The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-07-17

New Mckee from m Unbiased Point
Of view.


New Mckee from m Unbiased Poins
Of view.
4 LAND IN WHICH III IT ~ HARD TO DIE 1T IS
touA,I.y DIFFICULTY TO LivE--PR0aBEss
os rnE RArLR0ADs-TliE CLIMATE AND THE
WATER.
FoRr SUMNER. Ngw Mexico, July Ian
enterprisiug and very ricn company nss
now more than 200 mics OF railway In fuii
operation In New Mexico. A rival com.
pauy IL pushing with speed the building OF
IFS roadway from the border OF Colorado
sou,bwsrd 10 the direction Of Albuquerque.
From that iowa westward another get
Of men are grading road that wHi
cross into Arizona and strike for
Prescott, and thence To the Pacific. Com
ing through northwest Texas Is line
that will extend 10 Albuquerque. Wtnm
the present year a railway coming from the
Pacific coast will pass from Arizona into
south western New Mexico. and make for Fl
Paso, where the boundaries OF Texss ana
the two Mexicos run together. TO unne
with this line still another road Is pointing
across Texas, and the builders have, I'M
dersand, engaged to reach the Hue OF New
Mexico by July Of next year. within three
wears there will be In operation in the Ter
ritory two, and perhaps three, railways,
which will be hcxs In as many chains OF
road reaching from ocean to ocean. III ID
therefore more than likely that whatever
natural advantages rest In New Mexico VIII
be given free scope to unearth themselves
before long. 1t Is. too, rather safe pre-
diction that about these times we may look
in newspapers aud periodical prints Tor
highly. wrought descriptions OF this part OF
Greaserland as sort OF paradise; tnat
lady correspondents will write Dcauti-
full letters containing sweetly-worded ac-
counts OF the charms OF New Mexican
scenery and the delights OF New Mexican
climate; that short and easy cuts 10 fortune
will be pointed out for anybody VINO VIII,
buy a passage ticket from tue SomDreio anu
Chill Colorado Railroad Company, or invest
ia the shares OF
THE BABY NINE GOLD
and SiIver.Production Company.
would not write word TO discourage The
efforts OF the sweet singers aforesaid. would
not say, with an acquaintance OF mine who
bad made an all too short soiourD In the
Territory, that the only things grown 10
perfecti0n were mule-eared rabbits and the
weed known as bear-grass or soap-weed: L
would merely suggest that tastes diner !!
that paradise may harbor serpent, ana
that New Mexico, too, has its drawbacks.
For instance, there is the wind-it wind
eth every day. True, we're 1t not for
the wind life would be almost unbear-
able 10 summer on account OF the
heat; but as 1t verges on the unbearable IN
both summer and winter on account OF the
wind. there does not seem to be great room
for choice. Then the dust and sand, town
and country are all smothered in them with
few intervals during the year. There IS
much sand throughout New Mexico; The
soil. ut large, is Of loose, easily friable
kind, and not enough rain falls to keep the
surface competed. With the slightest
pr0voca,iou
and waltz over the country wherever the
wind listeih. The provocation comes con-
tinuaIly. Sand and dust are necessarily
swept into your eyes and ears, poured down
your throat, and crammed into every pore
OF your skin. Housekeeping is misery on
account OF the dust. Women from the
States vacillate between a condition Of
blank despair and one OF wild, bysterical
frenzy. Outdoor life is a torture. Men
franticaIly and indiscriminately curse the
wind, the sand, the fate that brought them
TO New Mexico, and everything 10 New Mex
leo, themselves included. Throughout large
areas OF land the presence OF many great
focks of sheep, from 1000 to 10000 head
in q flock, tends to make dust more abun-
dant even than is natural. A flock OF sheep
would raise the dust il herded under
Niagara Falls. The hundreds OF thousands
of sheep that are herded by The water
courses OF New Mexico, tue only habitable
parts OF the Territory, grind and stir up
The parched and sandy surface OF the plains
and bills, and keep 1t in fine condition to
become the playthIng OF the wind. A gen.
uine New Mexican sand-stOrm is compare
BILE to
MINNESOTA "BLIzzARD."
Sand and gravel take the place OF snow.
and ere driven by the angry force OF the
wind so densely that il is impossible Tor
man or beast 10 front the storm. For hours
at a time the whole face OF the earth seems
10 be whirlDg along with persistency
that would upset the patience OF Job OF
old. The sand mocks at closed doors and
windows. 1t rushes into the Utmost cham
Der, and steals into the secret places.
This is the fourth consecutive year in
which rain has been a distressfuily rare &C.
currence in nearly all sections OF the Terri
tory. People who have come hitLer within
the four years are inclined to believe that
the old.timers," wbo tell OF frequent rains
in days OF yore, are merely subject to that
Authorization Of memory which makes the
cake OF times past plummier than the cake
Of o.day, which makes every hot day the
hottest OF the season, every cold day the
coolest, and every drought the driest
and longest in the recollection OF the old
est inhabtant. Yet the face OF the coun-
try presents abundant proof OF an
extended period when the rainfall
must have vastly exceeded its measure In
these years, and there are signs indicating
either very violent or prolonged storms at a
recent day. Whatever may have been in
the past, the continued scarcity OF rain
makes The present exceedingly uncomiort.
able for all the people Of New Mexico, and
unless there shall be speedy change dis
astrous future awaits the main rural In.
terests the sheep and cattle industries.
Without rain grass does not grow on the
range, and without grass sheep and cattle
must s'aive. BY reason OF cost, to feed
stock would be out Of the question.
SHEEP HAYS DIED By THE THOUSANDS
This year for lack OF enough TO eat. The
yield Of lambs was not much, il any. over
third OF what it should have been. Flock
masters look 10 the next winter with anxiety
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