Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-11-23
THIS LOCALITY
Las Vegas, the Chief City
of New Mexico Some
of Her Resources,
Attractions and
Advantages.

lies On pOtn siu6s Oh tne 0htinhH TiVer,
and, with its suburbs, has about 10000
Inhabitants.
1t has water works, street cars, arc and
incandescent 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 shearing 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 the plaza and
all OF the new town, east of the river, con-
stitute q 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 well-filled
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.
Territorial Normal school and Territorial
Insane asylum are public buildings, con.
structed of red and white cut sandstone,
unsurpassed in beauty by similar edidces
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 school n two
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
ursl 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, no gnats, rats or mosquitoes. The
| air is pure, dry, rarif1ed, and highly cleo
trified-a certain cure for consumption, IL
| the disease be taken In time. Tn hot
waters are a specific for liver, skin. rheu-
matte and blood disorders. Her Montezu-
ma hotel is the finest hostelry between
Chicago and California, and is situated in
| q 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
q peculiar, but most happy, result. In the
| winter, during the day, the thermometer
seldom falls, In the shade, below forty de-
grees, while it often runs, in the sunshine,
to sixty-f1ve degrees-Or even more. On
| the other hand, In the summer, the heat is
never oppressive, In the shade, and no
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-clad noun
tains; the large amount Of electricity in
the air, and the consequent ozone resllt-
ing from thealtitude and the location of the
town, land locked by mountain and mesa
these all conspire to produce an atmos-
pnere which is Q balm to all diseases of the
respiratory organs. The percentage of
death from consumption is lower In New
Mexico than 1t is any where 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 Ia unrivalcd. In q radius
OF twenty miles, In romantic mountain
glens and beside ~babbling mountain brooks,
are the Las Vegas Hot Springs. Harvey's,
Ell P~orvenir, Sandoval's Mineral Hill, Ro-
m - Pnnnh RtaEA1o Gnor6o1 GcxalIn
Rociada, and other places, too Numerous
to mention, where health can be recovered,
and life becomes a pleasure to tho nnuye
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, q number OF clubs,
aud all the leading civic and social socie-
ties; a roller -four mill, capacity, fifty bar
rels per day two vool-scouring establish
meuts, cleaning 1900, 900 pounds of wool
annually; a well-equipped brewery and
bottling establishment; a mandatory Of
mineral and carbonated waters; two wag-
harness factory; a foundry. 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;
WHO tuo VOlume OIL LnlS trade, ana the
value OF the stocks which they carry, can
not be duplicated west Of Kansas City aud
south of Denver. Three merchants brok.
crs rave 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 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
on 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, connecting
her with tributary territory, than has any
other town in New Mexico. This territory
includes the entire section east md south
of the mountains, and comprises the coun-
ties Of Colfax, Mora, Taos, San Miguel,
Santa Fe, S~ocorro,. Dona Ana, Grant,
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 rot less excellent, Valley
of the Pecos-the finest fruit sections of
the west.
This Territory Is rich In everything that
constitutes the Wealth Of Nations. Iron,
coal, lead, silver, gold, mics, 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, SO that
In each Of these prime articles of commerce
this city Is the best market in New Mexico.
Ste 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 trade 10 grains, hay, vegetables,
In Ice, gathered ip the n~eigbbpring moung
tein canyons, extends east into Kansas.
west jato Arizona, and south into Old
Mexico