Tombstone epitaph., 1892-02-07
FROM BELOW.
Mexico as il is: Not a Bad Place 10 Live In if You Strike the
 Right Spot.
SAN BIAS, Ty. of Topic,
 Jan 18th. 1892

Jan 18th, 1892.
 ED. PRosPEoToR :-On Dec 18th last I left Guaymas in company with MT. F. NJ. Mead. We took the steamer "Alejandro direct to Mazatlan via La Pas and Altata. We reached La Pas on the 20th. La Pas is the finest little city along the coast, and has long been noted for its pearl fisheries. More than score of. the royal precious jewels in Europe today. The pearls of La Pas far exceed those of India Tn lustre and in price and are eagerly sought for by the belles of that far off land. Yet person buying pearls in La Pas must be somewhat of an expert or he will got swindled, as there is fine imitation made from the pearl shell that almost defies de | tection.
 La Pas with its hundred windmills, its shaded avenues, its beautiful gar T
 dens in terraces, and its white houses, of which one catches a glimpse from | beneath the date and cocoa palms reaching down to the sea, contrasting so beautifully with the nut brown hills as 6 background, forms a lovely picture.
 | From La Pas we vent direct across the Gulf oi California to Altsts, a sea- port in the state of Sinaloa, which oc- cupied thirty hours. Here We took a paugo and went ashore and found the people quite sanguine over the latest railroad news, An English capitalist has secured a concession to continue the present road, reaching from Altata to Culiacan, from the latter place to the city of Durango in the state of Durango, thus adding another trans continental line from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The survey has already been made, and the construction is soon to follow.
 At Altata we met our old friend and famous freighter, Jimmy Carr, who had come to receive some five carloads of wagons shipped to him. MT. Carr informed me that he had sold his en- tire freighling outfit to & large mining company in the interior, and would manage the freighting business for the company for one year. Mir Carr is favorably impressed with the idea of raising coffee in Mexico and wished me to find him some favorable local ity. think he is taking the proper course. Ii he gets tine right locality fortune surely awaits nim.
 To raise coffee, the first thing to consider Is an even temperature, an humid atmosphere (which Is indispen- sible) iolerably rich soil, and have some one with knowledge of it's cul- ture. The plant can be readily prop agated from the seed, and bears the third year. The young coffee plant must be carefully nursed by placing some hardy tree or shrub by each coffee stock to protect IL for the first two or three years from the hot sun. The practice here Is generally to place banana plant on the sou lh side ol each plant, thus insuring d rapid growth and ample shade with it's great leaves, and at the same time profit from it's fruit. Land can be secured cheap with abundant water good title and your interests fully pro. tected. The people here only raise coffee on small scale, many places not raising enough for home consump. ton. Coffee in Topic is now selling at retail at 35c to 37c, and at Santiago Escuintal for 45c.
 Young men of Arizona, l would ad- wise you to come to the tropics and !, raise coffee, rather than to be delving in the bowels of the earth for lucre, or with rial;a in hand rowing the dusty pIa.I mA.rc -.:e prairie dcs Lnce!s cr IiIe vack of ,is ileeis praying ios Iais My trip nas been busy one, having ' no Sundays or any other day that could call my own since l left you ! therefore I had no time to tell you more of the tropics. will try anG please you ih my next as time will no I permit me to do so at the present a: r our ship is nearly ready to weigh ' anchor to carry us to the beautiful ? bay of Msnzanilla.
 7 G. w. McLANE.