfalfa on "foot and many of them are making
preparations to feed instead of shipping their hay next f '
year. Hogs thrive on alfalfa and all that is necessary ir
to prepare them for the market is to put them into a corn
field for a-few days before they are shipped, in. order to
put the finishing touches onto his-majesty. the porker, to
make him fit as a fiddle for the breakfast table. Stock can
also be. fed and fattened in the same way. Dry alfalfa is ,
considered the best possible feed for cattle -and as from
four to six crops can be raised on the land, the feeding
capacity is only limited by the amount of space that can !
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valley, laying and reproducing at a rate that makes them
a profitable side line to the regular industry of farming,
or a business in itself worth while.
El Paso, the metropolis of the southwest, has nine
railroads. It is the largest city between Los Angeles,
Denver, Dallas and San Antonio, and is the center of the
business of the entire district to be irrigated by the Ele
phant Butte dam. It is surrounded on the east and west
by mesas that rise to the importance of mountains.
The elevation is 3800 feet, which insures an equable
climate the year round. The so-called winter is little more
than a continued fall, while the summer is moderated by
the altitude and the mountain breezes that blow through
the valley at all times. The climate of the El Paso Valley
has been pronounced by government experts to be the
finest in the northern hemisphere and the El Paso Valley
and. the eity of El Paso enjoys the benefit of this supreme
climate twelve months of each year. There are none of the
extremes that make most every other widely advertised
climate disagreeable at some season of the year, to be en- f
countered in this valley of sunshine. The heat of the Ari
zona summer is tempered to that of the northern sections,
and the cold of the Colorado mountain resorts is not to
be found in the El Paso Valley. El Pasothe metropolis
in this land of fruit, flowers and sunshine, is possessed of
every attraction, historical and climatic, that makes the
El Paso Vallev the ideal olace in which to live. To the
young man it offers a future that promises to be rich in
opportunities ; to the middle aged the stability of its future
appeals at once and sound intestments are offered that jr
have none of the elements of speculation about them; to "
the old persons, it holds out a climate that has none of j-.
the objectionable features of otner sections oi tne country.
The days of the bad men and hoonier- have gone and the
legitimate business man. whether he is running a ranch or
a bank, is the one that is shaping and controlling the des
tinies of the richest valley in tie land, the Jiil raso vaney
of the Bio Grande.
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AUSTIN & MARR, Caples Bldg., El Paso, Texas.
WM, MOELLR, Herald Bldg., El Paso, Texas.
A. P. CQLES & BROS., 204 N. Oregon St., El Paso, Texas.
NEWMAN INVESTMENT CO., 226 Mesa Ave., El Paso,
Texas.
MAPLE & CO., 209 Mesa Ave., El Paso, Texas.
J. R. FISK, Trust Bldg., El Paso, Texas.
LOOMIS BROS., 202 Texas St., El Paso, Texas.
LATTA & HAPPER, 207 Mesa Ave.. El Paso, Texas.
THE
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AND
COMPLETE
MATHEWS-CHAMPLIN REALTY CO., 117 N. Stanton
St 11 Paso Texas
BUCHOZ & SCHUSTER, Caples Bldg., El Paso, Texas.
H. L. HOWELL. Herald Building, El Paso, Texas. I
ANDERSON -FILLER REALTY CO., Rooms 1 and 2,
Buckler Block, El Paso, Texas.
CASSIDY & DAVIDSON, 211 Mills St., El Paso, Texas.
HATTON REALTY CO., City Nat'l. Bank Building, El
Paso, Texas.
llffiBBIATiON
LONE STAR LAND CO., J13 Texas St., El Paso, Texas
R. C. BAILEY LAND cojomdorff Bldg., 306 Mesa Avf
JOSEPHUS BOaG-S, 15 Morgan Bldg., El Paso, Tex.
FEUX MARTINEZ, 14 Plasa Block, El Paso, Texas.
PETERMAN & LANSDEN REALTY CO.,. Ysleta, Texm
PENCE BROS., 217 Texas St., El Paso, Texas. I
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