James C. Dunn Otero County, New Mexico

James C. Dunn is filling the position of County treasurer and collector of Otero County, and makes his home in Alamogordo. At the same time he is engaged in the raising of fruit and cereals, demonstrating the possibilities of this section of the Territory in that line of production. He was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was reared as a fisherman. He entered the army in 1862, enlisting in defense of the Union as a member of the Twelfth Massachusetts Light Battery, but was soon afterward transferred to the navy and served in the West Gulf blockading squadron under Admiral Farragut. When the war was over he entered the merchant service, and, in 1882, went to California, becoming a pioneer resident at Long Beach, where he made his home until 1900.

That year witnessed the arrival of Mr. Dunn in Alamogordo. He had previously been engaged in fruit farming, in milling and contracting in California. He studied what is now known as the Campbell system of dry farming for the production of fruit and found that it was a good system, producing excellent results. He was the first man in this Territory to institute that method. He now raises grapes, pears, peaches, plums, prunes and apricots, growing all these with success upon his place, about two and a half miles north of Alamogordo. He began the business in 1900 and continues therein, now having thirty acres of land under cultivation, about five acres being devoted to fruits, while the remainder is used in the cultivation of corn, oats and barley. In 1905 he raised rye which was six feet two and a half inches high, and in 1902 he won the premium on corn at the Territorial fair, a fact illustrative of his excellent methods and his gratifying position as a leader in agricultural circles. He is now making a specialty of fruit, increasing his business in this direction annually.

Mr. Dunn is a Republican, unfaltering in his allegiance to the party, and in 1904 was elected to the position of County treasurer and collector of Otero County, which position he is now filling. He is also recognized as an exemplary Mason, being a faithful follower of the craft.

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Source: History of New Mexico, Its Resources and People, Volume II, Pacific States Publishing Co., 1907.