The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-06-21
Eastern NIisfit Clothing Par1Ors

engineers tells me. will be 81, 600, 900 or
s6,O0O,O 900, and its construction is one of
the big engineering projects of the world
to-day. This expense, however, is a mere
bagatelle in comparison of the loss
I by single inundation. During the
great flood of 1910 il is estimated
that forty millions of dollars worth of prop
erty was destroyed and the Mexico of that
time was not more than one fifth the size
IN wealth or IN population of the Mexico of
! to-day. II the days Of MonteZuma the
/ lakes surrounded the city. Since then they
have steadily receded, but the floods may
! yet come. 1t IS only by dikes and by this
! Spanlst cut that the city has been saved
several times in the past.
PAVED AND CLEAN STREETS.
From the above, it might be thought that
Mexico was a sort Of second Rotte am
1t IS nothing of the Kind. Its five hundred
miles OF streets are as dry as a bone, and
the square houses which wall the sidewalks
with their smooth fronts of plaster, fairly
glare with thirst under the bright sun Of
the south land. The town has its water
works. The roads are not watered
throughout the day, as are the thorough
fares OF an American city, but they are
swept every morning by poems, under the
charge OF policemen, and every bit of dirt
IS picked up from the principal Streets till
they are as clean as Japanese parlor. These
streets of Mexico are well paved, and i'm
provements are going on steadily. Not long
ago some OF the streets were laid with
Trinidad asphalt, and this pavement is far
better fitted for Mexico than Washington.
Others of the streets are paved with Mich
olson blocks and great many have the old
coooie-stoneS OF years ago. The streets
are everywhere wide, and on the whole
Mexico is a beautiful capital.
WHERE HUMAN SACRIFICE WAS MADE.
Take stand with me on the spire of the
great cathedral which faces the plaza in the
center of Mexico. We have pull ed the rope
at the little side door and have paid our fee
to the dark haired, big eyed, cream faced
maiden In Mexican garments who guards
the entrance, and have worn our legs sore
In climbing hundreds of steps. and we sit
on ledge ABOVE the forty great bells which
thunder out the hours as we look. We are
two hundred feet above the ground and
more than seventy five hundred feet above
the sea- Under our feet is the spot on
which the Aztecs sacrificed their victims,
and upon the great altar which in the DAYS
OF Montezuma lay only fifty feet below
where we are sitting, sixty thousand slaves
were sacrihceda IN single year. In that
long low building there in front of US, you /
may see the wonderfully carved stone upon I
which the victims lay when the sharp obsi- |
dian knife was plunged into their vitals. I
and there is the great stone pot which was /
used to catch their blood as 1t flowed down
the trench from the altar. 1t was on that
altar that Montezuma stood with Cortes
when he took him up here TO show him his
fair city, and the Mexico of the Aztecs of
three hundred odd years ago covered very
much the same ground as does the Mexico
Of today.
What beautiful site for a city!
Mountains on every side of you rise into
the skies, making natural series of forti-
locations. A great plain of the richest
green stretching out on all sides from the
vast network OF buildings until it is lost
n the hay blue of the mountain sides.
ollvery lakes sparkling ike shields of dia-
nonds OF In the distance. The great vol
'anoes OF Popocatapeu and Ixtaccihuatl
ooklng down upon you from their caps OF
snow. Canals in silvery streams
the outskirts of the city, and
way over there at its edge the vast clump
II green trees which in hundreds Of acres
II forest surrounds what was once the
ummer home OF the great Montezuma and
which is now the summer residence of
resident Diaz, the Castle of Chapultepec,
he White house of Mexico.
HOW MEXICO CITY LOOKS.
Bring your eyes nearer home and take ]
ook at the city below. 1t is as big as St. ;
-ouis, and Minneapolis and St. Paul could
'e lost in its borders. lis form is that of
ne OF the great cities of Europe, and like {
ne cities OF spain, its streets cross one
mother at right angles, and the center of
he network of squares is the plaza filled
With green trees which lies at our feet. s
mere are number or these spots Of green
quares through the network, ana there at {
he right is the long strip Ct forest where
ashlonaoie Mexico walks for an hour or !
o on Sunday aud where there is music
very afternoon the year round. Further !
y is the wide avenue known as the Paseo. /
There you may see any afternoon as gay S
Ell OF turnouts as youe will ind in HYDE a
ark or the Bots de Boulogne, and all [
round and below you is the great checker J
card of Mexico City. Suppose yourself 3
angling still in q balloon above a ). 600 acre o
arm. Let this farm be divided I'D .
lto little square fields and pave b
hese fields with brick and make a
DC fields fiat but aJ different levels, AMI I
gu have an idea OF how Mexico looks from g
ne skies The roofs of all the houses are o
at. There is not Il chimney in the whole a
ty, and you could number the furnaces 2
nd the cooking and heating stoves on the d
niger Of one hand. The Mexican capital a
pes ali It's heating by charcoal, and base q
lrner would be as much of a wonder here
five legged calf. If you will take your D
ASS you Will note that each field is made Il
P OF houses and That each OF the houses "
as a great well or hole in its center. is
hese are the pstios or courts around
hich every Mexican house is built, and
hich in many cases, constitutes the only
arden OF the family. Where there are
buses this Is sometimes used for the stor- al
& OF the carriages, and you note that all -
e houses stand close up TO the street and II
at the most of them are of less than three ca
cries. On the tops of many of them you a
e white and gay colored patches Of float
G TO and fro in the breeze. These are W
mlly washings which are usually dried ed
the roofs, and those great spires and II
mes which spring up on every side of Il
'u are the buildings of the church which N
e fewer now than ever before, and which W
Few years ago were the richest and the 1t
ost Important buildings of the city. The Or
vernment now owns these and not the
nests They are allowed to use them only
sunerance, and when they were coufis- Is
teo 1t Is said they were worth millions. ca
a That the government then took from an
church property to the amount of 10
DO, 900, 600. WI
lis building upon which we are standing
ST two million dollars to build. and its
DIS are shingled with enough brick to l.!
We a town OF ten thousand people. Bricks Va
shingles OF Mexico. They are fastened
wn In mortar and there is as much
'sonry on the top of every one of these An
rrF -