the school opened with an enrollment of 250 pupils and a faculty of 5, since which time it has grown until the enrollment of pupils is now over 700 and the faculty increased to 12. Lack of room has necessitated the use of the city hall buildings in connection with the school building, hence the imperative necessity for enlarging the school building proper and for erecting another building of even more magnificent proportions than the old edifice, construction of which is now under way. This building is located in the most desirable residence portion of East Las Vegas, and is being built of red sandstone at a cost of $25,000.

During the past seven years the high school has graduated with distinction 60 young men and women of the city. Recently the high school was amalgamated with the academic department of the New Mexico Normal University, the latter getting six model schools of different grades, and leaving the high school confined to the first eight grades.

The New Mexico Normal University, which commands an eminence in the center of East Las Vegas, is a source of great pride to the Territory as well as the city. It was created by legislative act in 1893 as a normal school and has since attained the dignity of a university, by reason of its superior faculty and because of the earnest efforts put forth in behalf of the institution by the board of regents. For a period of four years the regents wisely husbanded the accumulating funds and were finally enabled, with the assistance of a number of public-spirited citizens, to erect a building at a cost of $50,000, which is in every way adapted to the purposes designed. The University building is a most beautiful public building. It is a three-story structure, built of purple sandstone produced by the Las Vegas quarries, and above the third story is a commodious attic, divided into two large and amply lighted rooms, which will be utilized for a museum and gymnasium. The assembly room of the university has a seating capacity of 400, and the institution has equipment and room for the accommodation of 400 pupils. As to furnishings, the building is fitted with every known modern convenience, being heated by steam and scientifically ventilated. Electric lights, an excellent water system and sanitary plumbing insure ideal conditions for the school. The institution is served with a faculty of 6 professors and 6 teachers. The enrollment of pupils will this fall reach 200.

To summarize, San Miguel County possesses 80 district schools, 3 private schools, 4 sectarian schools, and 6 public schools, with a total enrollment of 4,500, 122 teachers, and $250,510 invested in school properties.

Persons having children to educate and who contemplate coming to this region for health or investment need have no fear that inferior advantages will be provided. The legal school age is from 5 to 21 years, inclusive, but the average attendance is practically from 7 to 17.

COUNTY Guide.

Following are the names of the settlements given by the United States Postal Guide, the resources of the country contiguous to the settlements, the population within a radius of 5 miles, and the distance from the city of Las Vegas:

Bell Ranch.-Post-office at the ranch of the Red River Valley Company, 65 miles east of Las Vegas; on Pablo Montoyo land grant; topography, plains, with some rough country; well watered; an ideal stock country.

Beulah.-A small village at the head of Sapello River, 20 miles

northwest of Las Vegas; on the Pecos Reserve; resources, agriculture, timber, and stock raising; population, 50 families.

Chapelle.-Railway station on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, 13 miles southwest of Las Vegas; resources, timber and grazing; stock yards located here; population, 100 families; many prosperous tributary hamlets.

Chaperito. Located on the Gallinas River, 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas; on Antonio Ortiz grant; resources, stock growing and farming; population, 373; 3 stores.

El Pueblo.-Located on the Pecos River, 35 miles southwest of Las Vegas; resources, stock growing and agriculture; population, 300. Fulton.-Railway station on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, 40 miles west of Las Vegas; resources, stock growing and farming; many small villages near by.

Gallinas Springs.-Located on the Santa Rosa wagon road, 25 miles south of Las Vegas; resources, stock growing and farming; population, 400.

Jeronimo.-Located 15 miles due west of Las Vegas; resources, stock raising and farming; population, 536.

Las Vegas Hot Springs.-Famous health resort, located 6 miles northwest of Las Vegas; population, 244; floating population, 500. (See description further along.)

Liberty.-Near Texas line, eastern boundary Territory; population, 70; resources, grazing and stock growing.

Las Alamos.-Settlement in beautiful Sapello Canyon, 10 miles northeast of Las Vegas; resources, stock raising and farming; especially adapted to raising sheep and goats; population, 273.

Pecos. On the Pecos River, 50 miles northwest of Las Vegas; the precinct is one of the largest in the county and has a population of 536; resources, stock growing and farming.

El Porvenir.-Health and pleasure resort in Gallinas Canyon, at the foot of Hermits Peak, 18 miles northwest of Las Vegas; population, 200; one of the most beautiful scenic resorts in the West.

Rivera.-Station on Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, 30 miles west of Las Vegas; resources, farming and stock raising.

Rociada.-Located 35 miles northwest of Las Vegas; a coming mining district; some farming and sheep raising; population, 298. Rowe.-Station on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, 40 miles west of Las Vegas; resources, timber, agriculture, and stock growing; population, 391.

San Ignacio.-Located 18 miles northwest of Las Vegas; noted as a summer resort; chief industry is lumbering; sawmills located here; in the Rociada mining district; population, 300.

San Miguel.-Located 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas; splendid agricultural and stock country; was the county seat of San Miguel County in the early sixties; population, 450.

Sapello.-Located 12 miles northwest of Las Vegas, on the Mora wagon road; excellent agriculture and stock country; flour mills located here; population, 351.

Sena.-On Pecos River, 35 miles southwest of Las Vegas; resources, agriculture and stock raising.

Tecolote.-Located 12 miles south of Las Vegas; resources, agricul ture and stock growing; population, 227.

Villanueva. On the Pecos River, 38 miles southwest of Las Vegas; resources, agriculture and stock raising.

In nearly all of the above districts fruit growing is carried on to some extent.

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.

Nowhere in the Territory have the agricultural resources greater possibilities than here. In many sections of the county crop raising without irrigation is perfectly feasible, and in other portions, where the dip of the land is such that irrigation must be adopted, the application of water is a comparatively easy task, because of the abundance in the innumerable waterways which drain the county.

Relative to the agricultural conditions of the county, Capt. W. C. Reid states for the 1900 report:

The greatest of all needs of San Miguel County is farmers. Of merchants, lawyers, doctors, politicians, middlemen, statesmen, etc., the supply is fully equal to the present demand; but the farmer-the basis of development and the foundation stone and superstructure of all public prosperity, individual, local, State, and national; the man who tills the soil in rational, intelligent, and successful waysis the man needed here.

The native population of the county is of natural sheepmen and cattlemen, and they devote all their attention to these profitable industries. In many instances they have their homes located in rich valleys capable of producing large and paying crops, but at the same time import their corn and flour from the Middle States.

In San Miguel County there are valleys with ample water, if intelligently used, to supply with wheat, oats, corn, and hay a population of 200,000 people, yet for a lack of farmers there are on an average 12 carloads of flour, 3 of corn, and 5 of oats shipped into the county per month the year round. This is the natural result of the condition of our industries. The cattle and sheep men are not producers of hay, grain, and fruits, nor do they even raise garden truck, but they buy oats by the ton, and they buy bacon, garden products, and fruit. The miners who delve for coal, copper, silver, and gold are many, and they buy imported products at good prices.

A

The observations of Captain Reid are, unfortunately, too true, and the condition is slow in changing, for the tide of immigration does not flow so swiftly toward New Mexico as it does toward the blizzardstricken Dakotas and sun-baked Kansas. And yet it has been repeatedly demonstrated that agriculture on almost any scale will pay handsome returns. The Gallinas Canal and Water Storage and Irrigation Company, capitalized for $10,000, furnishes a startling object lesson of the feasibility of reclaiming land by simple irrigation methods. main ditch is conducted 3 miles out from the Gallinas River, supplying a natural reservoir covering 34 acres of ground. From this reservoir, by ditches and laterals, water is conveyed to the several farms lining the system, each having a private reservoir which is fed from the river in the flood season and which is capable of irrigating its respective tract two or three times during the dry season. Under this system about 1,500 acres of waterless uplands have been reclaimed for agriculture. The farms watered in this manner adjoin the city of Las Vegas and vary in size from 12 to 450 acres, the small tracts being sufficient to supply the needs of small families.

Irrigation on a much larger scale will doubtless some day be practiced in the immediate vicinity of Las Vegas. A few miles north of town is a large basin, about 30 miles in circumference, into which can be emptied the flood waters of three rivers, together with the drainage of an immense watershed, and from which, by the construction of proper dams and canals, water may be conveyed upon at least 100,000 acres of productive land. An abundance of local capital will be found available to take up the matter of irrigation on such scale as soon as the Las Vegas land grant is settled as to title; and an opportunity is thus afforded capital to reap returns, in the way of large land holdings, from their investment. When this happy state of affairs, now,

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fortunately, near at hand, is brought into existence, the population of San Miguel County will be augmented fully 20,000.

Experiments made on the adaptability of this climate for growing corn brings the following results: Australian, white flint, 60 bushels to the acre; Leaming, yellow dent, 55 bushels; King Philip, red flint, 50 bushels; Longfellow, yellow flint, 55 bushels; Angel of Midnight, yellow flint, 60 bushels.

Alfalfa yields 3 cuttings per season, aggregating about 5 tons. The average value of the product is $10 per ton. After thorough seeding it lasts almost indefinitely, the root nodules of the plant constantly enriching the soil by supplying necessary oxygen.

Experiments made in vegetable raising have been prolific of as good results as those of producing grain. One year's crop of vegetables on less than 6 acres of ground resulted in 11,183 pounds of beets, 46,537 pounds of cabbage, 2,690 pounds of carrots, 2,800 pounds of parsnips, 2,226 pounds of onions, 1,022 pounds of cauliflower, 1,049 pounds of turnips, 184 pounds of string beans, 934 pounds of cucumbers, 10 pounds of lettuce, 21 pounds of javas, 40 pounds of green pease, 600 roasting ears of corn, 100 pounds of rhubarb, 600 pounds of celery, 26 pounds of beans, 2,186 pounds of corn on ear, 3,000 pounds of oats in sheaves, and 6,600 pounds of shock fodder, a total of 81,800 pounds of product, valued at $2,050. This from 6 acres of ground which a short time previous had been a barren hillside.

Beets weighing 14 pounds, cabbages 36, and turnips 4, were common features of the crop. From 1 ounce of seed 1,000 pounds of sugar beets were raised. Celery weighing 4 pounds to the stock and a dozen bunches weighing as much as 5 dozen bunches of the Kalamazoo product, 4 cabbages which weighed 137 pounds, 2 more that weighed 75 pounds, and sugar beets planted June 1 and tested in January which gave 15 per cent of sugar and 84.7 purity were the results of another practical gardener's experiments. Potatoes in the higher mountain valleys 'give, without irrigation, a yield unexcelled in quality, size, and quantity by any country in the world.

As an evidence of the remunerative feature of farming and gardening in the county, it may be said that Eastern prices, with a high freight rate added, prevail, for the reason that the home products have never been sufficient to make any impression on the market, and, as there is no competition, freight and express rates are maintained as high as possible. Nearly all of the poultry and eggs used in the county are imported. The price for eggs is 30 cents per dozen and home ranch eggs even command a higher price. This rate is maintained the year round, for there is no dimunition of the demand. Everything possible for the farmer to grow commands one-third more than the same product in the East, and the market exists at home for all that can be produced.

BUILDING STONE.

San Miguel County has long been noted for the excellence and beauty of its building stone, many public buildings in the Territory being monuments of its superiority over other stone. The blue limestone and white sandstone are used in rubble work, and the latter, ground, would manufacture into a fine glass. For dimension cutting an excellent quality of brownstone is produced which would serve as a substitute for granite. The stone will stand every chemical test. Both the brown and white sandstone are suitable for bas relief work, for it is hard and works up well.

The stone is very accessible, great ledges being exposed in the near-by mountain canyons, and the cost of quarrying can be reduced to almost nothing. With additional railway connections, Las Vegas promises to become a great producer and shipper of fine stoue.

THE MINING INTERESTS.

The mineral wealth of the county embraces deposits of gold, silver, lead, copper, tin, aluminum, mica, coal, iron, zinc, alum, gypsum, fire clays, and marble. Of the base metals vast deposits are shown. Very little systematic prospecting has been done in the county, but as rich deposits have been opening in the same mountain range both north and south of the county, it is only a question of time until those of San Miguel will be exploited.

The Rociada district is now being prospected by intelligent mining men, and they report excellent results from their work. Within 6 miles of Las Vegas has been opened an enormous deposit of copper, which has been tested and found sufficiently high grade to warrant working, and a treatment process is now being installed there. Eighteen miles of oil lands have recently been located adjoining Las Vegas, and machinery for boring will soon be installed.

LUMBERING AND LOGGING.

San Miguel County and sections contiguous on the north and west are the most densely timbered portions of New Mexico. Forests of yellow and white pine cover the mountain slopes, furnishing an abundance of timber for excellent lumber. The products of these forests are used extensively in interior finishing work, and with satisfaction.

Spruce, oak, walnut, cedar, and pinon abound, supplying bridge and mining timbers, piling, ties, poles, beams, and all other kinds of heavy timbers. The treeless plains to the east, south, and southwest make of Las Vegas the lumber market of New Mexico. The wood-preserving works of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway are located here.

Near the city are 11 sawmills, and yet the timber supply has barely been touched. The tributaries of the Upper Pecos, Tecolote, and Gallinas streams, the mesas west of La Cuesta, and along Canyon Blanca, and the headwaters of the Sapello and side canyons have millions of feet of fine saw timber and red spruce. Nearly all of the timber is located on Government land.

RAILROAD DEVELOPMENT.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company has invested nearly $2,000,000 in and around the city of Las Vegas. It disburses $50,000 monthly in the community, and supports nearly 2,000 persons. The building of the El Paso-Rock Island Railway, which will cut through the extreme southern end of the county, has led to an effort on the part of the Las Vegas Board of Trade to induce the company to build a branch line into Las Vegas on its way to the Dawson coal fields, which were recently acquired by that company.

The building of the Denver Short Line from El Paso to Denver, via Las Vegas and Trinidad, is also being agitated by financiers of Las Vegas, and there is every hope that the plan may materialize at no distant date.