A Pictorial History of Quay County New Mexico

A Pictorial History of Quay County, New Mexico Agriculture in the 20 th Century By Jeff Bader Quay County Agricultural Extension Agent Special thanks to Tucumcari Historical Museum, Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce, Tucumcari Agricultural Science Center, Quay County Extension Office and Private Collections for the photographs presented here.

Free Land Bureau in Logan N. M. around the turn of the Century.

Tucumcari Field Station, 1903. Became the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center.

Quay County Fair Exhibit, 1908.

By some accounts, Montoya N. M. in the early 1900’s had upto 1000 people living there, now only a handful remain.

Farm products raised by R. B. Waltrip - 1916.

Bell Street, Nara Visa, NM about the turn of the century.

Dryland peach orchard, 1916.

Rabbit drives were common in Eastern NM in the early 1900’s. Drivers walked side by side and killed every rabbit that crossed their path. This one took place at Mc. Alister, N. M. in 1917. 600 Rabbits were taken that day.

Homesteading in Quay County about 1900. Mary Lou Hornsby’s homestead. Dugout in Montoya, N. M. .

San Jon, N. M. Broom Corn processing Scenes, 1920’s.

“Bugger Red” bull- dogging from a car at the Cowboy Roundup in Tucumcari around 1920.

Branding at the Kohn Ranch (T 4 Cattle Company) in the early 1920’s.

Mules for sale in Downtown Tucumcari at the site that later became the Elk Drug Store.

Roundup on the T 4 Ranch, early 1920’s.

First modern cotton gin in Quay County, 1922, San Jon, N. M.

Cultivating Cowpeas at what is now the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center at Tucumcari.

T 4 Cowboys in the early 1920’s.

Processing silage at the Tucumcari Field Station. Parts of these buildings remain today.

400 cattle killed by the US Government on the T 4 Ranch due to drought. The Ranch Received $9 per head compensation.

Hereford cattle were dominant in Quay County for the first 80 years of the 20 th Century.

Duke Hornsby building fence, 1940’s.

Branding with a wood fire.

Harvesting Potatoes

The Arch Hurley Conservancy District was completed in the late 1940’s and brought irrigated agriculture to Quay County.

Boys in the cantaloupe patch, 1940’s.

Broom Corn (1949 ) was a major crop in Quay County until the 1960’s.

Castor Beans are one of the many crops that have been grown in Quay County. The slides that follow show others.

Sugar Beets

Melons

Sweet Potatoes

Onions

Cutting Alfalfa, 1949. Alfalfa has become the #1 forage crop today.

Man and wife working the new irrigation project, late 1940’s.

Picking cotton, 1940’s.

Early weed and insect control in cotton.

Wheat Harvest, late 1940’s.

Wheat on the ground, in Tucumcari, before the grain elevator was finished (in the background) 1946.

The “Packin House”, 1950’s.

Roger Harrell’s Champion Market Calf, New Mexico State Fair, sold for $1500 in 1949.

Mesa Country in the 1950’s.

4 H Livestock demonstration by H. W. Koonsman and Tommy Smith, 1950.

Picking horses out of the remuda, early 1950’s.

Horses have always been an important part of Quay County Agriculture.

The Quay County Cooperative Extension Service was lucky to have Travis Nelson and Ted Peabody working for a better future for all residents.

Tucumcari Farmers Market, 1999

Modern irrigation techniques are becoming more popular every year.

The old and the new come together.

Jose Tall Wheatgrass and Alfalfa mixes are the improved pastures of choice today.

Modern farming techniques in the Arch Hurley Conservancy District.

Bringing the herd off of Mesa Rica.

Triticale and Tucumcari Mountain.

The preferred way to package hay today.

Another way to package alfalfa.

Nuff Said