The climatic advantages of this section are manifold, as will be readily understood from the following condensation of the United States Experimental Station reports: During the last five years the average number of sunshiny days has been three hundred and fortyeight; the relative humidity during the winter months being 34. This maximum amount of sunshine and unprecedented atmospheric dryness, combined with the pure air which our mountain situation affords and the equability of temperature which our moderate altitude insures, makes the Mesilla Valley, the "pride of the county," an ideal health resort. In fact, it is nature's great sanitarium. These wonderful climatic conditions have been taken advantage of in the establishment of numerous resorts for the care of patients with incipient pulmonary diseases. At the present writing a sanitarium is under construction at Las Cruces which will be a model of its kind. The purpose of the company is to erect a large main building, 42 by 100 feet, two stories high, containing twenty-two great rooms, library, dining rooms, and smoking rooms; the whole to be surrounded by large verandas, with a southern exposure. Within easy access are to be erected several single-story cottages, after the style of the Saranac Lake Sanitarium. It is hoped in time to make the main building an administrative building and all invalids to be housed in the adjacent cottages, following in the lines of other institutions of similar purpose. There is under consideration two more institutions of this character.

It has given much pleasure to the writer to see this part of New Mexico attract such attention from the medical profession. At the last two meetings of the American Medical Association, held respectively at Denver, Colo., and Columbus, Ohio, the writer presented papers dealing with the climatic therapeutics of southern New Mexico, and it was very gratifying indeed to note the general favor in which they were received.

That Donna Ana County has a bright future before it nobody will deny, for it possesses many of the requisites for securing such, not the least of which is its wonderful climate, attracting as it does the best class of citizens from all parts of the universe.

THE ELEPHANT BUTTES DAM.

The greatest setback this section has ever had was that resulting from the stopping of work on what is familiarly known as the Elephant Buttes dam. A brief history follows:

A company known as the Rio Grande Irrigation and Land Company, Limited, of London, acquired the rights of the Rio Grande Dam and Irrigation Company. The object of this company was to store the overflow waters and irrigate the Rio Grande Valley in the southern part of this Territory. Of this overflow water there is an immense quantity that goes to waste every year, as there are no dams on the Rio Grande to store these waters.

The general plan of this company was to construct a mammoth dam at the Elephant Buttes, near Engle, N. Mex., and form at this point the largest storage reservoir in the world. In addition to the large dam, a series of smaller ones were to be constructed, together with canals, and by this means bring under irrigation and cultivation hundreds of thousands of acres of the most fertile land on the continent.

Work on the smaller dams and canals was commenced in November, 1896, and continued until the spring of 1897, upward of $90,000 hav

ing been expended. At this point the United States brought suit to enjoin the company from building the storage dam. Work had to be stopped, and that already done was left in such a condition as to be subjected to great damage by the annual floods. The ground for seeking the injunction was that the Rio Grande was a navigable

stream.

This claim is preposterous. The Rio Grande is not and never has been a navigable stream, except where it is affected by the tide. The true secret of the attack can be found in the effort of certain persons to have constructed at El Paso an international dam, and under the impression that the Elephant Buttes dam would interfere with their plans and monopolize the water, they oppose the enterprise. A careful investigation goes to show that, instead of the Elephant Buttes dam monopolizing all the water, the reverse would be the result, and the people at and near El Paso would have more water after its construction than before.

It is to be hoped that this question will shortly be settled, and the company permitted to resume operations, for with the completion of this work will blossom forth one of the richest agricultural, fruit, and dairy sections in the West. It will outrival California, and supply the East with a superior and better quality of fruits and vegetables than can be produced in any other section of America.

The superintendent of the public schools of Donna Ana County herewith submits a report of the condition of the public school districts within the county of Donna Ana, Territory of New Mexico, for the year ending October 1, 1898.

Number of districts, 28; number of teachers, 6 male and 22 female, total, 28; enrollment of pupils, 638 males, 444 females, total, 1,082; average daily attendance, 394 males, 295 females, total, 689; number of scholars between the ages of 5 and 21 years, 1,977 males, 1,661 females, total, 3,638. Average number of months taught, 4.

Presbyterian Mission School: Value of property, $1,000. Enrollment of pupils— males, 45; females, 82; total, 127.

Visitation Academy: Value of property, $2,500. Enrollment of pupils-males, 39; females, 30; total, 69.

EDDY COUNTY.

The county of Eddy is fast demonstrating the fact that it contains within its boundaries all the possibilities for making it one of the greatest agricultural centers in the Southwest. That its vast irrigation system has had much to do with its present prosperity and the brilliant future that is now at its very doors, there is no manner of doubt. It was only when that system was first inaugurated that the

growth of the Pecos Valley really began, and it may truthfully be said that since that time the growth of the various industries in Eddy County has been phenomenal. It might be imagined that the one great interest that takes precedence over all others in this Western country, namely, that of cattle raising, could not be affected by irrigation. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Irrigation has brought cattle into the country by the thousand. It has concentrated the interests of their owners in their establishment of one of the largest shipping points in the Southwest at Carlsbad; it has been instrumental in making the town not only their headquarters, but also the home of many of them.

As to the live-stock industry in the county, it is estimated that during the past year it has been increased just one-third-that is to say, that the value, as well as the number of the herds and flocks, has appreciated one-third over the estimates made last year. The Pecos Valley and Northeastern Railway, the extension of which was opened for business between Roswell and Amarillo on the 24th of February last, report that during the spring they transported over their line from all points over 130,000 head of cattle. Of this immense shipment it is safe to say that at the least three-fifths originated at Carlsbad or in the territory tributary to it. Not only did the county show progress made by the number of cattle shipped, but a more valuable feature by far was made apparent-that the grade of the stock was equal, if not generally superior, to that of stock shipped from older communities south of here. This is explained by the fact that the cattlemen of the valley, having been generally successful during the past two years, have invested a large portion of their profits in the purchase of a higher breed of cattle than those of other districts. Proportionately as much fancy stock has come into Eddy County during the year as into any cattle county of Texas. Herefords are, and apparently always will be, the favorite here, and after them comes the Durham as a close second. A very conservative estimate of the number of cattle on the ranges of the county, or immediately adjoining it on the east, places the number at close to 500,000 head, in herds going from 1,000 to 60,000. When it is said that the owners of this vast number of food animals are actively breeding them up to a standard of excellence that will gain for them the very highest prices paid in the great cattle centers for choice beeves, some idea of the progress made in this one great industry alone may be arrived at. As to the sheep industry of the county there is no doubt but that it has been nearly or quite doubled during the past year. The constantly advancing price paid for wool, the active demand from Kansas City and Chicago for alfalfa-fed lambs have had much to do with this, especially when the exceptionally fine feed for flocks is considered, and one other matter that is a powerful incentive to sheep men to bring their sheep this way, and that is the fact that so far as known this section is the only one in the entire West where there is no friction of any sort between the cattle raiser and the sheep man. The following item, taken from the American Sheep Breeder, of Chicago, sets forth in most unmistakable language reasons why southeastern New Mexico is shortly destined to become one of the greatest sheep-raising centers of America:

The importance of the sheep-breeding industry on the Pecos River is gradually but steadily increasing. South of here, on the Rio Grande-the great dividing line between the United States and Mexico, a muddy creek, dry for most of the year, and which cost the United States $13,000,000 in 1847 to establish as a national