Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-05-27
LOCALITY
Las Vegas, the Chief City
of New Mexico Some
of Her Resources,
Attractions and
Advantages.

lies on both sides OF the Gallinas river
and, with its suburbs, has about 1000
inhabitants.
1t has water works, street cars, arc ant
incandescent electric light plant, ~telephon,
exchanges, Territorial agricultural expert
mont station, headquarters OF the Atchl
son railway system, New Mexico division
together with railroad machine shops anc
tie preserving works, stock yards, and the
largest sheep shearing and dipping plan
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, handl-
crafts and occupations; but the 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 filed
stores, beautiful residences, and innumera-
BILE lawns, set in grass and adorned with
ohiuDbSiJ HhA hOnOio, SOuiObiO I ~ biO-
claim q 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, cen
structed of red and white cut sandstone,
unsurpassed in beauty by similar edifces
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 and 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
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, no gnats, rats or mosquitoes. The
air Is pure, cry, rariied, and highly cleo
riied-a certcin cure for consumption, il
the disease be taken in time. The hot
waters are a ST celtic for liver, skin, rbeu-
matte and blood disorders. Her Montezu-
ma hotel is the finest hostelry between
Chicago and Califor 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 no
night is too warm for comfortable sleep,
under one CT 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 r%esinous aroma,
rolling down from the pine-clad noun
tains; the large amount of electricity 10
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 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 it's climate. Asthmatlcs experience
immediate and permanent relief, in this
altitude.
In the way of nealth and pleasure re-
sorts, Las Vegas is unrivaled. In a radius
OF twenty miles, in romantic mountain
glens and beside babbling mountain brooks,
are the Las Vegas Hot Springs. Harvey's,
El Porvenir, S~an1oval's Mineral Hill, Ro-
nero Ranch, Biake'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 dive weekly
papers, three banks, two building and loan
associations, three hotels, many boarding
houses, nine churches, q number of clubs,
aud all the leading civie and SOCIAL socie-
ties; a roller -four mill, capacity, fifty bar
rels per day two wool-scouring establish |
ments, cleaning 1000, 900 pounds Of wool
annually; a well-equippcd brewery and
bottling establishment; a mandatory Of
mineral and carbonated waters; two wag-
on and carriage factories; a saddle ami
harness factory; a foundIJ. elec-
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 brak.
ers have selected the city as their distrih-
uting center, the amount of their yearly
sales exceeding, in the aggregate, the com.
binsd sales of all other such brokers in
New Mexico. The retail merchants, of
Las Vegas, are more numerous, ana 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-
na 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 aud south
of the mountains, aud 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 10 everything that
the Wealth Of Natl ms. Iron,
coal, lead, silver, gold, mica, limestone,
sandstone. marbles, gypsum, soda In end
ess variety and exhaustless quantities.
among the severed products Of the
which Las Vegas commands.
Sheep, cattle and lumber abound, so that
10 each OF these prime articles Of commerce
this city Is the best msrket In New Mexico.
handles more wool than all the other
towns in the Territory combined, while
her In hides is truly enormous.
In The same way, she stands pre-eminent
for her traae in grains, hay, vegetables,
and other farm products; while her trade
In ice, gathered in the ~neighboriug noun
tain canyons. extends east into Kansas,