The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-11-24
The CITY q Chfbushs,.-

This cityis said to contain about fifteen
thousand inhabitants, the majority sus-
tanned by the mining interests. The city
banks of the Chihuahua River. small
stream having its rise in the mountains
to the southwest. giving to the city .
large supply Of pure water. carried to
the high ground above the city by aque-
ducts of solid masonry, built by the
Spaniards when the town contained 80,-
600 Inhabitants. From appearances, this
must have been at the time . wealthy
community, all the large and small mines
being in full blast and the ore brought to
the city to be smelted. OF the fact there
is sufficient evidence lying here in the
shape of hundreds of thousands Of tons
of Stag, and even to this day some Of the
poems make from fifty cents to seventy
five cents day picking it over and smelt-
ing what they find. The streets here are
remarkably clean. kept so by the prison.
ers in Jail who are imprisoned for drunk
enness and petty crimes. When they
cannot pay their tines they work it out
sweeping the streets and plazas and
watering them. In the center OF the
city is a fine plaza laid out in flower beds,
kept very neat and clean, the walks hay
ing pretty iron park seats just put in.
They are of New York manufacture; also
beautiful fountain from the same
mandatory; said fountain being very
near the center of the city and yield-
ing the main supply of water. At
ali hours of the day the dark-eyed
senoritas can be seen going for water
with their jars on their heads or Shout
der. The poorer women seem to do all
the heavy domestic work, such as fetch
ing water and grinding corn for the tor
tillas 1 do not mean by this that the
men are idle; quite the contrary; they
are willing to work, and find them
willing to learn. l can say this-they
will do q great amount of work with
very few tools. The city cannot boast
of very much agricultural beauty, but
there are some very nice stone front
buildings on the plaza, also a fine cathe-
dral of the Spanish Moorish style, of
very elaborate front, said to have cost
nearly $1,000, 900. which was raised by
tax Of twelve and a half cents on every
mark of silver taken out of the mine.
Around the city are nice drives called
alamedas. They are wide streets, with
shade trees on each side, and on fine
DAYS NAV be seen the ladies of the city
taking these daily drives. Near here
are few pleasant villages. located on
the bottom lands of the Chihuahua and
Sacramento Rivers; nice drives with
good shade and good bathing places;
great resorts in summer time for picnics
and family parties. / have seen in one
party twenty pretty girls on donkeys,
with their cavaliers st their side, other
animals carrying provisions for the day,
the senoritas bringing their guitars and
singing all day long. They sing in
quiet, soft way, but break out sometimes
with a tune familiar to American ears
There is no riot or drunkenness on those
days They are quiet and inoffensive
people, but then, like everywhere else,
thew are both turbulent and vicious
people among them. Any one who
cannot get along with them does not 60
the right way to work. They love to
honor their patron saints, and they have
a great many of them. l think the
calendar must be full. The richer people
are very intelligent and very polite and
attentive to strangers. They live in
good style and are kind to their servants
-Chihuahua Cor. N. Y. Herald.