The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-06-16
Editorial Correspondence.

SANTA FE, N. NJ, June 5, 81.
Left Topeka on the morning of the
I'd, in company with A. V. Auter and
wife, Jacob Smith, wife and niece,
Miss Julia Holden, and Geo. Bates
and wife, all of the city Of Topeka,
for Santa Fe, N. NJ, on the Santa
Fe Railway, which passes through a
belt of country surprising anything
for picturesque scenery in the coun-
try, besides being one Of the most
perfect and well-regulated thorough
fares to be found anywhere on the
globe. A ride of about 400 miles
through thriving and four:shing
towns and rolling, far-reaching prai-
ries in one of the cool, comfortable,
and pleasant sleepers of this mighty
railway, takes you out of the State of
Kansas and lands you into Colorado.
Here the road strikes the Arkansaw
river, following it for hundreds of
miles through the country, until you
reach the territory of New Mexico,
passing in the route Forts Dodge and
Zarah and many other points of in
terest. At Trinedad, the Ration
Mountains was reached, and with
two engines ahead, and n at the
rear of the train, the's.ow and spiral
ascent Of the giant cliffs and ravines,
whose apex pierce the clouds, was
fairly begun. The ascent to the top
was grand. Great rocky peaks, ris-
ing far into the clouds, their pima
cles clad in eternal snow, their sides
presenting every variety of barren
rocky cliffs and heavily timbered re.
liefs, streams of water trickling from
the far-off SUBMITS and losing in the
cascades, are to be seen on every
side. Amid these wild and pictur-
esoue scenes, it is difficult to realize
that we are in fact sraversing the
oldest portion of the American con-
tinent, and approaching towns and
cities that flourished in their ancient
prime long centuries before the cities
of the populous east first claimed an
existence. Along here you cross and
recross the old and tine honored
Santa Fe trail, that for a century has
been the highway of traffic from the
Missouri to the great southwest.
This trail presents to-day, the broad
travel worn highway of it's olden
time, and the single wire United
States government telegraph line
still bears its messages between the
government posts, while the scatter
ed teams and occasional wagon trains
dot its surface here and there.
Rains among the mountain tops
of New Mexico are not unfrequent
but along the glades and valleys are
rare. From the passenger train can
be seer the Spanish Peaks, Snowy
Range and Herman's Peak, while
the famous Pixies Peak, 60 miles
away, can, on a clear day, be plainly
discerned. The next important
points passed after Trinedad, are
Las Vegas and La Jenita, the for
mer noted as a resort for invalids OF
account of its celebrated warn
springs.
A few miles below the ancient city
of Pecos, formerly Chicuye, discov
cred by Coronado with his exploring
Spanish army in 1430, you pass thu
ancient relic of the Montezuma days
the ruins of the grand old Peco'
adobe church, supposed to be thu
oldest ruin in America, having beer
constructed at least 500 years ago
1t occupies a little plateau or knoll
amid a beautiful and rugged land
scape, and naught remains but
crumbling mass of adobe wall ant
debris to mark the spot so full ofin
cident, history and carnage, as her
it was that the lamented Montezumi
made his final stand and fell with hi
face to the foe, a spot sacred for cen
turtles in the hearts of the natives.
The old Mexican and Indian adob
villages and towns you pass all aloni
the route here, are subjects of inter
est and wonder, of how these peopl
live and exist in such homes, con
structed of mud, one story only, ant
seldom a window light in any Q
them. G.
BAD ON Charley Foster.
The late State Temperance Con
vention, among other whereases ant
resolves has this: