New Mexico

NEW MEXICO, popularly known as the "Sunshine" State, is situated in the south-western part of the United States between 31° 20' and 37° N. lat., and 103° and 109° W. longitude. It is bounded north by Colorado ; east by Oklahoma and Texas ; south by Texas and the republic of Mexico; and west by Arizona. It has an extreme length north and south of 400 m., and extreme width east and west of 358 m. and a total area of 122,634 sq.m., of which 131 sq.m. are water surface.

Physical Features.

The borders of the State are charac terized by high plateaux cut by deep canyons, while in the cen tral part faulted mountains surround comparatively level areas filled with alluvial deposits. Between the Rio Grande and the Staked plains the mountains form a more continuous range than on the west side of the river where the elevated areas form the main continental divide. The Sangre de Cristo mass is a part of the Colorado mountains which extend into New Mexico slightly east of the north-central part of the State and east of the Rio Grande. South of this northern mass two series of ridges extend to the southern boundary; the one near the Rio Grande, called in places from north to south the Sandia, the Manzano, the San Andres, the Oscura and the Organ mountains ; while the eastern group consists of the Hills of Pedernal, the White, the Sacra mento and the Guadalupe mountains.

On the west side of the Rio Grande the San Juan mountains dominate the country north of the Chama river. A second some what smaller mass lies between the Chama and the Jemez river, the Jemez mountains. Across the Puerco the Mount Taylor mountains carry the main divide in a south-western direction to the Chusca and Zuni mountains, which are continued farther south in one of the largest mountain masses of the State, the Mogollons, with the San Mateo and the Magdalena as outlying ridges in the direction of the Rio Grande, and the Black Range forming the south-eastern part. In the extreme south-western part of the State the western mountains terminate in several parallel ridges; the Burro, the Pyramid, the Big Hatchet and the Peloncillo mountains.

The major divides following the tops of the ranges and high plateaux run generally north and south. Of the most important there may be mentioned the divides between the Pecos and the ' Canadian valleys; between the Pecos and Tularosa valleys; be tween the Tularosa and the Rio Grande; and between the Rio Grande and the San Juan, Little Colorado and Gila valleys.

The rivers are the only important bodies of water that make up a part of the physiography of the State. In the north-eastern part of the State, in Union county, two of the branches of the Arkansas river have their sources. These are the Cimarron and the North Canadian rivers. A third branch of the Arkansas, the Canadian, flows through Colfax, Mora, San Miguel and Quay counties. As the Canadian drains the eastern part of the Sangre de Cristo Range, so the Pecos river receives the water from the southern part of the range and flows in a southerly direction across the State. The Rio Grande is the only important river in New Mexico that does not have its source within the State. It enters New Mexico in a deep canyon a short distance to the east of the 106 meridian, and flows south through the centre of the State. On the western side of the continental divide the principal rivers are the San Juan, Little Colorado and Gila, tribu taries of the Colorado which flows to the Gulf of California.

The principal characteristics of the arid soils of New Mexico are : a large amount of mineral matter ; a small amount of organic matter ; deep soils ; and a marked degree of productivity when irrigated.

Climate.

The winter rainy season is created by compara tively dry westerly winds blowing from the Pacific, coming into New Mexico from the north-east and north-west. In the summer the place of these winds is taken by a monsoon wind from the south, south-west or south-east. When they reach the mountain ous districts of New Mexico they are cooled. This results in giving New Mexico a summer period of .sub-tropical monsoon rains. The average rainfall for the State is about 15 in. annually. On some sections of the southern plains it is as low as 6 in. while in the mountain districts of the north it rises to 25 or 3o inches. The skies are generally clear and sunshine is abundant ; the days are warm but the nights are cool. At Santa Fe, where the mountains and plains meet, the mean annual temperature is 48.8° F; the mean for the winter is 30.9° and for the summer 67°; and the highest and lowest temperatures ever were 97° and —13°.