A number of the State agricultural colleges have substantial and wellequipped buildings especially devoted to this work. Best of all, however, is the devoted group of men who make up the agricultural engineering faculties of these institutions specialists in farm buildings and farm home improvement, farm machinery, and reclamation workamong whom may be found men of note who have given a lifetime of study and service to the betterment of farm conditions through engineering effort.

The work in agricultural engineering is well recognized by the United States Department of Agriculture, which has a large, thoroughly organized Division of Agricultural Engineering. This division has on its staff a line of experienced specialists handling every phase of the work, carrying out needed research in all parts of the United States, and getting the information, thus secured, to the people who need it, through many well written, clearly illustrated pamphlets of the Farmers' Bulletin Series, either free on request or available for a few cents each to any resident of the United States. This Federal division co-operates extensively with the various agricultural colleges and fosters the development of technical agricultural engineers in the different States.

THE FIELD OPEN TO AGRICULTURAL

ENGINEERS

Agricultural engineers must be able to work directly with the farmers and with the individual farm problems and to arrive at a solution for such problems. They must also be able to serve as specialists in their line of work. Their greatest field of service is, however, unquestionably in the design and construction of farm equipment; for the design and construction of a single piece of efficient farm equipment may result in bringing help to hundreds of thousands of farmers, only a very few of whom could be helped directly through individual consultation and personal service by this same engineer, during his whole lifetime. Many lines of opportunity, therefore, are open to the agricultural engineer. Among these opportunities, the following are prominent:

With the manufacture of farm machinery, equipment, and building materials; as executives, research engineers, publicity and sales managers, and technical field experts.

Superintendents or managers of large farms where machinery and farm equipment are extensively used.

Drainage and reclamation engineers in reclamation work on both public and private projects.

Agricultural advisers and research men with public utility companies who offer a useful service to the farmer.

Editors and agricultural engineering experts for farm papers and technical journals.

Designers and contracting engineers for farm buildings.

Teachers, investigators, and extension specialists in agricultural colleges, experiment stations, and in the U. S. D. A. (Possibilities in needed research in this field are almost unlimited.)

The agricultural engineering field is not, as yet, a highly specialized one. The agricultural engineer of to-day should be capable of acting as a general practitioner. His prototype may be found in the country doctor of a generation ago, who was a transitional type but a very necessary type, replaced almost wholly in these days of more advanced development by the great army of specialists in the practice of the art and science of healing. The men in this country to-day, who have a sufficiently broad knowledge of the whole field properly to call themselves agricultural engineers, are but a handful to those who will be needed in the near future.

The demand for such men is steadily increasing, and it is the opinion of the farm equipment companies and public utility companies that in the next few years there will be a great demand for agricultural engineers for these lines of service, and that the agricultural colleges are not preparing them in sufficient quantity.

Note. The presentation of illustrations shown in this article was made possible by the courtesy of the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, of the International Harvester Company of partments of the various agricultural colleges America, and of the agricultural engineering de

mentioned.

HE presence of redhaired Spanish-Americans in New Mexico has always been attributed to the visit of Lieutenant Z. M. Pike in 1807. Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike, so the story goes, was not only excessively red-headed but was in addition excessively Don Juanish.

Familiarly, we speak of Zeb Pike. The daring lieutenant always referred to himself as Montgomery Pike and his Spanish captors of New Mexico knew him as "Montmaire Paike." It was as "Montmaire Paike" that the legions of Governor Joachin R. Allencaster intercepted him at his Ojo Caliente camp and conducted him to Santa Fé as a captive. He had seen-not climbed the famous peak near what is now Colorado Springs, and had modestly attached his own name to it on the map he fashioned as he travelled.

He was not a pretty sight when the Spaniards found him at Ojo Caliente near the present border-line between Colorado and New Mexico. There had been deep snows and freezing weather in the Rockies of Colorado. He had barely made it through alive himself, and he had built the hut at Ojo Caliente as protection while he awaited the arrival of three of his band who frost-bitten, hungry, and unutterably weary-were making their laborious way in the rear.

With Pike to within a few days of the arrival of Lieutenant Saltelo and the Allencaster forces had been the mysterious Doctor John Robinson, who had unofficially attached himself to the official Pike expedition when it left St. Louis. He had deserted it again at Ojo Caliente to carry out a mission in Santa Fé. Reputed to be a citizen of France and undeniably a gentleman of some refinement, Robinson had borne the hardships of Pike's strenuous

march with the sole aim of reaching Santa Fé. And why reach Santa Fé? For the purpose of affecting the return of the wares of one William Morrison, wellknown merchant, of Kaskaskia, Ill., who had foolishly intrusted them to one Baptiste La Lande several years previous. La Lande had ventured into New Spain, been captured at Santa Fé and sent to Chihuahua. He had so far succumbed to the lure of Spanish life-and mayhap Spanish pulchritude as to lose all further desire of returning to the doldrums of Kaskaskia. He had returned to Santa Fé, become a citizen, and settled down to enjoy life. It was for the purpose of collecting from La Lande that Robinson, ostensibly, desired to enter Santa Fé. It seemed, verily, little enough excuse for such excessive endeavor. We shall return to the mysterious doctor a little later.

"Montmaire Paike" knew that the Spanish forces were coming long before they arrived, but there was well-simulated surprise on his countenance when Lieutenant Ignacio Saltelo and Bartolomé Fernandez galloped up and waved their swords in the name of His Catholic Majesty, King of Spain. It was on February 25, 1807, and Pike came out to greet them.

"What's all this?" he asked. "You're on Spanish territory," said Saltelo.

"You're crazy," said Pike. "I'm on the Red River on American soil."

"You're loco," said Saltelo. "You're on the Rio Bravo on Spanish soil." And he might have added: "You know it damned well," but being Spanish and polite, he refrained.

This is the sense of the conversation between Pike and Saltelo, without being necessarily its historical counterpart.

In charge of Saltelo and Fernandez, Lieutenant Pike advanced on Santa Fé and had an audience with Governor Al

reached Santa Fé, as he had started out to do when he left St. Louis on July 15, 1806, under orders from General James Wilkinson. It's when you mention General James Wilkinson that the story begins to dawn on you.

Wilkinson was the gentleman who conspired with Aaron Burr to set up an independent nation out of what was then Western United States. Pike was simply a cog in the machine. No one in the War Department at Washington cared whether or not Pike explored the head branches of the Arkansaw and the Red River. But Wilkinson had his eye on the conquest of New Spain. It was part of the Burr plan. As commander of the Western division, Wilkinson could put over the Pike Expedition, and did.

It was the same beautiful Wilkinson who, when the collapse of Burr was inevitable, rushed to arrest the unfortunate Aaron with a great show of indignation. For a time Wilkinson was actually a hero and he got through the famous trial at Richmond as principal witness against Burr, although even the prosecuting attorneys made little effort to conceal the fact that they considered him only three degrees removed from a dirty skunk.

Pike's journal duly but most horribly printed upon his return to Washingtonwas quite a sensation because of the interest created in all things Southwestern by the Burr scandal. In due course, he became General Pike and was killed by a stray ball in the War of 1812. He was aged only thirty-three years at the time of his death, being born at Trenton, N. J., in 1779, drifting naturally to the army because of the example of his father, who, having joined the colors in 1791, was honorably discharged as a lieutenantcolonel in 1815, three years after his son had been martyrized by death under fire as a general.

That is the outline of Pike's life. Not even by his friends was he considered a superior general. His fame lies in his two expeditions. The first, in 1805-1806, was from St. Louis by way of the Mississippi to the headwaters of the river. It was also sanctioned by General Wilkinson but there have been no suspicions in regard to it. The suspicions arising out of his second journey into New Spain were well

known to Pike but only passingly counteracted by him. In view of his later record and the acclaim which followed the publication of the records of his trips, historians have been reluctant to believe that he knew the purpose of his advance into New Spain. Whether he realized he was being made a part of the Burr conspiracy is debatable, but there is no longer any doubt that he knew he was headed for Santa Fé when he left St. Louis. His own letters and his reports to General Wilkinson prove it despite the innocent air he adopts when referring to his surprise at finding himself on the Rio Grande when he thought he was on the Red River on American soil.

"Why-if he thought he was on the Red River-did he build his fort at Ojo Caliente on the west side of the Red River, which was admittedly on Spanish soil?" asked a contemporary of Pike's. Why, indeed?

In his letter of instructions to Pike, General Wilkinson wrote: "As your interview with the Comanches will probably lead you to the head branches of the Arkansaw and Red Rivers, you may find yourself approximated to the settlements of New Mexico. There it will be necessary that you move with great circumspection. . . .

In a letter to Wilkinson, Pike writes: "With respect to the Tetaus, the General may rest assured, I shall use every precaution previous to trusting them; but as to the mode of conduct to be pursued towards the Spaniards, I feel more at a loss, as my instructions lead me into the country of the Tetaus, part of which is no doubt claimed by Spain, in consequence of which, should I encounter a party from the villages near Santa Fé, I have thought it would be good policy to give them to understand, that we were about to join our troops near Natchitoches [Texas], but had been uncertain about the headwaters of the rivers over which we passed; but, that now, if the commandant approved of it, we would pay him a visit of politeness.

A great prophecy, if ever there was one! Written in July of 1806-eight months before the Pike party reached Ojo Caliente. He had strict-official-instructions from Wilkinson not to go near Santa

Fé. Nothing is said in Pike's journals as to the possibility of getting near Santa Fé. He was to explore the Red River and stay away from the Rio Grande. And suddenly he is met by the Spaniards. "The Rio Grande! Impossible! I thought I was on the Red."

Nothing is said about the fact that if they were on the Red, they were on the wrong side of it from a legal and nationalistic standpoint.

son:

In other words Pike wrote to Wilkin"Consequently, should I meet a Spanish party from the villages near Santa Fé, I think it would be good policy to give them to understand (1) that my party was going to join our troops near Natchitoches, but had mistaken the Rio Grande for the Red river; (2) that if it would be agreeable to the Spanish commandant, we should pay him a polite visit; and (3) that if he did not wish us to do this, we should go direct to Natchitoches. In any event, I flatter myself that I shall get out of the scrape somehow."

In the same letter Pike goes on: "But if the Spanish jealousy, and the instigation of domestic traitors should induce them to make us prisoners of war (in time of peace), I trust to the magnanimity of our country for our liberation. . . ."

For which substitute: "But if Spanish jealousy of Americans, and the Aaron Burr conspiracy, cause us to be made prisoners of war, I trust that you will see we are released."

All this written eight months before Santa Fé is reached and in the face of denial then and later that he had any idea of getting near Santa Fé! Truly strange doings for a loyal officer of the armed forces of the United States of America. Highly unethical and untruthful at the very least and with a fair chance of being distinctly traitorous. Pike ends his letter to Wilkinson: "Will you pardon the foregoing as the enthusiasm of a youthful mind, yet not altogether unimpressed by the dictates of prudence?"

Which, if I may be permitted to coin a word, is so much applesauce. The letter is the truth about his intentions; the journal is simply camouflage and very poor at that. He crosses what he proposes to think is the Red River and builds a fort VOL. LXXXII.-30

on the other side in what he absolutely knows is Spanish Territory. And Doctor Robinson starts off to walk from the Red River to Santa Fé! The whole thing is childishly ridiculous, but Pike goes through with the bluff. Occasionally he slips up, as when he begins to think it is about time he "receives a visit from Spanish or their emissaries,' although he is pretending to be safe on American soil hundreds of miles away. When they come he bluffs a little and finally hauls down his flag-probably as willing a captive as ever was taken into enemy country.

The ingenuousness of the entire Pike expedition is almost beyond belief. Wilkinson knows what the talk is, but when, near the close of his life, he writes his weighty memoirs in an attempt to clear his name of the Burr stain, he carefully omits all mention of the Pike expedition. Pike himself wisely makes no attempt to open up the matter. There is little general curiosity as to why he attempted the Mexican journey. The country is content to be justifiably proud of the heroic journey which showed great fortitude and typical Yankee sagacity and cleverness. Among other things the estimable Zebulon Montgomery showed his sagacity by selecting the most spectacular peak in the United States as worthy of his own name. The very daring of his adventure protected him from annoying questions during his lifetime; the fact of Pike's Peak has acted in some strange way to protect him since. Even in his lifetime there was little use in bringing up the question of his connection with Burr. Burr himself had been acquitted, even though Wilkinson appeared as a state's witness against him.

With it all Pike was a fascinating figure. The first thing research in regard to him does is break up the Southwestern theory of the red-headed Spanish-Americans. I am sorry to be compelled to report that all historians I have examined are earnest in declaring him a blond. Where the Southwestern myth originated is a mystery, but it is certainly prevalent at this moment among old citizens of New Mexico. In getting to Santa Fé Pike made a slow-measured trip from the northern end of the domain. When Governor Allen