Thanks for responding to my E Mail.  I do not know if Carrisa Spings is the Dougherty Wells.  I do know that one could look down from the road and see the old irrigation ditch which is no longer useable, even in 1956.  It wasn’t useable because the water from the spring comes out in the bottom of the large ditch.
   It was obvious that at one time that there was no ditch and the spring came up in the pasture land.  You could follow the irrigation ditch back to its source and see a depression that at one time must have been the spring.  This is probably the reason that it was called Dougherty Wells.  More than likely the entire bottom of the valley was a swamp where the water came up and there could have easily been no main stream until they dug it out.  We own such a spring in Jim Lewis canyon.  The entire bottom of the canyon is a swamp and if we did not dig out the springs and fence them off from the livestock there would be no running water.  This is probably what the Carrisa Springs looked like at one time. The ditch is the result of erosion from either a road or attempts to drain the bottom land.  Most of the large eroded ditches that you see in the Sacramento Mountains are the result of erosion of the original wagon roads.  James Canyon is a prime example.  You can see places where the ditch cuts through hills and the only way it could do that is along an old road.  This is what the old original settlers told my father when he moved to New Mexico in 1926.  You can follow the old road up Monument canyon and see many places that where once there was a road is now a ditch.
   Mr. Grisak's grave is probably easy to find if one knew where to look.  I looked for it several times when I was a child and found it every time.  I’ll bet the barbed wire is still around it.  The area enclosed is probably 30 by 20 feet or more.
   I read with interest about the ditch that Oliver Lee dug to carry water from the Sacramento River to Grapevine Canyon.  When my father bought the Moss ranch (except for where Timberon is)  it had and still has a summer and winter pasture.  The summer pasture starts at the Carrisa Springs and is located further north.  Winter pasture is located about 10 miles south of Alamogordo on the El Paso highway.  The only way to move the cattle at that time was to drive them by horse.  The first day we would drive them to base of the mountains, the second day we would stop at what used to be the Willis Danley ranch in Grapevine canyon just below lower Juniper Tank.  The third day we would stop and camp next to the large cut through the Arkansas ridge, and the next day we would be in Monument Canyon.  There is nothing like observing your surroundings like riding a horse behind the last calf.  Many times I would forget about the ditch and ride after a cow and find my way blocked.  I did not learn fast.
   That ditch was actually two ditches.  One is very large and according to my father, was intended to carry the flood waters of the Sacramento River and it went over the Arkansas ridge without much earth removal.   The second ditch was lower in elevation and hence had to be cut through the Arkansas ridge.  We basically followed that ditch all the way to the winter range.  It ends at a place known as Sacramento City.  You may have never heard of Sacramento City.  It was a community started by Oliver Lee in the early 1900s.  I could not tell you how to get there but it is about 1 mile east of the El Paso highway and about 2 miles south of our ranch headquarters.  All you can see are the road patterns, a little glass and an old coffee pot.
   Oliver Lee intended those ditches to provide water for that community so they could farm.  It was not successful and “city” abandoned.  My Father said that the water supply was unreliable.  The remains of the ditch are still there if you knew where to look.
   We quit driving the cattle between the two ranches when my sisters and I left home.  Dad was left without a crew and it is near impossible to find temporary cowboys that know anything about a cow.  At that time they also stopped spending the summers in Monument Canyon.  It was too lonely for them after we left.  My sisters and I are taking over that portion of the ranch and we will have manager that will start spending the summers there from now on.  We loved that ranch and spent some of the happiest times of our lives there.  We will not sell any of it.  We want to leave it unpopulated for as long as we can so everyone can enjoy it.  I may have a family history.  I’ll look.
   Oh yes,  the water at Timberon.  Mr. Moss drilled several wells and was unable to find an irrigation well.  It is not surprising that you have trouble now.  If he could have found water the apple orchard would not have died.
   Oh yes, again.  The old school house site was at the mouth of Carrisa canyon where it flows into the Sacramento River.  It looks like someone built the road right over it.  I could show you where that was with a good deal of certainty.  Contact me again if you have any more questions.

Omer Holcomb