As to its fruits, while nearly every variety thrives and makes rapid growth, the peach produces most abundantly, and in size, flavor, and appearance it fully equals any raised in the country. The orchards are absolutely free from bugs or fruit pests, and a specked or wormy peach or apple is unknown. During the present year from the Rio Pecos orchard alone, an orchard covering but 16 acres, over 3,000 boxes of the very finest fruit will be shipped, and the demand is such for fruit from this section that not one-half of it can be satisfied.

Alfalfa produces on an average 5 tons to the acre annually, in four and sometimes five cuttings, and what might be called almost the standard price for the hay in Carlsbad is $10 a ton, with a demand that usually exceeds the supply. Many cattle feeders who this year propose fattening cattle and sheep are leasing alfalfa pasture for which they pay $5 an acre for the season. Beef and mutton fed on this sweet and nutritious clover acquire a flavor contributed by no other fodder.

Of the minor sources of revenue-that is to say, those requiring a smaller capital to start them-the raising of vegetables presents a field of profit in this country for which it would be hard to find a parallel anywhere. In the first place, there is always a large home market, and the prices obtained are always highly satisfactory to the grower. One man last season cleared $5,000 on 20 acres of celery. As to asparagus, there is just sufficient alkali in the soil to not only render the cultivation of this esculent very easy but highly profitable as well. It matures in the spring fully a month earlier than in the North or in Texas, and consequently commands a high price. Other vegetables, in fact nearly every sort, thrive in the rich river bottoms of Eddy County, and with a few acres, 5 or 10 at most, a man with a little money for seed and a few farming implements can not only make a good living the year round, as the soil can be worked to advantage here every day of the 365, but he can in a short time render himself independent of the world.

In conclusion it can be said that it takes no prophetic eye to foretell the future of this country. The evidences are at every hand, standing forth legible as the hills, clear as the noonday. Wherever the hand of man has introduced water upon these hitherto arid wastes he changes them into fertile and productive fields, rich with the fruits of the earth. He stands astounded at the result of his own handiwork. He finds that here amidst the brown hills and the sage-brush deserts of the Great West an oasis of shade and verdure has appeared, destined, like the great banyan tree of the forest, in the coming years to yield shade and fruit to wide neighborhoods of men.

GRANT COUNTY.

The past year has been one of unprecedented prosperity in Grant County. The two principal industries of the county, cattle raising and mining, have proved more than ordinarily profitable. The high prices obtaining for cattle have enabled many of the stockmen to acquire residences in the cities and towns, where they avail themselves of the greater educational facilities for their children.

In mining phenomenal success has been attained. Never in the history of any of the Western States and Territories have there been made such rapid strides in the development of the wonderful mineral resources of the West.

Southern Pacific Company, 91.30 miles single-wire tel

egraph line

1-wire telegraph line.

Western Union, 90 miles, 3 wires and instruments

New Mexico and Arizona Telegraph Company, 30 miles single wire

970.00

11,020.00

354, 389.00

$2,280.00

439.20

120.25

3, 180.00

750.00

6,769.45

1,091, 703.45

Wagons, carts, trucks, carriages, and vehicles of all kinds

38,720.00

The foregoing table represents but a tithe of the real value of property in Grant County. In the above estimate, taken from the assessment rolls of the county, cattle are valued at $11 per head, this value being fixed by the board of county commissioners, while the same cattle are eagerly sought by buyers at prices ranging from $16 per head for yearlings to $24 per head for full-grown stock.

The enormous values of mining property are absolutely without taxation except the improvements, as buildings, mills, etc., upon the mines. This is by reason of a Territorial law passed to encourage the development of the mineral resources of the Territory, and whereby mines are not subject to taxation until ten years after a patent for the land has been obtained from the United States Government. As few of the mines are patented, and fewer still have been patented for ten years, this great property value does not yet take a place in the taxable values of the county.

It will also be seen that the taxable valuation placed on railroads and other properties is low. Hence, while the rate of taxation may seem high to people of the East, yet it is in reality no higher than in other parts of the United States.

AGRICULTURE.

The agricultural resources of Grant County are but little developed, and yet the area under cultivation would supply an abundance of food products for the inhabitants of the county if properly managed and cared for. The principal agricultural section of the county at present is on the Mimbres River, a small stream situated in the eastern portion of the county. There are now about 20,000 acres under cultivation upon this stream which furnishes the water for irrigation. It is proposed to build a system of storage reservoirs which will store sufficient water to irrigate 100,000 acres of the choicest land in the West, which lie just below the site chosen for the main dam. Negotiations have been completed whereby the company will acquire title to this land, and within a few months work will be commenced upon the dam and reservoirs. The land will be colonized with thrifty farmers from the East, and hundreds of thousands of dollars now sent annually from this county to Eastern States for hay, grain, poultry, eggs, butter, and other farm products will be kept at home. The company is composed of Chicago capitalists, and is known as the Rio Mimbres Dam and Irrigation Company, with A. R. Burkdoll as resident manager. The company now has a lesser experimental

irrigation system at work, and has 1,000 acres of land under cultivation. Here there is found the first producing canaigre farm in the United States. The cultivation of this crop is bound to soon prove a profitable and extensive industry, as it has been fully demonstrated that the valley of the Mimbres produces canaigre of superior quality to that grown in any other part of the world. The poorest of the many samples analyzed for the Rio Mimbres Dam and Irrigation Company gave returns of 30 per cent of tannic properties, while the canaigre tubers grown in other localities give 11 to 25 per cent of tannic values. This company has 200 acres in canaigre. As the canaigre tuber at two years' growth produces 12 tons per acre, and the product is worth $6 per ton upon the ground, when dug, it is plain that a canaigre crop is a very valuable one, and is obtained with less labor than is generally expended on other crops which give anything near as good cash returns.

There are thousands of acres upon the Mimbres producing fruit of superior quality, the peaches and apples competing successfully with those raised in the States, as, in fact, many carloads of apples especially have been shipped to the East and to Arizona. Fruit grown in the foothills of the Mimbres Mountains may have equals elsewhere, but superior it would be difficult to encounter. A fortune awaits the happy man, who, having the means, has the business foresight to erect a canning plant in that neighborhood.

On the Gila River, to the north and west of Silver City, there are about 5,000 acres under cultivation, one-fifth of which is operated by the Gila Farm Company, which, besides raising all of everything required for home consumption, produces all kinds of fruits of the finest grades obtainable anywhere. A small apiary on this farm produces 10 tons of honey annually. With storage reservoirs and dam properly constructed the area of tillable land along the Gila could be increased to 50,000 acres.

LIVE STOCK.

The cattle interests of Grant County are by no means an insignificant feature of wealth, amounting as they do to a considerable sum of money yearly to the thrifty stock grower. Grant County is by far in the lead of any other section of the Territory in this important industry. The shipments for a number of years past have been unusually heavy, that of 1898 aggregating in round numbers $1,000,000 in value. Silver City is the largest shipping point for cattle in southern New Mexico, and during the busy season the festive cow puncher is a familiar sight upon the streets. The stock yards south of the city are large, easy of access, and supplied with all the modern conveniences. Stock from all the northern and western sections of the county ship from here, as also frequent shipments from southern Socorro County. The Santa Fe system pays special attention to this large and lucrative branch of their business.

The recent rise in the prices for beef cattle has proven an incentive to stock growers, and they are consequently giving the subject of better beef their strictest attention. The stock cattle of this immediate vicinity are of a high grade, and the profits are accordingly great. Prices have been good, ranging from $16 to $18 and $22 for yearlings, twos, and threes. The ranges, both mountain and valley, are good this year, as rains have been abundant and cattle had fared well during the winter last past. Sheep and goats, of which there are quite a number in this county, have proven remunerative to their

owners as food producers, while the wool and cashmere fleeces have been disposed of at fancy figures. The stockmen of this section all wear smiling countenances, and some of them diamonds. Their bank rolls have increased amazingly during the past six months, and fall sales promise to greatly add to their already plethoric purses. Cattle passed through the winter well and the calf crop this year is good. The outlook is decidedly encouraging and the stockmen accordingly in happy spirits.

Hog raising has hardly as yet become a distinctive industry, although there are several small concerns in operation in the Burro Mountains, where mast is plentiful. A few farmers along the Middle Gila who raise corn extensively and who have no immediate market for their crops put it into pork, which readily brings 5 and 6 cents per pound in Silver City.

There are a few extensive horse farms in the county, but they are mostly conducted in connection with the cattle ranches, as riding ponies are a prime necessity to the cow man and are constantly in demand to replace worn out and aged stock.

HOT SPRINGS.

There are a number of mineral springs in the county, some of which have proven to possess remarkable medicinal qualities. The celebrated Hudson Hot Spring, located about midway between Silver City and Deming, on the line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, has already achieved a wide reputation as a health and pleasure resort. The temperature of the water registers 142° F., and is almost a sure cure for rheumatism, blood and kidney diseases, and various other complaints.

The hotel accommodations are of a superior quality, and during the summer months no more delightful pleasure resort can be found in the country.

The Gila Hot Springs, 50 miles north of Silver City, are much sought for their medicinal qualities, but the accommodations are not as good as they might be. Camping, hunting, and fishing parties to the higher Mogollon country frequently make this a stopping place, and the ladies of the party enjoy themselves here while the men folks go up into the mountains after large game, which can be found in abundance.

SILVER CITY.

The county seat of Grant County is located in a pretty mountain valley surrounded on all sides by rolling hills, which serve to protect it from high winds. The altitude is 6,021 feet above sea level; the average yearly rainfall for a period of twenty years was 14.18 inches; the mean annual temperature is 55°, the average for the summer months being 72°. On the coldest of winter nights the thermometer rarely falls lower than 12° or 15° above zero, while the days are always temperate, ranging from 45° to 70° in the middle of the day.

In summer time the thermometer ranges from 70° to 90° during the day, seldom reaching 96°, while the nights are delightfully cool, having an invigorating effect upon the system. These temperatures, taken in connection with the dryness of the atmosphere in this latitude and at such an altitude, renders it one of the most delightful climates of the world, its recuperative and health restoring properties being attested by thousands who have come from other climes to enjoy its beneficial effects.