Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-11-16
|THIS LOCALITY
Las Vegas, the Chief City
of New Mexico Some
of Her Resources,
Attractions and
Advantages.

exchanges, Territorial agricultural expert
ment station, headquarters OF the Atchi-
son railway system, New Mexico division,
together With railro d machine shops and
tie preserving works, stock yards, and the
largest sheep shearing and dipping plant
In the United States.
Vest 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 the plaza and
| all OF the new town, east OF the river, con-
stitute O distinctive American city. The
streets are wide and we'll 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 well-hlled
stores, beautiful residences, and innumera-
BILE lawns, set In grass and adorned with
| shrubbery and flowers, combine to pro-
| claim a cultured community, possessed OF
| all modern comforts and conveniences.
A city hall, three public school buildings,
court. house, Masonic temple, opera house.
ltETltOTlul NOI HbA nthupk "A
Insane asylum are public buildings, con-
| structed Of red and white cut sandstone,
unsurpassed in beauty by similar ediices
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, n kin
dergarten, a commercial, school and W
music schools, besides several private teach
ers. are among the educational advantages
and facilities.
LAS VEGAS is the natural sanatorium Of
| the United States, combining more nat
ural advantages than any other place In
| America. Her thermal waters are the
equal Of the Hot Springs of Arkansas,
| while her climate is infinitely superior.
| There is no malaria, no excessive heat or
cold, nc gnats, rats or mosquitoes. The
| air is pure, dry, rarified, and highly cleo
trihed-a certain cure for consumption, IL
| the disease be taken In time. The hot
waters are q specific for liver, skin, rheu-
| matte and blood disorders. Her Montezu-
| ma hotel Is the finest hosiery between
| Chicago and CalifoT mia, and Is situated In
a beautiful canyon, five miles from town,
=ssS=e .se Hc. sr-!nss forty IN nnnher
come boiling to the surface.
The latitude 10 about the same as that OF
central Tennessee, while the altitude is
| nearly $500 feet. This combination gives
q 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-fve degrees-or even more. On
the other hand, In the summer, the heat is
never oppressive, IN the shade, and nc
night is too warm for comfortable sleep,
under one or two blankets. The sun will
shine nine 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-c la noun
tains; the large amount OF electricity Ia
the air, and the consequent ozone, result
ing from thealtitude; and the location of the
town, land-locked by mountain and mesa
these all conspire to produce an atmos-
phere which is . balm to all diseases of the
respiratory organs. The percentage of
Mexico than 1t is anywhere else in the
United States; and no other place In New
Mexico excels Las Vegas in the saiubrity
of its climate. Asthmatics experience
immediate and permanent relief, in this
altitude.
III Tue way OL uohIJuf nuu p1tHSuTe re-
sorts, Las Vegas Ia unriealed. In q radius
OF twenty miles, In romantic mountain
glens and beside habbling 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 Ave weekly
papers, three banks. two building and loan
associations, three hotels. many boarding
houses, nine churches, o 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,
annually; a well-equipped brewery and
bottling establishment; a mandatory OF
mineral and carbonated waters; two wag-
on and carriage factories; q saddle and
harness factory; foundIJ cleo
trio light plant, three planning mills.
and other enterprises OF less Importance.
There are eight large Wholesale houses,
whose trade extends throughout 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 have selected the city as their distrib-
uting center, the amount OF their yearly
sales exceeding, in the aggregate, the COM
bined sales of all other such brokers in
New Mexico. The retail merchants, of
Las Vegas, are more numerous, and carry
larger and better stocks of goods tina do
the retail merchants of any other tow in
this Territory or Arizona.
LAS VEGAS is ths distributing point for
nearly all New Mexico. By the Atchlson
system, she has connection with Kansas
- N-I~..I> -, kkA rArk1 Aun-
ma and California on the west, and Texas
and Old Mexico on the south. Besides
these, she has more stage lines, connecting |
her with tributary territory, than has any |
other town IN New Mexico. This territory |
includes the entire section east and south
Of the mountains, and comprises the coun-
ties Of Colfax, Mora, Taos, San Miguel,
Chaves, Lincoln and Eddy. with parts of
Valencia and Bernalillo-a country larger
than all New England. This takes in 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 everything that
the Wealth of Nations. Iron.
coal, lead, silver, gold, mica, limestone,
sandstone, marbles, gypsum, soda in end
ess variety and ~exhaustless quantities,
are among the several products Of the
country which Las Vegas commands.
Sheep, cattle and lumber abound, 80 that
in each of these prime articles of commerce
this city is the best market in New Mexico.
She handles more wool than all the other
towns in the Territory combined, while
her commerce in hides is truly enormous.
In the same way, she stands pre-eminent
for her TRACE IN grains, hay, vegetables,
and other farm products; while her trade
10 ice. gathered In the neigbboring noun
tain canyons, extends east into Kansas,
west iato Arizona, and south into Old