USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 66
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The part taken by forests in the regulation and conservation of river waters is especially effective when they are situated at or near the sources of the streams. In New Mexico, therefore, the primary object in the estab- lishment of forest reserves has been to maintain and, if possible, increase the flow of the fountain heads of such water courses as the Rio Grande, the Pecos and the Gila.
The Pecos River Forest Reserve .- This is the oldest of the forest reserves in New Mexico; was created by presidential proclamation on January II, 1892, and increased to its present dimensions in May, 1898. It protects the headwaters of the Santa Fé, Mora, Gallinas, Tecolote, Man- uelitas, Nambe and Pecos rivers; provides a permanent and abundant water supply to the people of Las Vegas, Santa Fé, and residents of the reserve and vicinity; goes far toward preserving a valuable supply for irrigation purposes to the inhabitants of the Lower Pecos valley, and, of course, attains the local object of preserving the timber within its boun- daries. The forest ranges have prevented any serious fires and carefully protected game, and the entire reserve is becoming quite popular as a sum- mer resort. The grazing of cattle and horses is allowed to residents, non- residents who own ranches within the reserve, and to stockmen who make it their summer pasture. Sheep and goats are barred out.
The Gila River Reserve .- On March 2, 1899, President Mckinley set aside 2,327,940 acres in the western part of Grant and Socorro counties, to be known as the Gila River Forest Reserve. The reserve includes sev- eral prominent mountain ranges, such as the San Francisco, the Tularosa and the Mogollon. From the eastern slopes of the last named group drains the west fork of the Gila river, and from the western and northern, the headwaters of the San Francisco. Luna, at the head of the Tularosa river, is near the northwest corner of the reserve, and McMullen peak is in the
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southwestern portion. As a whole the reserve is well watered, all the streams from the mountain ranges carrying a considerable flow for a long distanct beyond the forest regions. The San Francisco valley is well set- tled with Mormons, who devote themselves mostly to cattle and horse raising, and with Mexicans, who are cultivators of alfalfa and corn. The mining industries in the reserve are mainly confined to the Cooney district of the Mogollon mountains. Cattle, horses, sheep and goats are allowed to graze within the reserve in limited numbers, the privilege being con- fined principally to residents. Cattle and sheep grazing districts have been defined, in order to equitably divide the grazing for future use. The best grazing region is along the east fork of the Gila river and the west slopes of the Black hills. The timber consists principally of yellow pine, red and white fir, balsam and spruce, and logging operations have been carried on for some years. The total area of the reserve examined approximates 3,640 square miles, and of this more than 70 per cent is covered with merchant- able timber and 21/2 per cent has been logged. Of the 5,867,169,750 feet of timber estimated to be standing, more than 5,000,000,000 feet are of yellow pine and red fir.
The Lincoln Forest Reserve .- This reserve was created July 26, 1902, and includes about 500,000 acres on and in the vicinity of the Capitan and White Mountain ranges, in Lincoln county. It embraces the region from which issue the headwaters of the Rio Hondo, near whose confiuence with the Pecos the government is completing one of its most important irriga- tion works in New Mexico. The timber of the reserve consists prin- cipally of spruce pine. Sheep, goats, cattle and horses are privileged to graze, their number being limited and chiefly confined to resident owners.
The Jemez Forest Reserve .- In 1903 the General Land Office with- drew from settlement the tract of land known as the Jemez and Nacimiento country, lying within Rio Arriba and Sandoval counties, which proved a preliminary step in the creation of the Jemez Forest Reserve two years later. This last of the forest reserves of New Mexico embraces 1,252,000 acres in the counties named, and contains a portion of the drainage basins of the Rio Chama, Rio Puerco and Rio Jemez, with numerous smaller tributaries, constituting the most northern affluents of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Some months previous to the creation of the . Jemez re- serve, the sources of the great river in southern Colorado had been pro- tected by the setting aside of the San Juan and Cochetopa forest reserves. The plan, as a whole, provides for the preservation and regulation of the head waters of the Rio Grande, as they drain down the mountains and through the streams of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico into the parent river. Below the Jemez reserve is a long stretch of country in central New Mexico in which the rainfall is meager and erratic, and which needs every gallon of water which can be supplied by the upper Rio Grande. The river being a torrential stream, either withholds its supply to central New Mexico almost entirely, or furnishes it in floods, either of which is unsatisfactory. The prevention of this waste of waters, with their consequent scarcity, will be largely prevented in time by the extension of forest areas, acting as barriers or strainers, at the main sources of supply, and by the impounding of the flood waters of the Rio Grande at Elephant Butte, Sierra county.
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CONVULSIONS OF NATURE
Within the past twenty years New Mexico has suffered a number of earthquake shocks, which momentarily threw its people into sympathetic tremblings, realizing as they did that they were not entirely outside a volcanic district. But, in every case, it was found that the shock was an indication of serious trouble elsewhere, and was not caused by a home convulsion. At 3:13 P. M., on May 3, 1887, earthquake shocks of con- siderable severity were felt at Deming and Silver City, southwestern New Mexico, Santa Fé, in the northern part, and at El Paso, Texas. The center of the disturbance, however, was in Sonora, Old Mexico, where 200 people were killed. The general direction of the wave seemed to be from southeast to northwest.
During the last days of January, 1906, the strip of country that runs from Seligman, Arizona, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and extends from the rim of the Grand Canyon to a line a little south of Prescott, was vis- ited with a light earthquake, that seems to have originated from the San Francisco peaks. There were several shocks of short duration, during which the ground rocked from north to south. The most severe one oc- curred at 1:30 o'clock in the afternoon of January the 25th, and was felt at Flagstaff more intensely than at any other point within the affected area. Though the tremor was light and short, it created quite a panic among the people, owing to the infrequency of such seismic disturbances in this part of the country.
More or less plausible explanations of that extraordinary phenome- non were attempted by New Mexico scientists. One of them was of the opinion that it was caused by a slight sinking of the San Francisco moun- tains and the surrounding high plateau region, and that this subsidence was occasioned by the special and unusual climatic conditions that pre- vailed in the Southwest in 1905. It is indubitable that the forty inches of moisture, with which this part of the country was favored during that year, must have had some very far-reaching effects. Through the seamy and spongy formation of this volcanic region, the water percolated down to vast depths. When reaching the internal heat center of the earth it vaporized, and, in the effort to find an issue, this steam may have caused the earthquake.
A long series of earthquakes occurring in July, 1906, wrought great havoc in Socorro county, particularly in the town of Socorro, where many buildings were ruined and others injured. There was no loss of life. The earthquakes are believed to have been the result of the slipping of the Magdalena "fault."
The fall of 1904 and the spring of 1905 were noteworthy seasons for water events. The earth of New Mexico was not disturbed by its internal fires, but was most thoroughly scoured by floods and torrents of rain. It was singular that although the fall rains of 1904 had apparently not been heavy the worst flood in the history of the Territory should occur at that time. Toward the latter part of September the Rio Grande, the Pecos, the Canadian and other streams rose to an unusual and inexplicable height. and much damage all over the Territory was done to farms, orchards and irrigation works, as well as to town and city property. The greatest casu- alties occurred along Mora creek, a tributary of the Canadian, the flood
Ruins of Main Street, Silver City Street washed by heavy summer storms
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reaching the height of its fury at 11 o'clock a. m., September 29th. At the town of Mora twenty-nine houses were destroyed and swept away, and below Watrous several people were drowned in the raging waters. In one case an entire homestead-house and orchard-was utterly wiped off the earth and the soil scoured down to the bare rock. This remarkable ex- hibition of the power of the flood occurred a short distance west of Mora. Three days after, the flood waters of the Pecos reached the lower valley and carried away the dam at Lake Avalon, near Carlsbad.
The most startling phenomenon provided by nature for the people of New Mexico, in the spring of 1905, was the cloud-burst near Springer, Colfax county. At noon of May 27th, almost without warning, there came from a dark cloud which hovered over that locality a tempestuous down- pour of mingled rain and hail. At the farm of Peter Larsen, six miles west of that city, water collected in five minutes to a depth of one foot on the level.
Terrific Hail Storm .- The country drained by the head streams of the Canadian river, both in Mora and Colfax counties, has been the scene of numerous floods and strange storms. It is a net-work of mountain streams pouring their waters into the gorge of the Canadian, and, as like attracts like, doubtless has a special attraction for the aerial waters, whether liquid or solid. It thus happens that the Cimarron valley, between Springer and Elizabethtown, was visited in 1898 by one of the most terrific hail storms known to the west. The following graphic description is given by one who participated in the weird excitement of the storm :
"At 7 a. m., August 2d, a party of ten passengers left Elizabethtown in two spring wagons for Springer, New Mexico. The sun was rising re- splendently over old Baldy mountain, which stands up 12,500 feet above the sea. When all were seated the crack of the driver's whip started the horses at a six-mile gait down through the Moreno valley, where the dew- covered grass was interspersed with the loveliest of mountain flowers- blue-bells, monks-hood, mountain daisies and many other varieties, which one never sees only in the Rocky mountains. The birds sang gaily in the sunshine as the stages rattled down through Cimarron canon, with its castellated peaks of gray granite.
"We reached Cimarron at about 11 :30, in fine spirits, and at 1 o'clock, after partaking of a fine dinner, we were again under way, but by this time, however, we had been arranged in two other vehicles, one being a heavy Concord coach with four horses, and behind this followed a buck- board with four persons having two horses to draw it. Away we went down the valley at a good six mile jog, but before we had come half way we could see the clouds gathering to our left along the Raton mountains, perhaps twenty miles away. Now and then we could see the rain falling in localities along the mountains. Then the clouds began to gather to the northeast and then we began to realize the danger that was near. The horses seemed to realize that something awful was in the air. The driver gave the animals rein and then the race from the ice storm began.
"The clouds dropped down to the earth and they boiled and they rolled one over another. The lower part of the cloud was a white vapor. looking like a constant boiler explosion. The storm had changed its course and was bearing down on us with its thousands of tons of ice whirling through the air. An awful roaring accompanied the clouds, like a thou-
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sand railroad trains lumbering along the road. Not a tree nor house in sight for protection! There was no escape; our hearts trembled, our horses were now on a dead run, we were flying for life; we were hoping yet to reach Springer before the cloud demon should overtake us. Two miles more would make us safe; but, alas for the weakness of horseflesh. The ice king was coming furiously on. We had just crossed a low swag in the prairie when the boiling, seething demon came close up to our heels passing along down the draw in the prairie with a fearful sound, like the noise of clashing worlds.
"The hailstones were being hurled by the thousand at the head of us who were in the buckboard without protection. H. C. Wilson, of Goshen, Ind., sat with me in the rear seat; he raised an umbrella, but the first dash of hail demolished it. Judge S. E. Booth sat to my left in the front seat with the driver, who had drawn a blanket over his head holding it up with his right arm so as to shield his head. The pelting ice accelerated the speed of the poor horses. They were running now like mad. A chunk of ice had struck our driver and he called aloud for help to hold the horses. I was sitting immediately behind him. I reached around him with one arm on each side, seized the lines he was feebly holding on to and pulled with might and main on the bridle bits in the mouths of the infuriated horses. Just then the four-horse coach was under the telephone wire, one mile northwest of Springer; the off wheel horse in the Concord coach dropped in the road. We were about one hundred feet in the rear of the coach. Instantly I pulled the right rein, which turned our horses by the now still coach. I pulled again the right line just as we were passing the coach. This checked the horses for an instant and I leaped to the ground. Just then a hailstone struck me on the bump of combativeness and knocked that element cut of my head as I went sprawling to grass. Recovering in an instant, I went to the driver's rescue, who was perched upon his seat holding the three remaining horses, which were plunging about to get away ; but he coolly kept his head until I succeeded in unhitching the horses from the vehicle. The occupants of the coach were Charles Preston, Mrs. W. T. Booth and child, Miss Myra Cantrowl of Kansas, Miss Myra Michaels and a Mexican woman and child. The hail had burst the laths of the roof all to flinders, but the strong canvass had prevented the hailstones from in- juring the occupants.
"In about twenty minutes after the coach had stopped the fury of the storm was over. The buckboard with its three occupants dashed in to Springer, succor soon came from the town to the stranded coach, and in a short time we were in the hotel. No one was seriously injured. Judge Booth was hurt worse than any one else; he is suffering this morning from contusions of the shoulder, head and arms. The other three men who were on the buckboard are suffering from contusions of the head and hands. The driver had a hole torn in the crown of his hat about two inches long, and one in the scalp of his head about one and a half inches. When we got into Springer and found that the corrugated iron roofs had been pierced with the hailstones, we were all surprised to know that we were such 'hard heads.'"
Primitive Indian Style of Threshing, 1906
Rams Bred in San Juan County by R. E. Cooper & Son, Farmington
Angora Doe, Bred on Ranch of Mrs. M. Armer, Kingston, N. M. Sheared $43.00 worth of mohair
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STOCK-RAISING IN NEW MEXICO.
With the advance of scientific irrigation and the discovery of artesian supplies of water, many areas of land in New Mexico which, not many years ago, were pronounced untillable and "only fit for grazing" are now of good value, and some of them actually producing bountiful crops of al- falfa, fruits, vegetables and grains. There are still, however, vast stretches of country in the mountainous regions and immense plateaus, whose sub- soil will only support range grasses and other rank vegetation, which prob- ably can never be brought under the plow and will be devoted to the raising of live stock.
But New Mexico is sharing in the general progress of the west, its range stock being of far better blood than formerly and many districts becoming widely known for their blooded stock. This is true, both as to sheep and cattle, to the extensive cultivation of alfalfa as a fodder being mainly due the improvement in the latter. Year by year the raising of stock is left less to chance, and the number of animals made ready for the market, or as the expression goes, "finished" in New Mexico, is continu- ally increasing. The result is that the old-time free ranges, of such vast extent, are giving place to smaller individual holdings.
According to the latest accessible figures, of the 27,914 persons in New Mexico engaged in agricultural pursuits, 8,107 are occupied in raising live stock. In June, 1890, the value of the live stock in New Mexico was $25,III,201, and in 1900, $31,727.400. In the latter year the hay and for- age crops were valued at $1,427.317-87,458 acres being devoted to their production.
Sheep and Wool .- As a live stock country New Mexico has acquired its greatest eminence as a raiser of sheep and a producer of wool. In 1904 she stood third among the states and territories of the United States, her record being only exceeded by Montana and Wyoming. During that year her sheep numbered 3,150,000, from which the wool crop was 17.325,000 pounds. It is estimated that there are now over 4,000,000 sheep in the Territory. The average price of wool obtained by the grower for a num- ber of years past has been about 15 cents per fleece. As the average annual lamb crop is about 1,000,000, this is also an enormous source of profit to the sheep raiser. Besides insuring a heavy increase in the home flocks, numerous buyers appear every year and ship their purchases to the feeding lots of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and even Iowa and Illinois. There they are carefully raised for the early spring markets. For this purpose the lambs of New Mexico have been found the most satisfactory of any in the United States.
With the development of the country and the more extensive cultiva- tion of the forage crops, this practice of sending both sheep and cattle to the feeding grounds of other states, and even into Canada, will decline and
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probably be abolished. Within the last few years considerable progress has been made in feeding for shipment and the home markets, the Pecos valley probably leading other parts of the Territory, in this regard. In this section many thousand head of sheep and lambs have been fattened for the Kansas City market.
Angora Goats .- In the raising of Angora goats, New Mexico leads the United States. Lake Valley, Sierra county, is the center of the indus- try, other important districts being the country around the Black Range, northeast of Silver City ; the mountainous sections of Southern and North- ern Lincoln county ; Otero, Rio Arraba, San Miguel and Dona Aña counties.
The breeding of Angora goats is rapidly increasing, as the climate and physical conditions generally of New Mexico seem to make it an almost ideal country for that vigorous growth which makes them so valu- able for wool, meat and hides. It is estimated that under present condi- tions they are worth about $5 per head, and the number of small flocks being raised by people of very limited incomes is almost innumerable. Of late years the hides of the common New Mexico kids have been eagerly sought, furnishing as they do leather which is both soft and durable. Not only are buyers from the Atlantic coast of the United States among the ready purchasers, but European agents are in the field. Much of the finer Angora stock of New Mexico has been originally imported from California.
With those who deal in really blooded stock, the operation of the ranch is conducted with the utmost care and system. Each goat is ear- tagged and numbered, the number set down in a special ruled ledger, made for that purpose, and a complete record is kept of his clip from the time he arrives in the herd till he is sold to the butcher for mutton. In the case of does, a record is kept of the kids borne by her, and each kid in turn is numbered and record of the clip kept from year to year. Thus, at an instant's glance, can be told the life story of each goat, and the manager can, in a few minutes, run over the list and check off the "culls" for sale to the butcher.
The utmost precaution is taken to protect the animals from any sud- den cold snap that may come early in the spring directly after shearing by the erection of long low sheds. During the kidding season, the does are taken to the home ranch and placed in the "breeding pens," a series of large enclosures, surrounded by steel woven wire fence, which furnishes absolute protection to the animals from lynxes or other midnight maraud- ers.
It will thus be seen that the Angora goat business must be watched and looked after as any other business to make it a success, but those who are engaged in it seem fascinated with the work and treat the animals with marked deference and affection. Even in shearing great care is taken not to wound them, while running the sharp clippers over their soft hides. Here again, modern methods have been introduced, and the goats are now sheared by machines. These machines at present are run by hand, but on some of the ranches power plants are about to be installed with a ca- pacity of half a dozen hand machines, and which will reduce the shearing expenses one-third.
The great value of the Angora goat consists in the fact that, although he is a fine producer, he is a cheap feeder. His hair brings from 30 to 40 cents per pound, undressed pelts from $1.50 to $3.50 each, and his meat,
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sometimes put on the market, as "well-dressed mutton," is far above the price of the sheep flesh, as it is without a trace of the woolly flavor.
The Angora goat is not a grazer, but a browser, and his main food consists of weeds and brush. By eating the leaves and bark from the brush he kills the undergrowth and clears the land, at the same time manuring it and preparing it for forage crops and cattle grounds. But little money is required to begin raising goats on a small scale, and they are very prolific. The animals will provide for themselves during the summer, and corn fodder, straw, or coarse hay, with a little grain in March and April to strengthen them for the kidding season, is all that is required in the winter. Their long hair protects them from the dry cold. and the only shelter re- quired is a shed open at the south, and rain tight to protect them from snow or wet, which freezes on their heavy coats of hair and chills them.
In the raising of Angora goats a business has been developed until it has become an important industry. Mr. Tom Wedgwood is one of the most prominent representatives, being a recognized leader in this line of activity throughout the southwest. His success has been almost phenom- enal and he is regarded as an authority on the subject of raising goats. He breeds both goats and sheep, having a large ranch at Hillsboro, where his business interests are carefully conducted. He has made a close and discriminating study of the best methods of caring for goats and as a leader in the development of this enterprise has been a contributor to the prosperity and progress of this section of the country. A native of Eng- land, his birth occurred on the oth of March, 1860, his parents being John and Ann Wedgwood. He came to the United States in 1877, settling first in Ohio, where he was engaged in teaming for a year. He then removed to Texas and worked with the surveying crew that surveyed the Texas & Pacific Railroad from Abilene to El Paso, carrying on that work in 1879 and 1880. In the fall of the latter year he bought two teams and con- tracted for the construction of the Mexican Central Railroad in partner- ship with a Mr. Bell, Mr. Black and two other men, all of whom were killed by Indians in old Mexico, about forty miles southwest of El Paso, Texas, while inspecting the work.
Mr. Wedgwood continued to sub-contract until 1882, in which year he drove his horses, about one hundred and fifty in number, from Zacatecas, in old Mexico, to San Marcial, New Mexico. He sold his horses there in 1884, and engaged in the cattle business near Lake Valley, in which he continued until 1900, when, believing that he saw a more profitable business in goat raising, he turned his attention to the breeding and raising of An- gora goats. He also raises sheep. He has upon his ranch some of the finest goats produced in the United States, having taken first prize on An- gora goats at Kansas City in 1902 and 1903. His flock includes Kingston Lad, the champion of 1903 in Kansas City. In 1904 he sheared a fleece which sold for fifty-two dollars and forty cents, which is the world record. Few men are more thoroughly familiar with what is best for the goats and will produce the most healthful animals and the finest fleece. Mr. Wedgwood has his ranch well equipped for the purpose for which it is utilized and his efforts are bringing him splendid success.
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