USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 36
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1893-4 :- Commissioners, C. W. Haynes (chairman), A. B. Allen, W. P. Chisum; probate judge. F. Williams; clerk, F. H. Lee; sheriff, William M. Atkinson; assessor, C. S. McCarty ; treasurer, James Sutherland.
1895-6 :- Commissioners, C. W. Haynes (chairman), J. A. Gilmore, L. M. Long; judge, C. A. Keith; clerk, F. P. Gayle; sheriff, C. C. Perry ; assessor, F. P. Lea; treasurer, J. S. Williamson.
1897-8 :- Commissioners, W. M. Atkinson (chairman), W. G. Urton, W. P. Chisum; judge, Frank Williams; clerk, F. P. Gayle; sheriff, C. W. Haynes; assessor, F. P. Lea; treasurer, J. A. Gilmore.
1899-1900 :- Commissioners, W. M. Atkinson (chairman). W. G. Urton, N. Jaffa; judge, Frank Williams; clerk. F. P. Gayle; sheriff, Fred Higgins; assessor, S. M. Hodges; treasurer, James A. Gilmore.
1900-2 :- Commissioners, W. M. Atkinson (chairman), Thomas D. White, A. M. Robertson; judge, J. F. Evans; clerk, F. G. Gayle; sheriff, Fred Higgins; assessor, John C. Peck; treasurer, Mark Howell.
1903-4 :- Commissioners, W. M. Atkinson (chairman), Thomas D. White, A. M. Robertson; judge, J. T. Evans; clerk, F. P. Gayle: sheriff. Fred Higgins; assessor, John C. Peck; treasurer, Mark Howell.
1905-6 :- Commissioners, W. M. Atkinson (chairman). Thomas D. White, N. J. Fritz; judge, J. T. Evans; clerk, F. P. Gayle; sheriff, K. S. Woodruff; assessor, John C. Peck; treasurer, J. Smith Lea.
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Wonderful Artesian Field .- There is no field, or belt, or stratum of artesian waters in the world which is more constant in its flow or more accessible than that in the Pecos valley, within the limits of Chaves county. As compared with the average depth of wells in other parts of the coun- try and the world, the borings here are ridiculously shallow, and have been from the first. It is seldom that the wells are extended to a depth of more than 600 feet, although some have been sunk 1,000, but in the majority of cases the main body of water has been struck at about 250 feet, and some of the 300 wells which are now boiling and spouting in the valley have been in constant operation and furnished an unvarying supply of clear, cold, pure water for the past ten years. The shallow wells give a supply of about 250,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, and the deep ones 225,000 gallons per hour, or 5.400,000 gallons in twenty-four hours. The artesian wells have no eight-hour day; they work all the time and furnish the cheapest power which man has yet discovered. With the artificial sys- tems of irrigation they are making what was once considered the Great American Desert, of which Chaves county is a part, to "blossom as the rose."
As nature furnishes the power, the great volume of the artesian flow is used for irrigation. A great majority of the wells in this field of the Pecos valley are less than six inches in diameter, and the pressure varies from six pounds up. Numerous wells are now supplying 1,500,000 gallons per day, and it has been demonstrated that one such well will irrigate 160 acres of land under very heavy croppage, and much more when the land is devoted to fruit trees and crops adapted more or less to growth in an arid country. The soil of the valley is rich in those minerals which nourish vegetation ; the air is dry and pure and discouraging to all forms of para- sitical life which create such havoc to the fruits and grains of other sec- tions of the country, where the rainfall and supply of surface water is con- stant ; and the discovery of artesian water has supplied the one thing need- ful to make the valley a garden of the world.
The proven artesian field in Chaves county is now about seventy-five miles long and twenty wide, and adventurous drillers are increasing the area beyond the limits of what was thought to be the extent of the flow. The first artesian well in the county was bored by Jaffa & Prager on the grounds of the present residence of Nathan Jaffa, in Roswell, in 1890. A strong artesian flow was reached at a depth of about 250 feet, and ever since the experience of borers has been almost uniform. The most striking result of the tapping of this seemingly inexhaustible supply of irrigating waters is the creation and remarkable development of the horticultural in- terests of the valley. It is peculiarly adapted to apple and peach growing, and since the discovery of the artesian denosit the largest orchards in the country have come into bearing, their products being in demand at fancy prices in all the markets of the country. The development of the country has not only made Roswell one of the most prosperous cities in the Terri- tory, but within five years Artesia, in the very center of the artesian dis- trict, has sprung from nothing to a thriving town of 3,000 people, with handsome buildings, electric lights and telephones and all the other modern conveniences. The pressure of the artesian water is used on a limited scale, aside from its utility as a means of distribution in irrigation. In some instances, however, it has been applied to such domestic occupations as
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churning and washing, all the power necessary for such purposes being de- rived through a three-quarter pipe.
Several facts have been noted in the borings and investigations of the Chaves county fields which are worthy of note. There are four considerable streams which supply the surface water-the North Spring river, the South Spring river, North Berendo and the Rio Hondo, all issuing from the White mountains west of Roswell. All of them flow down the Pecos valley, and their water is clear and cool. The North and South Spring rivers have their source in the artesian strata, and they mark the highest point in the field, no flow of artesian water having been encountered at a point above the springs from whence they come.
At points in the valley there are two distinct artesian stratas, though the upper one is missing altogether, and when found is of too small vol- umie to be of much value, though the quality of the water is exactly the same. It always has a temperature of about forty-five degrees Fahrenheit, with 109 parts of solids in the 100,000. The first flow is encountered usually at a depth of about 150 feet, and the main body at 250 feet. In drilling the wells the strata vary, but the last deposit of water is always found in the same formation-an extremely hard, porous limestone, that, so far as known, has never been drilled entirely through.
The utility side of the artesian wells has already been described. It may be added that, besides the successful cultivation of fruits, the condi- tions are especially favorable to the growing of vegetables and garden truck. Roswell has already in operation a cannery for beans, peas, aspara- gus, pumpkins, tomatoes, berries, etc., and before long there will be a good home market for all this kind of produce. In general, land which a few years ago was used only for grazing cattle or sheep and sold by the section for a trifle, is now worth from $35 to $200 per acre. Truck farms in the artesian district rent as high as $40 per acre.
Alfalfa is still the great agricultural crop of Chaves county. With deep soil and plenty of water-say thirty-six inches per acre per annum- four good crops can be grown annually, averaging a ton per acre. The demand is chiefly from southwestern Texas, and it usually sells from $8 to $to per ton on cars; the cost of getting it started to market is about $4 per ton.
The value of alfalfa as a crop is not confined to the readiness and luxuriance of the plant, but, far from impoverishing the soil, it is one of the best fertilizers for other crops, as it takes nitrogen from the air and stores it in the ground.
Kaffir corn and milo maize are also easily raised and need little water, the soil requiring to be irrigated just before planting, and once, with six or eight inches of water, afterward. The average crop is from thirty-five to forty-five bushels per acre, and about two tons of forage. Sorghum, millet and several other varieties of forage crops also grow to perfection with very little water. All root crops do well, and Pecos valley melons are obtaining quite a reputation.
Despite artesian wells, mountain streams and artificial irrigation, the most important source of income of the Pecos valley is still its live-stock : but the old-time, free-and-easy, careless methods of raising cattle and sheep-of turning them out on vast ranges and letting them forage for themselves-have given place to the modern system, founded upon a plenti-
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LOCAL HISTORIES
ful supply of water and cultivated forage, summer and winter. The mar- ket has also continually demanded better breeds of cattle and sheep, and this demand can only be met in the irrigated districts.
The Hondo Irrigation Reservoir .- In 1888 several prominent men in the upper Pecos valley, headed by Leslie M. Long, organized the New Mexico Reservoir and Irrigation Company for the purpose of conserving the waste waters of the Hondo river in the vicinity of Roswell. The place selected for the site of the storage reservoir was about twelve miles south- west from that point, and the general plan appears to have been to construct an immense dam across the basin of the river, extending from the hills on either side. thus making a reservoir of the entire stream for miles above the dam. But the means were not forthcoming for the prosecution of this sim- ple plan, and in 1891 the company sold all of their rights and interests to the Pecos Irrigation and Investment Company, which had been organized two years before in the lower valley and which then was under the control of J. J. Hagerman as president and Charles B. Eddy as general manager.
Under the new management the prospects for the Hondo reservoir looked bright until the latter part of the unfortunate year 1893. In March of that year Mr. Hagerman had interested eastern capital in the various plans inaugurated for the development of the Upper valley, and sufficient money had been subscribed for the building and equipment of the Pecos Valley road from Eddy to Roswell, fifty-five miles. He and his associates also appreciated the advantages of the northeastern extension of two hun- dred and twenty miles to Amarillo, Texas, as the natural outlet into Texas of the products of the Pecos valley. But the panic and the disastrous floods of 1893 paralyzed the irrigation project for the time, although the railroad was opened to Roswell in October, 1894.
The celebration of the opening of the line was on the Ioth of that month, and upon that occasion Mr. Hagerman first visited Roswell and the Northern valley. Although he continued operations sufficiently to keep his rights from lapsing, work in the Hondo was never actively resumed, and. although several efforts to revive the project were made by interested parties, nothing was accomplished until 1902. In June of that year the national irrigation act was passed, and in the fall, chiefly through the efforts of W. M. Reed. of Roswell, who had been an engineer connected with the Pecos Irrigation and Improvement Company. the chief engineer of the Reclamation Service of the national government visited the site of the pro- posed reservoir. On the basis of his reports preliminary surveys were be- gun in February, 1903. Diamond drill boring tests were made throughout the entire bed of the proposed reservoir, to determine the non-existence of subterranean caverns or other unsubstantial conditions of the substrata. At first the people of Carlsbad, through the Pecos Irrigation Company, pro- tested against the prosecution of the work on the ground that, if the waters of the Hondo river were thus diverted, their own irrigation system would be destroyed; but eventually they withdrew their objections, and in Jan- mary. 1905. active work commenced under the supervision of the United States engineers. They selected 10,000 acres of land between Roswell and the site of the reservoir, eight miles southwest, as the tract to be irrigated, this great fertile body lying from seventy-five to two hundred and fifty feet below the reservoir itself. The works, now about completed, consist of a series of dams, which together form what is known as the Hondo reservoir.
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
The $250,000 necessary to complete the reservoir is being expended by the government, and those who come within the irrigated traet will, within the ten years following the completion of the works, reimburse it at the rate of $2.50 per acre. No one person is allowed to own more than 160 acres. The lands for which reservoir water is guaranteed by the government can be bought at from $30 to $50 per acre. Although the title and control of the irrigation system will remain with the government for at least ten years after the completion of the reservoir, the irrigated land is held in private ownership, the government stipulating, however, that it shall be sold to actual settlers and not to speculators.
After the selection of the land to be irrigated and acting in accord with the suggestion of the Reclamation Service, a corporation was formed, under the laws of New Mexico, known as the Rio Hondo Reservoir Water Users' Association. Only those owning land within the irrigation district selected by the government engineers were eligible to membership. The organization virtually assumes the debt to the government of the $250,000.
The Village of Roswell .- In 1874 a man named Huggins was killed by Comanche Indians while carrying letters from Fort Sumner to a trad- ing point for cattlemen in the Upper Pecos valley, a distance of about eighty miles. The growing importance of the place, which was called Roswell- from the father of Van C. Smith, the first to make a elaim on the site of the town-induced the government to establish a postoffice here in the year of the death. of its former letter carrier. Paul Schwartz was the first post- master. Roswell was then a youngster of five years. Its first store build- ing was an adobe erected in 1869, and a dwelling of the same material, which still stands in the middle of the block fronting the court house, was built about the same time, some eighty feet north of the store. Captain J. C. Lea bought these pioneer improvements early in 1878 from Marion Turner, who had jumped Mr. Smith's claim.
In October, 1885, A. E. Lea, a brother of Captain J. C. Lca (deceased) made a plat of the town of Roswell, although it was not filed at the county seat until two years later. At this time the town was one hundred and seventy-five miles from the nearest railroad point-Pecos, Texas.
In 1891 G. A. Richardson drafted and introduced an act in the Terri- torial assembly for the incorporation of villages, and under it Roswell as- sumed that form of local government. The act was passed February 14, 1891, and the first election for village officers was held July 6th, subse- quent elections being held in April. It remained a village until December, 1903, its officers being as below :
1891 :- Trustees, Nathan Jaffa (chairman), J. S. Lea, Frank Lesnet; E. H. Skip- with, S. S. Mendenhall; clerk, Scott Truxton.
1891-2 :- Trustees, Nathan Jaffa (chairman; resigned), Frank Lesnet (elected to succeed Mr. Jaffa), J. S. Lea, E. H. Skipwith, S. S. Mendenhall; clerk, Scott Truxton; treasurer, J. S. Lea.
1893-4 :- Trustees, R. S. Hamilton (chairman), J. P. Church, S. P. Nicholson (resigned Jan. 9, 1894), R. T. Barnett (elected to succeed Mr. Nicholson), James B. Mathews (resigned July 17, 1893), J. A. Gilmore (appointed to succeed Mr. Mathews), Benjamin F. Daniels; clerk, Scott Truxton; treasurer, J. P. Church.
1894-5 :- Trustees, W. M. Atkinson (chairman). A. B. Allen, J. P. Church, B. F. Daniel (resigned Jan. 5, 1895), Oscar Robertson (elected to succeed Mr. Daniel), Harry Carmack ; clerk, Scott Truxton; treasurer, J. P. Church.
1895-6 :- Trustees, J. P. Church (chairman), Sidney Prager, J. W. Mullins,
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LOCAL HISTORIES
Scott Truxton, W. B. Meeks; clerk, John I. Hinkle (J. J. Jaffa elected to the position Dec. 17, 1895) ; treasurer, Sidney Prager.
1896-7 :- E. A. Cahoon (chairman), E. S. Seay, E. H. Williams, H. A. Bennett, Charles H. Sparks : clerk, J. J. Jaffa (resigned Nov. 11, 1896), J. H. Devine (elected to succeed Mr. Jaffa) ; treasurer, E. H. Williams.
1897-8 :- Trustees, C. H. Sparks (chairman ; resigned Sept. 20, 1897), J. J. Jaffa (elected to succeed Mr. Sparks, and made chairman ). A. Pruit, R. T. Barnett, W. L. Amonett, J. W. Mullins (resigned Nov. 18, 1897), W. A. Finlay (elected to succeed Mr. Mullins) ; clerk, F. J. Beck ; treasurer, A. Pruit.
1898-9 :- Trustees, E. L. Wildy (chairman), E. H. Williams, R. F. Barnett (re- signed July 12, 1898), John W. Poe (elected to succeed Mr. Barnett), W. L. Amonett, F. P. Lea : clerk, J. P. Lea; treasurer, E. H. Williams.
1899-1900 :- Trustees, John C. Sheridan (chairman), R. L. Moss, F. H. Calfee, W. S. Prager, B. F. Hammett, Jr .; clerk, B. F. Hammett, Jr .; treasurer, F. H. Calfee.
1900-1 :- L. K. McGaffey (chairman), J. P. Church, H. L. Gill, C. W. Haynes, R. Kellahin ; clerk, Samuel Atkinson; treasurer, H. L. Gill.
1901-2 :- Trustees, John W. Poe (chairman), L. D. Danenburg. E. S. Seay, C. R. Carr, William Robinson ; clerk, Samuel Atkinson ; treasurer, L. D. Danenburg.
1902-3 :- Trustees, Harry Carmack (chairman), James Sutherland. John W. Poe, E. S. Seay, W. G. Ballinger ; clerk, Robert Kellahin; treasurer, James Suther- land.
1903 :- Trustees, Nathan Jaffa (chairman), L. B. Tannehill, S. P. Denning. V. O. McCallum; clerk, Robert Kellahin; treasurer, L. B. Tannehill.
The City of Roswell .- When Roswell was incorporated as a village in 1891, it had a population of about 400. in 1900 it had 2,000 and its present population is about 6,000. The first election for municipal officers was on December 8, 1903, and resulted in the choice of the following: J. C. Lea, mayor ; F. J. Beck, clerk ; E. H. Williams, treasurer ; L. B. Tannehill, alder- man from the first ward; Ralph Parsons, alderman from the second ward; S. P. Denning, alderman from the third ward; W. W. Ogle. alderman from the fourth ward; A. L. Whiteman, alderman from the fifth ward. Mayor Lea died February 4, 1904, and L. B. Tannehill acted in that capacity for the balance of the term.
On April 5, 1904, the following were elected : Mayor, James F. Hinkle ; clerk. Fred J. Beck ; treasurer. A. Pruit ; aldermen-M. D. Burns and S. P. Johnson, first ward; R M. Parsons and George L. Wyllys, second ward; J. W. Kinsinger and Clarence Ullery, third ward; W. W. Ogle and J. P. Church, fourth ward.
The city of Roswell has a good system, both for sewerage and drain- age. It has telephone and electric light services, and along its well-built streets are laid twenty miles of cement walks. Within its limits are 120 artesian wells, many of them gushing up in the form of fountains and forming a picturesque feature of the city. The free mail and rural de- livery systems are well organized. It has an ice plant, a steam laundry, a canning factory, a creamery, and is preparing to install a large sugar- beet factory. The city has a pork packery, and its hog ranch, where about 8,000 head of swine are being raised on alfalfa, is among the largest in the United States. One daily and two weekly newspapers and a job printing plant, six lumber yards and three national banks should be added to its institutions.
The school system of Roswell is represented by about 2.000 pupils and nearly fifty teachers. Its ward school houses are substantial buildings. while the so-called Central structure is quite imposing, having been erected at a cost of $25,000. Eight churches supply the religious needs of the
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
community, and in 1906, with the co-operation of the Roswell Commercial Club, a modern hospital was completed by the Catholic Sisters of the Sor- rowful Mother. It is situated on Main street, about a mile south of the court house.
Educational Institutions .- The first public school building in Roswell was erected in 1878, being located east of G. W. Stevens' residence by J. M. Miller, the contractor. Judge A. C. Rogers was the first teacher. This first building was used seven or eight years, when the "Farms school" of district No. 2 was built, with Miss Sarah Lund (now Mrs. C. D. Bonney ) as teacher. The adobe school house on the hill south of town was built in 1885, and Fred Farner opened it to his pupils. The brick structure which replaced it in 1891 was the first building to be completed under what was practically the first public school act passed by the legislature of New Mexico. During that year, when the act dividing Lincoln county became effective, school district No. I comprised the entire northern part of Chaves county. District No. 2, known as the Farms, remained intact, and since that time some fifteen or sixteen districts have been organized from these two.
In 1895 the Pauly building on the west side of town was erected, and in 1904 the beautiful Central or high school building, as well as the Mark Howell school on Military Heights.
Roswell takes a just pride in the New Mexico Military Institute, which covers forty acres of a beautiful mesa, elevated some thirty feet above the main portion of the city. It is the only strictly military school in the Southwest and gives the name Military Heights to the entire surrounding section, which is considered as a northern suburb of Roswell, although within the city limits. The buildings consist of seven large and well-built structures, three of which are used as barracks and quarters for the 100 cadets and officers.
The institute owns its own waterworks, and artesian water is both piped through the buildings for domestic purposes and over the grounds for irrigation. The school has been opened since September 6, 1898.
Headquarters of United States Institutions .- The first government in- stitution at Roswell was the postoffice, in 1874, and was for many years located in the old Poe-Lea-Cosgrove building. In July, 1903, it reached the dignity of a second-class office, and March, 1905, the free delivery system went into effect.
In 1889, when the Lincoln land district was carved out of the Las Cruces district, the United States land office was transferred from Las Cruces to Roswell, with John W. Mills as register and Frank Lesnet as receiver. The district now comprises the counties of Chaves, Eddy, Gauda- lupe, Lincoln, Otero. Roosevelt and Torrance. From July I, 1904, to July 1, 1905, homestead entries were made through this office to the ex- tent of 107,795 acres; 121,523 acres were taken up as desert claims; 15,787 acres were scripped, and the Territory selected from the government lands 29,849 acres, making a total of 274,952 acres taken up during the year named. Of this amount Chaves county took 35,985 acres in homesteads and 44,000 acres in desert claims, also 7,432 acres of scrip.
In 1902 the United States opened an office of the Reclamation Service, Department of the Interior, at Roswell, the district engineer being W. M. Reed, formerly connected with the Pecos Irrigation Company. Among the
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first undertakings of the office was the preliminary work on the Hondo reservoir, made by W. A. Wilson. Maps were drawn of the proposed reservoir site, and all the data was submitted to the department at Wash- ington, the construction of the irrigation works being authorized Sep- tember 6, 1904. Since that time the work has been progressing under the supervision of Mr. Reed. The office has also had active charge of the pre- liminary work in connection with the construction of the $570,000 reservoir on the Sapello and Gallinas rivers, a few miles north of Las Vegas, and it is believed that before long the reclamation office will take over all the prop- erty and partially developed irrigation system of the Pecos Irrigation and Improvement Company of the Lower valley, which is understood to em- brace about 13,000 acres of land in its operations. The Urton Lake reser- voir, to which reference lias been made, contemplates the irrigation of about 75,000 acres, and is the largest project under the investigation and control of the district office. In December, 1903, surveys at that point- fifty miles northeast of Roswell-were begun by H. C. Hurd and finished the following March. Plans, estimates and maps have been submitted to the department, but no decision has yet been rendered.
When the fifth judicial district was formed of Eddy, Chaves and Roose- velt counties, Roswell was made the place for holding the United States court. The first federal grand jury in Roswell met in April, 1905, and the first term of the United States court was held at the same time, with Judge William H. Pope presiding.
The Weather Bureau of the Department of Agriculture opened an office at Roswell, September 1, 1004, the observer in charge being M. Wright.
Roswell Commercial Club .- One of the most potent factors in the up- building of Roswell and the Upper Pecos valley is, without question, the Roswell Commercial Club, composed of two hundred men who now con- stitute the brains and motive power of any movement which is, or is to be, beneficial to this section of the Territory. Considering that for two years only, the commercial and public-spirited nature of the club has been uppermost, that for the prior decade the objects of the organization were almost entirely social, its achievements have been really remarkable and place it among the leading bodies of the kind in the Southwest.
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