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<br />nr' ~"'r. <br />uOA.U:J~: <br /> <br />THE PECOS RIVER CASE <br /> <br />The Pecos River rise13 in Sangre de' Cristo Mountains in <br /> <br />q~~i <br /> <br />north-central New Mexico and flows southward some 900 miles to <br /> <br />join the Rio Grande near Lantry, Texas draining some 25,000 <br /> <br />square miles in New Mexico and 19,000 square miles in Texas, <br /> <br />A discussion of this subject necessarily requires a <br /> <br />knowledge of the history of water development in the Pecos River <br /> <br />Basin, The earliest recorded uses from this stream system were <br /> <br />surface-water diversions from the river reported by the first <br /> <br />Spanish Conquistadores who invaded what is now known as New <br /> <br />Mexico in 1541-1543, <br /> <br />They found one of the largest and most <br /> <br />prosperous Indian communities (pueblos) on the Pecos River, known <br />as Cicuye (See-coO-YAY) or Pecos, According to early accounts, ~~ <br />Cicuye was a quadrangular structur~ consisting of two large <br />communal dwellings four stories high, containing more than a <br />thousand dwellings or apartments and so designed that one could <br /> <br />make the complete circuit of the village upon the balconies <br />without setting foot on the ground, Adjacent to the walled city <br />were lush fields of maize (corn), pumpkins and beans, irrigated <br /> <br />by means of a system of ditches diverting from the river. <br /> <br />Farther south along the pecos River, the explorers found <br /> <br />smaller, less highly developed, less prosperous villages whose <br />semi-migratory residents dwelt in dugout caves and crude mud huts <br /> <br />subsisting in the main upon the flesh of such creatures as they <br /> <br />were able to overcome and kill, <br /> <br />They too cultivated crops of <br /> <br />-.- .~-:. <br />-~....... <br />....:.'-... <br />",._~;-_. <br /> <br />12 <br />