Page:Geology and water resources of Estancia Valley, New Mexico, with notes on ground-water conditions in adjacent parts of central New Mexico.djvu/10



On the west Estancia Valley is separated from Rio Grande Valley by a mountain wall; on the east it is bordered by a maze of hills which divide it from the upland that slopes toward the Pecos Valley and from the Encino and Pinos Wells basins; on the north it rises gradually until it ends abruptly as a plateau overlooking the valley of Galisteo Creek, which flows westward into the Rio Grande; on the southwest it is terminated by a mesa; and on the southeast, where it is hemmed in between the mesa and the hills, it is separated by a low divide from the Pinos Wells Basin.

This valley has long supported a sparse population. Nestled in the western foothills, remote from any city or railroad, the Mexican villages of Chilili, Tajique, Torreon, Manzano, and Punta de Agua have for generations led a peaceful but primitive existence, their inhabitants depending for a livelihood chiefly upon their flocks of sheep. Moreover, planted here and there upon the broad, level expanses of the valley proper are isolated establishments which have been the homes of independent and prosperous ranchers, most of whom are Mexicans.

But within the past decade a great change has taken place. Two railways have been built the New Mexico Central Railroad, which traverses the entire length of the valley, and the "Belen cut-off" of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, which crosses its southern part. Hundreds of homesteaders have come to take possession of the land, and eight villages have sprung up along the railways.

Insufficient rainfall during recent years has caused crop failures and has created an urgent demand for an investigation of the feasibility of irrigating with ground water. In response to this demand, and for the purpose of classifying the land under the enlarged homestead act, an examination of the valley covering a period of six weeks was made by the writer in the summer of 1909. The time spent was not sufficient to make a complete investigation, hence attention was directed especially to the more practical phases of the problem. In August, 1910, several days were spent in the Encino and Pinos Wells basins.

West of the valley is the Manzano Range, which extends for 30 miles as an unbroken mountain wall and forms a sharp divide between the Estancia and Rio Grande basins. This range, culminates in a