The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-07-21

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Our wheeling MAN siiil on HIs,TrayeI,,
Tho Hot Springs OF New MexIco-Tbs
Rainy Season ~ spnrseIy Settled
Country. m RI /, \ i;4f. CsiET'
Correspondence TO the 1ntelllgenccr. y
ALBUQUERQUE, n. NJ, July 10, 1882.
l wrote you yesterday from Santa Fe, The
oldest city in America, and only contains d
population Of 1000 souls. Albuquerque Il
q new town, and contains about 1000 pop
nlation. It's ia prosperous place, and will
likely run ahead Of old Santa Fe In yeal
or so In business and population. It Is at.
llated on the main line OF the Atchison, To.
peka X Santa Fe railroad, and at the eastern
terminus OF the Atlantic and Pacific rail
road, which will be completed through ,c
tho Pacific ocean within year. The city
lies IN broad grand valley, and Is sur,
rounded with mountains, cloud.capped
rock.ribbed and belted with snow, The
climate Is delightful, and Is healtlifnl be.
yond doubt. When little higher grade
Of civilization ia attained, ic will be dc.
ilghtinl place TO live: At present there are
too many roughs for quiet, retiring indi.
ridual to feel comfortable. 80
The fact is most all these new towns are
inhabited mainly with the lower strata Of
people. In passing through Ration, u new
town OF about 1000 inhabitants, on the
south side OF the great Ration mountains,
yesterday morning, We were informed oia
little shooting scrapc which had Just t,lken
place, and in which four men were shot
aId one lyrched. This, however, Is
frontier life. Now your safe, and now you
Amt safe. TI7- :
The Ration pronounced Rattoon) noun.
tains are n big institution. The highest
point is 5000 feet, but It Is not the height,
but the peculiar formations that render
them OF peculiar interest to the tourist
Two engines are necessary to take A train
over, as the grade is $50 feet to the mile,
the shape oil the stone lodges indicate that
81! the formations are OF volcanic origin.
After crossing the mountain range, VIC de-
scended valley for over 200 miles, which
varied III width from five to perhaps fiity
miles. In this valley there were no marks
OF civilization 10 be seen except an oc.
casional cattle ranch. and railroad station
house. The soil is rich enevyh. hut
the scarcity OF rainfall renders it
power ess 10 produce vegetation, The
ground is covered with short prai.
RE grass, and it requires an average OF 30
acres TO keep one steer. II the climate
can be changed, this great valley will some
day be valuable as n farming section, Ata
former period OF our earth. history this
basin was an immense inland sea, that il,
suppose it was, but maybe it wasn't. In
coming down here to Albuquerque, we
stopped half.hour Mt Las Vegas. 1t must
have four or five thousand inhabitants,
judging from the buildings, &c. At this
place or rather q few miles oil, are situated
the Twenty-Five noted hot springs of New
Mexico. They possess the curative powers
OF the Arkansas Hot Springs, and as the
climate is far superior to the former, it is
thought that they will, before long, have Il
big run from the ranks OF the afflicted.
Your correspondent was informed that the
accommodations ut these Las Vegas springs
are very fine, and that rates are cheap,
The atmosphere down here is very drv.
This moderates the effects OF the hunt in
the lower valleys, and that OF the cold at
the higher altitude and attitudes, When
the thermometer here is 10, it is not near
so oppressive as 96 degrees would be in
Wheeling. In the winter, it seldom gets
to zero, ard when it does the cold is not
telt in the same proportion that zero would
Indicate in our town, where the atmosphere
IS Impregnated with dampness.
They have ralny seasons, however, which
we know nothing OF in West Virginia. It be.
gins TO rain about the first OF July and
continues till September first. But it does
not rain all the time. 1t only showers. 1t
rains few hours, and then the sun shines
Tor lew hours, and so it goes. | spent
December in Louisiana in and about New
Orleans, and it ruined there every day, less
or more, but no one seemed to mind il, So
it is here. The people expect it, and have
their lamps filled with oil and trimmed
and burning, so 10 speak. 81
One would suppose that these rainy
spells would produce diseases OF various
kinds; but these people say not. Taking it
altosetherltisan unusually healthy country.
One thing is sure, they have no consump-
tives among the natives. The air is SO dry
that the lungs cannot become diseased.
Ranch tenders, by the thousands, sleep out
in the open fields, and in adobes partly
under ground and they never even have a
cold: 1t is delightful to know that some
portions OF our country are proof against
this dread destroyer. -
In passing through the rocks, and pines,
and mountains from Las Vegas to Santa Fe,
you scarcely Il see habitation. The whole
country is apparently valueless. The
scenery is grand, and that is the whole OF
1t 1t is, 10 all appearances, only fit to cut
up into chrolnos. s=.5.
In long, deep gorge in the waste Sec
ton: above referred to, our attention was
called to the ruins Of m old brick church,
built by Jesuits in the sixteenth century.
1t is upwards OF three hundred years old,
but it has been abandoned so long that the
roof has fallen in, rs have also portion OF
the walls. People must have lived in that
locality in the long comedy, but how they
lived, and what they did are unsolved
problems. III 7
We are now in the Rio Grande Valley,
and Tor the present must say goodbye.
G. W. A.