Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-02-08
Correspondence,
New ALBUQUERQUE, New MEXICO, |,
January 28th, 1882.

MS that more than TWO centuries ago
there lived a man bv the name OF
Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva,
Duke of Albuquerque. He was one OF
the sixty-fo viceroys who ruled IN
Mexico. This was form of govern
ment established by Charles agf
continued to be administered during the
period of the Spanish dominion.
1t was in honor of the Duke of AL
buquerque, who was man OF great
| inheritance in the territory, that the
Mexican town known as AlGl4qer1q qe
first got it's name, and it is admitted
by good authority that it had an ex-
| istance long before the Spaniards set
tied here. Albuquerque then has been
for centurias sr important town. All
the highways of any Importance CON
verge here. In our day of railroad
travel, if we take Albuquerque as a
centre, we have Kansas city about
| 900 miles east, Denver about 500 miles
noTtb, and On the west San Francisco
about 1900 miles on the solth there
Is no commercial city Of any import
ance. New MEXICO has an area OF
about one hundred and twenty-two
thoasand square miles. 1t is situated
! in the sea.i-trppical region, yet the
great a aiitt;;..nde renders che climate de-
lightful. The richest part OF New
Mexico is that known as the Mo
| Grande valley it textends from north to
south of the territory Around old
Albuquerque and Isleta, the lattef te-
| ing IL miles south and an Indian Fueb-
10, are to be found the finest fruits and
the largest vineyards in the territory.
The grape cultivated here is not the
same as that in the east. 1t is called
the mission grape" and has been
cultivated here for the past two centu-
ries. The vineyards are entirely with
out trellising, tbs vine being trimmed
close every year SO that In a few years
the vineyard looks like large nursery
of shrub trees. The largest vineyards
around Albuquerque are owned by
Messrs. f. Huning, Santiago Baca and
the Jesuit Fathers. From tie fruit oi
these vineyards many hundred barrels
of wine are made annually The great
mining district in this part of the ter.
rtory is about 25 miles northeast OF
Albuquerque. The Sandia mountains
| are about 20 miles east, although on
account of the clear atmosphere some
have supposed them to be only two or
three miles distant, and one who had
come lately from the east, told me that
on being asked how far off she suppos
ed they were, guessed them 10 be half
mile, and said she hoped to go over tc
them some nice morning before break
| fast
The tops of the mountains have
been covered with snow since Novem-
ber, yet in the valleys there has not
been enough to cover the ground
About half way down the mountains
| there is strip Of pine trees, and in the
canons where water is plenty steam
saw mills lave been erected and frcm
them Albuquerque is supplied with
rough lumber. During the summer il
sold at S2500 thousand, but the de-
mand has been so great Of late that it
sells for 35 and 40 dollars thousand
The coal mines in these mountains are
numerous, and will be soon worked
The coal is very good and produces q
great amount of heat This may be
attributed to the fact that it was during
the early eocene period that the forma-
ton took place.
Albuquerque is fast becoming q
railroad centre. 1t is n little more
than year and half since the first
train of cars walked up the halfsleeping
Mexicans, as it sounded its shrill whis
tie and stopped in the midst of their
corn fields about two miles east of AL.
buquerque, on its first trip over the
Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe rail
road, soon few houses and large
number of shanties were erected and
the name New Albuquerque was given
to it. Now the newspapers say, and
it may be so. that our city numbers
over three thousand people We have
schools, churches, o foundry. gas
works, lines of street cara, telephone
exchanges, railroad, machine and car
penter shops, six newspapers, one
daily, three weeklies and two monthlies.
The daily gets the dispatches every
night from Washington, 80 that we
get the eastern news as soon as cities
in the east.
Two more railroads are expected to
pass through albuquerque during the
coming summer this will bring more
travel and more people.
| A fifty thousand dollar hotel is to
be built during the coming season.
Shanties are being pulled down and
brick or stone structures taking their
place
The winter so far has been delight
ful and every where great improve
ments are going on. 1t would be safe
to say that at the present time one
hundred houses are being built, and
almost every day you can see the sites
Of new buildings being marked out.
The climate here is very favorable
to laboring men, the mornings and
evenings are cold, but the greater part
Of the day is like Indian summer.
New Mexico might be called the
sunny west, for the sun shines about
twenty-eight days every month. Yes,
the sun shines from morning till noon
and from noon till evening, and the
setting sun, how grand
He seems to rush with terrific epeed
as he approaches the horizon, aud,
with brightness that equals noon-day
in the east, he falls upon the earth line.
The king of day ere he departs throws
a gold like mantle over the lofty noun
tains, and as you look at them you are
led to say, "surely he will stay bis
speed and take lingering look on
such transformed glory" but 10 q few