Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-04-03
ZACATECAS.
An Interesting and Picturesque Mex
lean City--Some of Its Striking
Features.

Now that ZacatecaS has become the
connecting link for the first completed
railway between the two republics, all
the world wants to hear OF her, saws
letter to The Springfield Republican,.
Already the road has reached this point
from the south, and the next great
national Cinco de Mayo fiesta 9th of
Nav. commemorating the victory over
the French at Pueblo will witness the
driving of the last spike between the
finished ends. Great preparations are
making for the event, toward which
Zacatecas alone had contributed $780,
900. and the old city is ''smarting up"
wonderfully with fresh paint and new
pavements for the momentous holiday.
They have high-handed ways of ac-
complishing things in this country,
which citizens of our older republic
would hardly relish. For example,
the governor has ordered every house
in Zacatecas TO De painted within a
specified time, at the owners expense.
In the same Iaudable spirit of enter
prise, with patriotic desire to see his
capital grow, the governor Of front
Ter state issued a proclamation while
ago commanding the owner of every
lot within city limits to build house
thereon at once, or forfeit the land to
the government. 1t is expected that
great crowd will be present when
this railroad jubilee transpires, and
that President Arthur and President
Gonzales will shake hands over the
last ''tie that binds whatever may
meanwhile have become of the pro-
4rna trv
all things will be changed as by magic,
and so-called Improvement will
speedily spoil the delightful pictur-
esqueness Of this quaint old city.
Being situated exactly in the center
of the country, Zacatecas has so far
escaped the tide of immigration which
has slowly been pouring in from the
nOrthward and the southwark, and is
to-day almost as thoroughly Mexican
as it was 25O wears ago. The first hat
or bonnet ever seen here upon a fe-
male head made its appearance less
than two years ago, and that style Of
head-gear supplemented by the ordi-
nary street costume in vogue with us
is still enough Of q curiosity to collect
wide-eyed following around the luck
| less Americana who ventures forth
thus clad. Betsy, and |, in the heath
enish apparel of the east, feel like a
circus whenever we walk abroad
among the bare-headed populace and
the darkeyed senoras and senOritas
whose black tresses are lightly draped
in the graceful lace mantilla or swath-
ed in black shawls or rebosas, and
have a fellow feeling for the Chinese,
Turks, and other strange Darbarians
who sometimes visit our cities and get
similarly stared at. But the American
milliner-that arch generator of strifes
and heart burnings and emptier of
pockets-is coming with the terrO car
95l followed by the dressmaker and
the drummer and the days of Arcadian
simplicity are numbered. 1t is impos-
sible to convey with the pen any cor
rect idea Of the picturesqUeness of this
locality. First, one must be made to
realize the silent, solemn, empty coun-
try by which it is reached, through
many palmy plain" like those of
Egypt, and the thin, clear mountain
atmosphere in which remote objects
stand out sharply defined against the
sky with cameo-like distinctness-a
succession of pictures in water-color
tints calculated to drive an artist crazy
with enthusiasm.
The City of Zacatecas, capital Of the
state Of the same name, has u pOpula-
ton of about $4,000, and lies nearly
5000 feet above the level of the pulf.
Its narrow streets, oYerShadOwed by
adobe walls, centuries old, struggle up
and down the surrounding heights in
the most marvellous manner, stony
alleys rushing straight up the steep
mountain sides or descending rs per
pendicularIy by series Of steps cut into
the solid rock, and worn hollow by
the feet of restless generations. And
the passing crowds are study Of new
er-failing interest-dark and oriental
IN type, the majority with bare or
sandaled feet, and garments as prim-
tive as the fashions of Bethlehem in
Mary's day; women with water-jars
upon their shoulders; men with enor-
nous wooden bowls heaped with
strange tropical fruits upon their
backs; diminutive donkeys laden with
every conceivable commodity; the It'll
nerant merchant; the water-seller; the
pulque-vender with his beverage in
pig-skins-a perpetually shifting piano.
rama. AS in all Mexican cities, where
extremes of wealth and poverty meet,
the higher classes are seldom seen,
except as they now and then roll by in
their carriages. Zacatecas has its
exclusive circle of proud grandees,
differing as widely from the lower
classes of the streets as the aristocrat-
ic residents of New York's Fifth ave
nue. differ from the gamin of Five
Points. Although the IowIy and TO-
norant are in the majority as to num-
bers in poor, down-trodden Mexico, I
beg you to remember that the typical
Mexican citizen has no superior in any
country in the way of culture, refine
ment, politeness, and true worth.
Zacatecas is a remarkably weIl-built
city as to public buildings, and has
many fine business blocks and hand
some private residences. Like all Mex
lean towns, it has the common features
of rose-tilled plazas, inevitable Alamo
ola, Casino, and other resorts where
the music-loving Latins love to con-