History and government of New Mexico . living from their cornfields irrigated fromflowing streams or primitive reservoirs, and from gardensfrequently irrigated with water carried by human hands(sees. 7, 8). Through Spanish and Mexican times agri-culture continued to be one of the chief means of pro-ducing a living, though never a large-scale industry ofcommercial importance. The beginning of the Americanperiod brought no great change. Sheep and cattle raisingfurnished an easier method of acquiring a steady incomein the open country; commerce and mining furnishedbetter ventures for those who ha
History and government of New Mexico . living from their cornfields irrigated fromflowing streams or primitive reservoirs, and from gardensfrequently irrigated with water carried by human hands(sees. 7, 8). Through Spanish and Mexican times agri-culture continued to be one of the chief means of pro-ducing a living, though never a large-scale industry ofcommercial importance. The beginning of the Americanperiod brought no great change. Sheep and cattle raisingfurnished an easier method of acquiring a steady incomein the open country; commerce and mining furnishedbetter ventures for those who had a taste for speculativeundertakings. RAILROADS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 203 After the coming of the railroads more and more of thenewcomers were of the settler class who had come to buildhomes. Many of them had been farmers in other were all the conditions for the building up of a largefarming industry — a rapidily increasing population to befed, the resulting high prices for farm products, and an 1 - .::,-,,:; t— 1. Apple Orchard in Bloom, Pecos Valley increasing element of farmers. By the end of the centuryagriculture was entering on its first period of large-scaleproduction. 240. Development of the Pecos Valley. — All thesoutheastern part of the State, embraced in Lincoln Countyuntil the Pecos Valley country was organized into thecounties of Eddy and Chaves in i88q, was a great grazing 204 THE HISTORY OF - NEW MEXICO country, with no agricultural possibilities because of theabsence of a market until the nineties. The census of1880 showed that out of a total population of 2,500 in allthis vast region (Lincoln County), 2,300 were native-bornNew Mexicans. Immigration into this region had hardlybegun, and consisted of the few cattlemen who were drift-ing up the Pecos River, attracted by the fine lands of thevalley. Roswell was a village of a few hundred inhabitants,freighting all their supplies overland from Las (then called Eddy), a little nea
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