The Wichita city eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1872-1883, 1881-06-16

thrown by which the pony was caught. The
race was for fully three miles ~ The direction
We were going aud was witnessed by m tx
cited company on the cars.
From Grenada we turned across from the
river in a southwesterly course toward the
mountains over rolling prairie, night shut
ting everything from view.
At daybreak We ..ra;sed," in sailor's par
lance, the Spanish Peaks. Their first appear
ance was that Of dim, fleecey cloud in the
horizon; gradually they became larger and
their snowy outline clearer, resolving them
selves into two distinct peaks. each resern-
bling in outline Mt. Washington. Other
mountains Of lesser elevation appear and we
soon enter rough country where We find
Trinidad. mining center. There had been
copiOus rains and some inches of snow the
weeks before, traces Of which were apparent
on the surrounding mountains. Here we
first meet with irrigating bitches, adobe
house, ovens built outside, Indicating diff
ferent climate and a different people. From
| Trinidad We climb steep grade requiring
two engines, for 16 miles, and passing !hro'
| tunnel at the crest we emerge in New Mex
! leo. Running down for several miles, we
reach Ration, a new town sustained by rail-
| road and coal mining interests. since leay-
ing Trinidad coal mines have been in sight
on every hand from which you get the noted
Trinidad coal. We are now on the head wa
| tiers of the Rio Grande down which we are
to travel across the Territory. From this
point on, farming requires irrigation. In
the afternoon We reach Wagon Mound, SO
| called from 4 resemblance in form to a coy-
| cred wagon. 1t is fiat on top and it is said
| that there Kit Carson was 'corralied, for
thirteen days by Indians. supplied with wa
ter by spring on top.
Sheep in large herds range here, but not
many cattle. 1t is said cattle and sheep do
not thrive on the same range, SO are kept
separate. No house. no fields, no signs of
man, except the nocks Of sheep and the rail-
road and its stations. Farther ON we see
Mcxicars farming in the valleys. They are
just blowing for corn. Planting is done so
the corn may get the benefit of the rains
which fall here in July and August. am
told the rains are terrific; water-spouts. as
they are called, often occurring, when sever
al inches sometimes fall in a short time.
Wheat can be seen only few inches high.
We entered Las Vegas at dusk, and Lamy,
the junction of the Santa Fe branch, Mt day.
light, Tuesday. Here we ave hard by Settle
ments more than two hundred years old, yet
all is a wilderness; 4 drcary waste no trees
only dried grass-mesquit, to be seen. We
now pass down the Gallistco river and touch
the Rio Grandc at Wallace. Here we find
the Pueblo indians. They live in little towns
Of adobe huts, have fiocks Of goats, herds Of
ponies, keep chickens, irrigate and till the
soil and are called better workers than the
MeXicans. They exhibited for sale pottery
Of their own make-pIatters and water ves-
sells, in shape resembling a duck Several Of
these were bought by passengers. Down
the Rio Grande we see many Spanish towns,
all built Of low, -One-story adobe houses or
huts having no windows, with mud roof,
ovens outside, etc. The fields are small, sur
rounded in some eases with dilapidatcd adobe
walls. We see some steel plows. These are
an innovation, having been known only since
the railroad was built; wooden p!ows are
still to be seen, simply long stick for pole,
Or tongue, with a fork sharpened to scratch
the soil for mold board, just such as has
been in use in Asia Minor from time immc-
mortal
The Rio Grande Valley is not wide; large
hills sweep away on either hand and noun
tans are ever in sight in the background.
Albuquerque and SoccOro are old Mexican
towns a hundred years old or more. At the
latter town provisions are as cheap as in
Kansas, rs there is quite u large tract Of till
cd land surrounding it. Following the Rio
Grande down to San Marcial, We cross it to
cut of large bend. At this point a strong
wind storm started the loose sand and gravel
down high, sharp point which we We're
rounding. This obstructed the track so that !
we were delayed for several hours.
On the morning Of the 10Th, "Wednesday, |
we reached Rincon where we crossed the |
Rio Grande for the third time. Rncon is |
one of the new railroad towns and promises |
to be an important business point. In cross
ing from San Marcial to this point we had to |
take water-tanks along to supply our iron |
horse with water. Here we found more bot |
tom land than we had seen since leaving the |
Arkansas. People We're just preparing the
soil for planting.
Away over the divide toward the head
waters Of the ella we go, across a drcary \
country to ID ming, the junction of the A.,
T. & 5. +. with the Southern Pacific. DEM
ing is a town OF tents. / thinl. there is not !
Il frame house in the place. Cars also were
used as stores. | noticed one eight ear
with steps on either side, heavily stocked
with general merchandise in which thriv-
ing business seemed to be done. The same
lie, e, treelcss. and almost CRASHES plain lies
sl around. OF to the south loom up noun
tains which, we are told, are across the line
in Mexico Here we remain for several
hours and transfer ourselves 10 another rail-
road line. Here, too, we change our watch
IS from A., L. 4 s. r. time TO San Francisco
lime. setting them back a little more than
.wo hours. Our long train with which we
started was gradually shortened till it had
ost more than half its length ere reaching
Deming; the rest of the train goes on into
Mexico where the road is being rapidly built.
JUSTIN NJ. COPELAND.
INTERESTING TO KANSAS.
l Decision That Affects Some Old Settlers in
tbs Moth Half Of Ssdgwiek.