Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-05-06
LOCALITY
Las Vegas, the Chief City
of New Mexico Some
of Her Resources,
Attractions and
Advantages.

T-N %@ ~
Is the county seat Of San Miguel county
lies on both sides Of the GaIliuas river,
and, with its suburbs, has about 10000
Inhabitants.
1t has water works, street cars, arc and
fincandescent electric light plant, telephone
exchanges, Territorial agricultural expert.
ment station, headquarters OF the Atchi-
son railway system, New Mexico division,
together with railroad machine shops and
tie preserving works, stock yards, and the
largest sheep shearinR and dipping plant
In the United States.
West of the river, the old town has the
quaint and picturesque Mexican appear
ance- adobe houses. narrow, crooked
streets, native people and customs handi-
crafts and occupations; but'tbe plaza and
all OF the new town, east of the river, con-
stitute a distinctive American city. The
streets are wide and well graded, while
sidewalks abound. shaded with growing
trees. Three parks, filed with grass and
trees, add TO the beauty and healthfulness
of the place. Handsome and we'll filled
stores, beautiful residences, and innumera-
BILE lawns, set in grass ard adorned with
%shrubbery and flowers, combine to pro-
claim a cultured community, possessed Of
all modern comforts and conyeniences.
"A city hall, three public school buildings,
court house, Masonic temple, opera house,
Territorial Normal school aud Territorial
Insane asylum are public buildings, con-
structed of red and white cot sandstone,
unsurpassed in beauty by. similar edifcss
in any. town, of equal size, in the States
An Academy, Seminary, Jesuit college,
Convent school, Presbyterian Mission
school, Methodist manual training school,
Christian Brothers institute, City high
school, three graded public schools, a kin
| dergarten, a commercial schoo and two
music schools, besides several private teach
ers, are among the educational advantages
and facilities.
LAS VEGAS is the natural san&torium of
the United s ates, combining more nat
ural advantages than any other place in
America. Her thermal waters are the
equali OF the Hot Springs of Arkansas,
while her climate is Infinitely superior.
There is no malaria, no excessive heat or
cold, no gnats, rats or mosquitoes. The
air is pure, dry, rariied, and highly cleo
trified-a certain cure for consumption, ii
the disease be taken In time. The hot
waters are a specific for liver, skin, rheu-
matte and blood disorders. Her Montezu-
ma hotel is the finest hostelry between
Chicago and Califoi mia, and is situated in
a beautiful canyon, five miles from town,
where the Hot Springs, forty in number,
come boiling to the surface.
The latitude is about the same as that OF
central Tennessee, while the altitude is
nearly $500 feet. This combination gives
a peculiar, but most happy, result. In the
winter, during the day, the thermometer
seldom falls, 10 the shade, below forty de-
grees, while it often runs, In the sunshine,
to sixty-five degrees-or even more. On
the other hand, in the summer, the heat is
never oppressive, In the shade, and 70
night is too warm for comfortable sleep,
under one or two blankets. The sun will
shine mint days out of every ten, the year
round. This, with the extreme dryness of
the air, caused by the very slight precipi- |
tation of moisture; the resinous aroma, |
rolling down from the pine-clad noun
tains; the large amount of electricity in
the air, and the consequent ozone, result
ing from thsaltitude; and the location of the
town, land-locked by mountain and mesa
these all conspire to produce an atmos-
pnere which is a balm to all diseases of the
respiratory organs. The percentage of
death from consumption is lower in New
Mexico than it is anywhere else in the
United States; and no other place in New
Mexico excels Las Vegas in the salubrIty
OF its climate. Asthmatics experience
immediate and permanent relief, in this
altitude.
In the way of health and pleasure re-
sorts, Las Vegas IN unrivaled. In a radius
of twenty miles, in romantic mountain
glens and beside babbling mountain brooks,
are the Las Vegas Hot Springs, Harvey's,
Ell Porvenir, Sandoval's Mineral Hill, Ro-
nero Ranch, Blake's, Sparks, Sapello,
Rociada, and other places, too numerous
to mention, where health can be recovered, |
and life becomes a pleasure to the ennuye, |
the invalid, the over-worked business man. !
LAS VEGAS has two daily and iye weekly
papers, three banks, two building and loan
associations, three hotels, many boarding
houses, nine churches, a number of clubs,
aud all the leading civic and social socie-
ties; a roller -four mill, capacity, fifty bar
rels per day two wool-scouring establish
ments, cleaning 100000 pounds of wool
annually; a well-equipped brewery and
bottling establishments; a mandatory OF
mineral and carbonated waters; two wag-
on and carriage factories; a saddle and
harness factory; a fonndlg n eisc-
and other enterprises of less Importance.
There are eight large wholesale houses,
whose trade extends %through, ut the Ter
ritory, and into the adjoining sections;
while the volume of this trade, and the
value of the stocks which they carry, can
not be duplicated west of Kansas City and
south Of Denver Three merchants brok.
ers nave selected the city as their distrib-
utipg center, the mount of their yearly
sales exceeding, in the aggregate, the COM
bined sales OF all other such brokers 10
New Mexico. The retail merchants, of
Las. Vegas, are more numerous, and carry
larger and better stocks of goods than do
the retail merchants of any other town in
this Territory or Arizona.
LAS VEGAS is the distributing point for
nearly all New Mexico. By the Atchlson
system, she has connection with Kansas
the east, Colorado on the north, Arizo-
ma and California on the west, and Texas
and Old Mexico on the south. Besides
these, she has more stage lines, coDnectipg
her with tributary territory, than has any
other town in NewMexico. This territory
the entSe section east and south
of the mount1ns, and comprises the coun-
ties Of Ccslax, Mora, Taos, San Miguel,
Santa RI, Socorro, Dona Ans, Grant,
Chavez Lincoln end Eddy, with parts of
ValeKcia and BernalillC-a country larger
t1an all New England. This takes III the
famous Valley ofthe Rio Grande, and the
less famous, but not less excellent, Valley
Of the Pecos-the finest fruit sections of
the west.
This Territory IS rich In every tning that
the Wealth of Natl ms. Iron,
coal, lead, silver, gold, mice, limestone,
sandstone. marbles, gypsum, soda in end
usrssxy and exhaustless quantities,
ia Wig the several products Ct the
tly dcowhsch Las Vegas coms4ands.
+seep, cattle and lumber abound, so tnat
Ia each of these prime articlts Of
his city Is tue best market III New Mexico.
She handles more wool than all the other
in the Territory combined, while
her commerce in hides is truly