BANCROFT LIBRARY 
 
 
NEW MEXICO. 
 
 TERRITORIAL BUREAU OE IMMIGRATION 
 
 REPORT AS TO 
 
 MOKA COUNTY. 
 
 THIS REPORT WAS ALMOST ENTIRELY PREPARED BY 
 
 WM. KROENIG, COMMISSIONER, 
 OF WATROUS, MORA COUNTY. 
 
 LAS VEGAS, N. M. 
 
 DAILY GAZETTE PRINT. 
 1881. 
 
BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 L. BRADFORD PRINCE, 
 RAFAEL ROMERO, 
 L. SPIEGELBERG, 
 JNO. H. THOMPSON, 
 
 President. 
 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 MEMBERS AT LARGE. 
 
 Gov. Lew Wallace, ex-officio, Santa Fe. L. Bradford Prince, Santa Fe. 
 Lehman Spiegelberg, Santa Fe. T. F. Conway, Santa Fe. 
 
 William Kroenig, Watrous. 
 
 BY COUNTIES, 
 
 For Coif ax 
 
 Harry Whigham, Cimarron. 
 For Dona Ana 
 
 A. J. Fountain, Mesilla. 
 For Grant 
 
 W. H. Lawrence, Silver City. 
 For Lincoln 
 J. C. Lea, Roswell. 
 
 B. T. Ellis, Lincoln. 
 For Mora 
 
 Rafael Romero, La Cueva. 
 For Rio Arriba 
 
 Samuel Eldodt, San Juan. 
 
 For Santa Fe 
 
 Romulo Martinez, Santa Fe. 
 
 Samuel Ellison, Santa Fe. 
 For San Miguel 
 
 Trinidad Romero, Las Vegas. 
 
 J. H. Koogler, Las Vegas. 
 For Socorro 
 
 Antonio Abeytia y A., Socorro. 
 
 Michael Fisher, Socorro. 
 For Taos 
 
 Anthony Joseph, Taos. 
 For Valencia 
 
 Tranquilino Luna, Los Lunas. 
 
 For Bernalillio Wm. C. Hazledine, Albuquerque. 
 
REPORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMISSIONER OF MORA COUNTY. 
 
 Mora County is situated in the north eastern part of the Territory, lying 
 immediately south of Colfax County and stretching from the Panhandle o^ 
 Texas on the east, to the mountains on the west. It has an area of about 
 3,698 square miles or 2,366.124 acres. 
 
 The population, according to the last census amounts to 12,000 those of 
 Spanish ancestry constituting by far the larger number. 
 
 The prairies occupy about three-fourths of the surface, the mountains with 
 the exception of the "Turkey Mountains 1 ' lies altogether in the western part 
 of the county. 
 
 The altitude gradually rises from 4,000 feet in the extreme east to 7,000 
 feet, at the base of the mountains, which rise to an altitude "of 11,000 feet, a 
 few individual peaks attaining a height of 12,500 feet. 
 
 The prairie lands are at present, while thu mines are still undeveloped, 
 the principal sources of wealth of the county, furnishing pasturage for 75,000 
 head of cattle. 125,000 sheep, 10,000 goats and 1,500 horses. So far, only 
 the natural water courses, springs and water holes have been used to water 
 the stock and consequently immense tracts of the best grazing lands are 
 only pastured when abundant rains till the numerous natural depressions 
 with water; experiments have proved, that in these depressions by sinking *vel!s 
 water can be obtained within a reasonable distance. Wind mills could be erect- 
 | ed at a small cost to furnish an inexhaustable supply of water. In this man- 
 ner the stock interests could be fully trebled. The sinking of wells would 
 also be advantageous in the herding of stock, as they would soon become 
 accustomed to return to the watering places. The native breed of cattle is 
 of an inferior quality, but is being improved by the importation of graded bulls 
 and already entire herds of improved cattle can be found. The original stock 
 
bear well, and as mildew is unknown, all varieties of gooseberries can be 
 grown with certainty of success. The first improved fruit trees were planted 
 about fifteen years ago in the central and western parts of the county ; the late 
 blooming trees have proved to be the best and surest of success. The Ger- 
 man prune has produced fine crops of superior fruit. Of cherries the early 
 Richmond is the safest. Peaches and apricots will only bear in very sheltered lo- 
 cations It is generally necessary to protect the orchards against the prevail- 
 ing south-west winds by strips of quick-growing trees, and it is believed that 
 the white willow will give the best protection in the shortest time. On Red 
 River peaches, apricots, pears, grapes, and in fact all the more tender varieties 
 of fruit, give abundant crops. 
 
 Natural meadows are limited, but any piece of prairie land can. in the 
 course of two or three years, be converted. into a good meadow by irrigation. 
 The prairies are covered with gramma and blue joint grass. The latter forms a 
 very heavy sod and drives out the gramma. The hay of the blue joint grass is 
 very heavy and is considered of far better quality than any of the cultivated 
 grasses. 
 
 All the mountain streams abound with trout. So far no effort has been 
 made to breed them artificially, although many fine springs offer all the induce- 
 ments wished for. A number of reservoirs have been made, and as they are 
 fed by rivers which have their sources in the mountains, some trout find their 
 way into the lakes, where they have been caught, weighing as much as five and 
 a half pounds. Antelopes, turkeys, white-tailed deer, quails, sage hens, etc., are 
 still found on our prairies, and in the recesses of the mountains *are various 
 wild animals. 
 
 The county shows in many places traces of former occupation by an agri- 
 cultural people. Their mode of building differed in so far from that of the 
 present Pueblo Indians that their villages were of smaller dimensions, and as 
 in all the excavations made earthenware pots, filled with charred corn, were un- 
 earthed, it may be presumed that these villages were destroyed by the wild In- 
 dian tribes of the prairies. All these ruins show large quantities of pottery, 
 well made arrow points of flint and obsidian, hand mills (metates), etc. The 
 canons also show the remains of cliff houses. 
 
 There is one woolen mill in the county, which has not been run for 
 some time, owing to some differences among the proprietors. The property 
 consists of a good substantial three-story stone edifice, an additional one -story 
 adobe building roofed with tin, out-houses for operatives, stables, and about 
 two hundred acres of land. The power is supplied by an overshot wheel. 
 The property is for sale, and would be a safe investment to any one under- 
 standing the business ; it is situated on the Mora river, four miles from a rail- 
 road station. 
 
 The mineral wealth of this county is believed to be enormous, but bcin" 1 
 on the "Mora grant" is thus far undeveloped ; alluvial gold has been found 
 
in various places, also silver, copper, antimony, iron and coal. A coal oil 
 spring has recently been discovered twelve miles from Mora, the county seat 
 of the county. The prevailing rock in the eastern and central part of the 
 county is sandstone, which is ve y suitable for building purposes, and, as in 
 many places, limestone of superior quality crops out. There is no lack of 
 building material. In different parts around the craters of extinct volcanoes 
 is found lav-* ( mal pais) which makes excellent mill stones. 
 
 In beauty of scenery, and everything required to make charming country 
 homes, no place on earth is superior to this county. The valley near Watrous 
 attracts the attention of every one entering the Territory from the Eist, and 
 the scenery around Mora, La Cueva, Agua Negra, Ocate, etc., is of surpassing 
 beauty. For market gardening and fine farming these valleys present extraor- 
 dinary inducements. The termination of the legal proceedings necessary to 
 establish the title to the Mora grant (which contains nearly 800,000 acres), 
 now expected very shortly, will throw open to purchase and improvement large 
 tracts of admirable land, hitherto unobtainable, and this adds still further to 
 the inducements offered in this county to immigration. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 WM. KROENIG, 
 Commissioner of Mora County. 
 
Makers 
 
 Stockton, Calif. , 
 PM. IAH 21. ^ 8