Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-09-22
HACIENDA DE LAGUNA.
A Modest Ranch Owned by Pure Gas
 lillian
New Mexico Mining Neu-s.

New Mexico Mining News.
 A new point of interest visited by our
 correspondent was the Hacienda de La-
 guns, and here was found one of the
 most perfect and complete farms ever
 seen by your humble servant; a ranch or hacienda of twenty-five leagues wide,
 or seventy-fve miles long by twenty-four
 miles vide; and for natural scenery and resources 1t IS simply beyond my power of description, but you may be able to form some conception of its beauty and resources when l tell you that IL had a | beautiful, large, clear lake of water, ' fOrty-ive miles in circumference, sur
 rounded by beautiful forest of large oaks on the one side and the other a ! wide green expanse of prairie upon which are vast herds of the finest and
 choicest improved imported stock of all 1 kinds. The lake Is fed by an immense number of springs which keep 1t con stantly supplied with fresh water.
 AnC this lake, like its owner, has
 rather peculiar history. Some five
 years ago tine seasons were very dry, and
 the laxe ocean C so small that some of
 the stock waded ID the lake, and the owner seeing the danger, sent his men
 tO drive off the cattle from the island,
 but there were three bulls which furious
 ly resisted the invaders and the herders
 were unable to drive or remove them from their chosen spot. The rains came, l the approach to the island became closed 1 and the bulls still lived there, complete | masters of the island. It Is about three | quarters of a mile square and Is nearly l in the middle of the lake. The hacienda | has uIon 1t 44,000 head of sheep mostly | of the MerinO and improved stock, 27,- | GO head of horned cattle. 800 head of | wild untamed horses, and 25O tanned or | broken hCrses, many of which are first | class American stock, and 1t employs | 2jO labOrers or peors of different grades | and classes, besides about eight mechan- ics of all kinds. The hacienda has up- on 1t a wagon shop, a carpenter shop, | shoe shop, harness and 8 weaver shop, all O. which are used exclusively by the rancho or hacIenda
 The headquarters of this rancho is twenty-five leagues from this city, where its owner, Don Pedro ZulOaga, pure Castilian of Spain, a gentleman of culture and kindness, noted for his geniality and hospitality to all, especial ly Americans and Europeans, resides; ana although the ranch of which he is tlAN NNl1A A1 x tdA+f anu Ao NtAA NoEtAf oA ! an accurate description, still the owner Don Pedro, has a history peculiar and yes, I might say marvellous, by reason of his narrow escapes from the Indians; and in order to give you some idea of the same, I only have to tell you that the old gentleman had fifteen superin- tendents shot and killed on his ranch at different times. Besides, and during the same time, twenty-five COWS were , killed, and three horses were shot and - killed under him by the Indians, until finally he was shot in the thigh, from which was extracted a rifle ball, to- gether with pieces of the femur bone over II inches long. This wound was deemed fatal by many of his physicians, who declared amputatioD necessary. But the old gentleman stoutly resisted ' the Rmputation. The ball has been ex- iracted and the old gentleman is still hale aud hearty, and still retains the extracted ball, together with the piece lf bone, as a memsutO of his miraculous . escape and recovery. The son lives here in an excellent castle, surrounded $ by quite a village of his servants, shops, stables and buildings of nearly all A classes.