Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-04-27

quantities sufficient for 1rrlgatlng pur-
poses. have stood upon land that could
purchase for five cents an acre or less, and
that stretched out behind me for lImltlesS
leagues and could jump On other land whose
owner has refused $500 an acre, although
there was no more difference between
them, as far as the eye could see, than there
was between any two adjoining acres on an
Illinois farm.
The real difference was one to be de-
termined by the level which showed that
water could be put on the valuable tract
and not on the other This also is the true
difference between the Mexican "ofset' IN
the north, lying between the Rio Grande
and the meridional boundary to the west
and the American tract that juts into Mex
leo lust west of this again. They both have
the same soil as you gaze at them from the
deck of your s'burro," and you can even
see no difference in them on closer inspec-
ton after YOUR mule has assisted you to
alieht: but there is real tangible differ
ence of from one hundred dollars to two
hundred dollars a year per acre between
the grapes and fruits you can raise on one,
with the water trucking around their roots,
and the sagebrush and greasewood Of the
other not rating at ten cents a township.
The diplomats of our country at Washing
ton may be all Sackville-Wests in astute-
ness, but in the Gadsden purchase they got
left 30 far behind that they have never yet
been able to see how badly they were
handled in the bargain. As our people
travel along the line Of the Southern Pacific
railroad throug h it's arid wastes Of sand and
sunshine they can little realize the beauti-
full country of Northern Sonora and Chi
huahua that lies so close to them TO the
southwark And yet much OF this seeming
" arid land in Southern New Mexico and
Arizona is destined to become Of far more
value than its present looks would Indicate.
'Anglo-SaxOn energy is converting little
patches here and there into fertile spots,
and these are spreading and becoming
more numerous. All of it is fine for cattle
grazing, and these little cases, so to speak,
make centers of crystalllzlng civilization
which render the country for miles around
valuable for this important industry, and
when these boundaries begin to overlap
each other all of our great Southwest Will
have been rendered useful for something
The person who believes that New Mexico
will not eventually become one OF the finest
States In our Union is the same who put
Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas in the great
American desert decade or two ago, ana
who will forever believe that the forty
seven resonant Anarchists in the big cities
are going to overthrow the United States
Government.
There is still another physical feature OF
at least Northern Mexico that | have never
seen dwelt upon even in the numerous
physical biographies that are now extant,
and il Is well worth explaining. Books In
Vulnerable have spoken of the terra cal
ae,te, or low hot lands near the
coast, the terra tenapJdda, or tenn
perate lands on the interior plateaus,
where we are now basking by the
way, and the tSerrc .fria or cold lands Of
the mountains and higher plateaus; and
these subdivisions are really as good as
explaining Mexican climate, but they give
US but little idea of the country's surface it
self, beyond that of altitude, and even less
as regarding its resources and adaptability
to the wants Of man. The terra catientc, or
hot lands of the coast, are out Of the Quet-
ton as habltations for white men from the
United States, and especially those of the
Northern States, but the terra templada and
tiara fra, as every one knows familiar with
climatology at all, gives US the finest climate
in the world, as do all elevated plateaus
in sub-tropical countries. But these ele-
waited plateaus, or different portions of them,