Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-07-05
NEW MEXICO.
A Trip Of Over Eight Hundred and
Fifty Miles 0verland-F Dem
YER, via Pixies Peak, TO
Santa Ee.
Description Of the Countrywide HOun-
tains and the Mines-Santa Fe,
its People and Sur
rOundingS.


d From an Occasional Correspondent
!, SANTA FE, New MEXICO, June q
!. lS73.-Our party arrived here on the
twentieth, and after "night-long sleeI
: : of many changing dTeams," we are this
morning enjoying the cool mountain
e air, that day after day, even in midsum-
mer, sweeps over the far VESTS most
ancient town. On the seventh of May
we left Denver, with complete camp
ing outfit and team, and thus far we
J have accomplished a distance of eight
! hundred and fifty miles. Our route was
Utd Pixies Peak to Fairplay, on the
snowy range, and thence southwark
along the mesas or spurs of the Rocky
mountains-almost the same route, ac-
cording to report, that Lieutenant Pike
took nearly seventy years ago, endeav-
oring TO find the source of the Ar
kansas and Red rivers. Until we
reached Colorado Springs we were
daily annoyed with light SHOWS,
but after almost circling the
peak west of the springs, through a
rocky detile known IS the Ute Pass,
we debouched upon the high table land
of South Park to find spring advancing
and driving before it the wintry air that
had at first cramped Us day and night
with cold. From the first breath of in
fant spring felt in the great park we
have, with one or two exceptions, eX-
perienced no more of the cheerless
! gloom of storms and SHOWS. As we
have jouIneyed southwark the air has
grown gradually milder, until we are
now enjoying the vernal season in its
full luxuriance. We have not, as yet,
felt for day
THE "Hor DOMINION"
of summer, for as we travelled we shaped
our course upon an altitude varying
from five thousand to ten thousand feet
! above the sea level, and directly under
the shadows of the mountains.
Our overland tour has afforded abund- |
ant material for long letter. but l will |
not impose upon your valuable space g |
complete pen-sketch. l will endeavor
to be concise without dropping any of |
the "salt of fancy into the itinerary |
effort. 1t would be impossible for me to |
add anything to Colonel DuPre's graphic |
and beautiful description of the won
ders that cluster around the base OF
Pixies Peak. l will pass it by. South /
Park beyond is a table land of fifty |
square miles, nearly level, and lying
between the first and snowy ranges OF
the Rocky mountains. 1t is almost
SeNAASAA tA AllA1Dtl, DuL CONClGu Will Il
gray, green grass that is very nutritious,
affording food for thousands of cattle in
every season but winter. 1t is watered
by the Platte river, with here and
there few tributaries, and is hemmed
in so completely by mountains
as to have the appearance of a great
basin. In its center is large spring
whose waters are said to be more
strongly impregnated with sulphur than
the sulphur basins of the Yellowstone.
Within few miles of il. we saw quite a
quantity OF small, petrified wood, lying
along the dry bed of creek. The petri-
factions were evidently from cedar.
which probably floated from the noun
tain streams. Further on is a mound
covered with cactus and soap-weed.
Having heard of it, we "prospected"
and secured several specimens Of moss
agate from beneath the surface. The F!
mound appeared to have been pretty {
well '1ooked into" before.
FAIR PLAY,
sixty miles west of Pixies Peak, is the
center of large mining district. 1t il
a village of five hundred inhabitants, |
swelling its numbers to fifteen hundred
during the mining season. 1t deserves
especial mention as the loftiest' viii
AtAsN III ANO1 III al III
titude of ten thousand and forty feet !
There is no summer in Fair Play. 1t is
cool even in August. There was heavy
fall of snow in the town on the day Of
our arrival, the fourteenth of May. 1t is !
on the Platte, at the foot of the Z
principal range whose peaks, as far as |
the eye can reach TO the north and south,
are covered with eternal SHOWS, daZ- 1
Zlingly beautiful, but distressing to the
eye. Beyond the prospect in the mines
and the wild grandeur of the scenery,
there is nothing to attract one to this S
point. The altitude is too great for per q
feet health. The town is simply depot l
of supplies for the mining-camps, with t
all the rough features of a border town. t
From Fair Play, passing southeast sew
enty-tive miles to the Arkansas, we ]
reached the little adobe village of
CANON CITY,
built on dusty alkali plain. 1t is quiet
as the grave just now, yet it claims, and
too, a glorious future, from
lis coal-tields, oil and irOn-ore adjacent.
From Canon City we crossed the Green :
horn mountains into Wet Mountain
valley, lying thirty miles by twenty )
along the base ofth snowy range. This
valley is level, and protected by noun
tains on every side. Through it run
limpid, cold streams, and as we saw il, it
was carpeted with a delicate green of l
succulent grasses and grain, so rich in
color that it might boast of all the bless
ings that nature could bestow from a
fertile soil. 1t is one I
Of the garden-spots of Colorado,
and yet not all "entered." Journeying
-outhward again we passed through the
villages of Trinidad, Cimarron, Las We
gas, across the mountains, TO Santa Fe. +
The first is an adobe village, Of one
thousand people, the Mexican element r.
and dirt pTedominating, and but little r
% interest the stranger. Cimarron, two N
hundred and fifty miles south of Den r.
yer, is quiet, neat village, without Z
he Objectionable Mexican feature about el
t. The people are exponents of "bet- II
er class" and distinguished for their n
courtesy TO strangers. The kindnes es- r
,ecially of Mr.. Springer, editor of the h
,ina0rrOn N,9s0o, deserves from lls our q,
'est remembrance. Our next stopping r.
,lace was q,
LAS VEGAS, K
ne second town in the Territory. Here,
gain, the MeXicans predominant. 1t is ot
ike all other Mexican towns in the Ter ii
itory, built entirely of adobe, with mar n
ow streets leading in every direction ef
rom the center or plaza. n
From here the road to Santa Fe is a ~
radual ascension for a distance of sew st
nty-five miles, and as rocky and dusty n,
g any one could possibly imagine it. 81
Santa Fe is the Mecca of our pilgrim of
ge-in this direction, at least. In my n
'oyhood l read of it in trashy novels un- In
il had almost as great desire to see A
t as afterwaTd to look upon the ruins of te
'ompei, that were TO me in early days
he curiosity of all Europe. By-the-by, Of
here is somewhat a similarity between b,
he two places; but more Of that here III
ftef. m
Before Plymoth Rock had name the M
;paniards had established themselves in ey
santa Fe. According to tradition the r
own was first settled by Pueblos-of the W
anne race as were found in Mexico by q
,ortez. There is band of Pueblos liv- ri
NO near here who are regarded as de- w
aeudants of the originals, their habits, s,
ustoms and manners being essentially fir
he same as those of the old Mexicans M
.efore the Spanish conquest. They are si
Industrious, adhere to the mysterious, f
.ncient rites, and look upon Montezu- fr
na as the coming Messiah. pi
NEW MEXICO to
vas attached TO Spain In 1885, and few of
ears later Santa Fe was directly under W
,nanish rule. The Spaniards were sh
Tiyep out afterward, and the re- Tl
Ords lost. They TecOnquered the al
ountry in 1898, and there is in re
he surveyor-general's Office here si
compilation from old Spanish docu- 81
nents showing an interesting but In pt
omplete record to the date Of our con- "