About 500 tons of pure white sugar was turned out, finding ready sale in the markets of New Mexico and Texas.

In a way experimental, the greatest interest was centered in the final result and the general summary made at the close of the season's work. It was in nowise disappointing. Rather was it an occasion for jubilation, the result surpassing the claims of even the most sanguine. The initial season's work proved that irrigation and sugar-beet raising are admirably adapted to go together. That good soil makes the seed germinate; water makes the plant grow; sunlight puts the sugar in the beet.

It was proven, and is admitted by all authorities and experts, that the beets grown in the Pecos Valley of New Mexico in richness of sugar content exceed those produced in any other beet growing district in this or the Old World. What this fact means to New Mexico is scarcely comprehensible. But it means much. For if there is any one agricultural product in these days of low prices and slow markets into which farmers may safely venture, it is the growing of the sugar beet. And if there is any one manufacturing enterprise in which capital may safely invest, it is the erection of sugar factories.

Capital is timid and will not invest in uncertainties. It is willing, ready, and even anxious to engage in legitimate industries, the product of which has a continued demand, and at prices seldom fluctuating. There is no manufactured product that has a more constant demand than sugar. It is used by all classes of people and in all seasons of the year. Therefore it is with feelings of justifiable pride that the people of southeastern New Mexico, in that portion incorporated within the famous Pecos Valley, point to the fact that one of the seven beet-sugar factories in the United States is in successful operation in Eddy.

The development of the sugar-beet industry means lessening to a certain degree the acreage of other crops not grown profitably, as well as creating a demand for, and at good prices, those that may be grown. In short, it means creating, circulating, and retaining at home such an amount of money as would give employment to the hundreds of thousands of men now wanting work in the many other lines of industries made dependent on this as a source. Employment means contentment, prosperity, and happiness. The benefit which has followed the estab lishment of the present factory in Eddy is already manifest. Work has been given to all who sought it, the farmers have produced a crop which brings them cash returns, and trade, under the influence of prosperous farmers and steadily employed labor, shows greatly increased energy. The prospects for the present campaign of 1897 are most bright. It is already estimated that the tonnage of beets to be delivered to the factory will aggregate 20,000. This means that there will be paid out in cash to the farmers alone for beets $80,000. In addition to this will be a salary roll of approximately $5,000 a month at the factory for the four months of the campaign. On top of this will be the money expended for the necessary material and incidentals, and the money paid out to the railway for freight on the incoming beets and the exported sugar. Who can question the benefits to a community of the establishment and operation of such a factory, and the justice of the claim set forth by the Pecos Valley that it leads in progress all other portions of New Mexico for the year ending June 30?

The factory has been renovated and put in most complete condition, and everything is preparing for the commencement of the campaign in October.

Plans are practically perfected for the erection of an additional factory, and possibly two, complete details and construction having been delayed only till the final action of Congress regarding the beet-sugar interests was known. Had the action taken been unfavorable to this young industry, it is safe to say that not only would the men who are standing ready to put their money into new factories in this portion of the Southwest refuse to do so, but the present operating factory would have been seriously handicapped in its workings, many men thrown out of employment, the farmers deprived of a source of generous income, and a severe hardship put upon the whole Pecos Valley country.

As it now stands, the future of the beet-sugar industry in the Pecos Valley is indeed a bright one, and it is difficult to speak of it without danger of being thought extravagant. That there is a magnificent field for the development of the industry in the United States is coming to be generally recognized. The country is waking up to the folly of sending abroad so vast a sum of money-$125,000,000 yearly-for an article that can just as well be produced at home and to the incalcula ble advantage of the agricultural classes. The Pecos Valley, because of its superior advantages, is destined beyond any question to become the center of a very extensive development of this great interest, though experiments in other portions of New Mexico indicate that practically all the valleys of the Territory are adapted to beet culture. It is not too much to expect that within a very few years the farmers of this valley will be raising an average of 150,000 tons of beets per annum. This would mean the paying out of fully $700,000 every year for beets and labor in the factories; in addition to which the beet pulp, or waste product, would fatten at least 15,000 head of cattle. These may seem like extravagant figures, but they will bear the closest examination.

No prophet is therefore required to predict for the Pecos Valley a future of most exceptional promise and prosperity.

THE CATTLE AND SHEEP INTERESTS.

There is a certain portion of territory adjacent to the lands watered by the Pecos River that from their nature will always furnish abundant and nourishing range for the vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep that are quartered in this portion of the great Southwest. These interests, during the past year, attribute the cause to what you will, have prospered greatly. Both the number of cattle and sheep have been increased, both have risen in market value, and the sheepman smiles over a price for wool double that proffered twelve months back. As has been said many times before, the large crops of native alfalfa, to which is now added the residuum from the beet-sugar factory, gives promise that with such quantities of cheap feed and such plenteousness of water a vast feeding ground for stock will be one of the developments of the coming years.

PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE RAILWAY CONNECTIONS OF THE

PECOS VALLEY.

Through the rich vale of the Pecos, already described, and closely following the river is the Pecos Valley Railway, connecting at Pecos with the great transcontinental line of the Texas and Pacific. The completion of the projected line from Roswell to Washburn, Tex., 210 miles in length, will give the valley an air-line connection with Kansas

City and Chicago and place it on a new and important short line from the Eastern cities to California, Mexico, and the Southwest.

The final surveys have been made on this Roswell Washburn line, and only the tremendous financial stress of the period through which the country has been passing prevented its building some time ago. Now that brighter times are at hand this most necessary work can not much longer be delayed, and it is believed that before the close of the present year work will be commenced and the line pushed rapidly to completion. Officers of the company have been in the money centers of the East for the purpose of enlisting capital in the extension, and the report made is that the necessary funds are practically secured. Not only will the valley thereby be given a direct line to the East, but a most favorable connection will also be made with Colorado and the North.

The completion of this northeastern line will secure to the Pecos Valley all the advantages of its geographical position. It will be in effect, as it is now in fact, 1,500 miles nearer the great Eastern centers than is California, and its fruits and products will not have to climb mountains and traverse arid deserts on their way to a market. The mining camps of Colorado, which are large consumers, will be within easy reach and will be among the best customers for the valley's products. Galveston is but 800 miles distant, and in this relative nearness to tidewater the Pecos Valley has a great advantage over every other section of the Rocky Mountain region, for it is one of the certainties of the future that as the valley shows greater development and more railway facilities become a necessity, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe will extend its line from San Angelo, Tex., to a connection with the Valley Road at Pecosa distance of about 175 miles-thus giving this section direct and close communication with the deep-water port at Galveston, with cheap ocean steamship rates to the cities on the eastern seaboard.

Another line of transportation, contemplated when the demands for more markets and closer communication require, is the building of the present Valley Road north to a junction with the Santa Fe at Albu querque or Las Vegas, thus opening up the whole of New Mexico to the products of the Pecos Valley. Reaching out from Roswell will also be a road into the coal and mineral districts of the White Oaks country. Thus it will be seen that the railway facilities of this rapidly developing section are well planned. As needed, they will be consummated and put into effect.

CLIMATIC-THE HEALTHFULNESS OF PECOS VALLEY CLIMATE.

The Pecos Valley is above all else a healthful section. It has long been known that the climate of the elevated region at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains possesses wonderful curative properties in a wide range of chronic diseases, and particularly those of the throat and lungs. During the past twenty-five years thousands of people, most of them consumptives, have come to this region of pure, dry air and abundant sunshine; and a large majority of these have been cured or have found a measure of relief. It should, therefore, be a vast sanitarium, with an almost world-wide fame.

In no other part of this region are the general conditions more favorable from the standpoint of health than in the Pecos Valley. The altitude, which ranges from 3,000 to 3,800 feet, is that best suited to the majority of health seekers, being great enough to insure a dry and tonic atmosphere, and yet not so great as to develop any latent heart