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Sunday, September 19, 1999
Farmington: Agriculture and Oil
Journal Staff Report
Farmington was born out of ranching and agriculture during the late 1800s.
The area's major industry arrived in 1879 when farmer William Locke brought in the area's first fruit trees.
By the turn of the century, fruit production was at the heart of the local economy, fed by Farmington's mild climate and abundance of water.
Apples were the primary crop, with farmers growing up to 150 varieties.
Farmington was incorporated in 1901, and the railroad arrived in 1905.
Farmington Museum collections manager Catherine Davis said the railroad was crucial for the town because it lessened its isolation and made it possible to ship agricultural goods.
But the railroad didn't bridge enough of the isolation gap to sustain the area's first oil and natural gas boom of the 1920s. "There was no transportation to get it anywhere, so there wasn't a whole lot done with it," Davis said.
She said the first paved road to Albuquerque wasn't built until the early 1950s.
The '50s did mark a boom for the area, spurred on by a second oil and gas boom. The El Paso Natural Gas Co. built a pipeline from its plant to Gallup so the local industries could reach larger markets.
"The population did not increase, even by the 1950s. It was probably around 3,000," she said. "And then, when the oil and gas boomed, we hit 30,000. Then it leveled out to close to 20,000 by the close of the '50s."
The end of that decade also saw the end of many of the agricultural crops.
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