The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-07-29
WITH WHEELER'S EXPEDITION
NEW MEXICO AND HER PEOPLE.

NEW MEXICO AND HER PEOPLE.
TROUBLES OF A SURVEYING PARTY-THE PEo-
PLE-DIGNITY OF THE ALCALDE-THEs SEEN
EEY-wILDNEsS AND GRANDEUR.
y correspondent of the New York Times,
who is with the surveying party of Lieut.
Wheeler in New Mexico, writes in an inter
esting manner of the country aud the peo-
pie. He says: Lieut.. Wheeler receives
hundreds of applications every year from
young men in good positions, who offer to
give their services in any capacity whatever
for the privilege of accompanying his expe-
dition, and from some who are willing to
bear all their personal expenses. A youth
with sound constitution aud the ability
and the disposition to endure hardships may
hnd employment and health in such a trip,
but, unless he has these qualifications,
let me urge him TO stay contententedly
at home. The life of surveying parties in
the field is of the toughest kind.
The simple difference between it and exist
ence under the Dumbles5 conditions in q
town is that while in one case pretty nearly
everything is done for you, in the other YOU
are compelled To do pretty nearly every
thing for yourself. At 8 in the morning,
when the eastern sky is blushing crimson
all hands are turned out, and between that
hour and you have to fold your tent and
bed and catch and harness your mule. Now
mule is at once a sagacious and capricious
animal. AS you 60 towards her, with the
bride in your hands. muttering seductive
whoa-o-o-s, and such adulatoTy expressions
as Poor old girl, }" she pre- baby waits until
you are close upon her and then losses her
heels In the air, and, with a wicked snort,
dasheS out OF your reach. Several like efforts
have still TO be made before she is caught,
and III the end you are hot, breathless and
nerYous-thati is, unless you are an old cam
palgner. Meanwhile you are in a statesof
terror about the packers, for they have a
true Western contempt for rank and per-
son, and unless your bed is folded in the
most compact fashion you are as sure TO be
damned as Ananias. By 7:3G o'clock you
are on the march, which is continued at the
jog trot rate of three miles an hour until
late in the afternoon, when you undo all
the things you old in the morning. Unless
the weather is wet, however, the tents are
not pitched at all, and the beds are made on
the ground. A night or two or ago the
thermometer stood at thirty degrees, and
when awoka in; the morning the canvas
wrapper under which 1 slept was coated
with thin ice. Our second camp after leav-
ing Garland was on the San Antonio river,
anC thence We went to Conejos in search OF a
Mexican guide to show US the best route
OVER THE MOUNTAINS
to TERRA Amarillo. Southern Colorado
hereabout is very like New Mexico in its
people, buildings, and other characteristics.
What New Mexico is like very few persons
in the East know. The general impression
is that it is vast undeveloped territory.
sparsely Inhabited by white immigrants en-
gagged in stock raising. But, in reality, il is
an anomaly among all the other United
States, different in its population, language,
religion, and local government. The people
are mixed race OF Spaniards, Indians and
half breeds; the language is dialect of the
Spanish, the religion phase OF stern Roman
Catholicism and the local government of
primitive and exceedingly simple form. New
Mexico thus offers one OF the most interesting
studies and curious puzz es traveller could
desire. While in ali our other territories
education is general, and Old World super
stitions are laughed ar, in this benighted
wonderland the principal instruction is
given by few priests, and blind fansticism
exhibits itself in the most extraordinary
forms. Lieut.. Morrison and rode on from
the camp on the San Antonio to the first
plaza of Coneios, for all that important Next
can towns are subdivided into several viii
lagos mileOr so apart, to which collec
tive name isfgiyen. Conejost comprises five
plszas, each consisting OF about dozen
adobe dwellings, built irregulafly over "a
small area without separate Enclosures. /
believe that an adobe house is the nearest
approach 70 pre- eminent ugiiness in archi-
lecture the world contains. 1t is
one story high, flat-roofed and square.
sometimes whitewashed but usually
left the brown color of the mud. A wooden
window frame, six paues of glass, and
paneled door are luxuries that only PAM
pered few can afford, and the majority are
content with the light and ventilation ad-
mitted by an aperture about two feet square
on each side OF the small doorway. The in
terror is divided into three apartments,
with the earth for floor and rough hewn
trees for ceiling. Articles of furniture
are scarce and sort of mattress, serving
the purposes both of q sofa and a bed, to-
gether with a few stools and tsole, consti-
tute nearly all the household effects of the
commoner. We stopped a small boy for in
formation, and, doffIng his hat, he pointed
to building much larger than the others,
which he said was the
RESIDENCE OF THE ALCALDE.
The New Mexican is always sauve and DO.
lite. he will incommode himself to almost
any extent to oblige stranger, and this
small boy, whose felt hat had lost its b-im,
and whose ragged trousers were suspended