Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-12-04
LOCALITY
Las Vegas, the Chief City
of New Mexic0--Some
of Her Resources,
Attractions and
Advantages.

Inhabitants.
1t has water works, street cars, arc and
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. y
West of the river, the old town has the
quaint and picturesque Mexican appear
ance adobe houses, narrow, crooked
streets, native people aud 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 wei filled
stores, beautiful residences, and innumera-
bic 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, q 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 OF
cold, no gnats. rats or mosquitoes. Int
| air is pure, dry, rarified, 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 h~ostelry between
| Chicago and California, 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, In the shade, below forty de-
Rrees, while it often runs, in the sunshine
to sixty-hve degrees-or even more. On
The other hand, in the summer, the heat II
never oppressive, In the shade. n nc
night is too warm for comfortable sleep
under one or two blankets. The sun will
shine nine days out of every ten, the veal
round. This, with the extreme dryness oil
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 IL
the cir, and the consequent ozone, result
ing from thealtitude; and the location of thu
town, land-locked by mountain and mess
these all ccnspire to produce an atmos-
pnere which is q balm to all diseases OF the
respiratory organs. The percentage o.
death from consumption Is lower In New
Mexico than it Is any where else in thu
United States; and no other place 10 New
l me1lCO c4C6le LAS vegas 4 tno w
of its climate. Asthmatics experienced
immediate and permanent relief, in thil
altitude.
In the way of health and pleasure re
sorts, Las Vegas Ia unrigaled. In q radiu
of twenty miles, in romantic mountain
glens and beside babbling mountain brooks
are the Las Vegas Hot Springs. Harvey's
Ell P~orvenir, S~andoval's Mineral Hill, Ro
nero Ranch, Blake's, Sparks, Sapeilo
Rociada, and other places, too namerou
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 i've week.,
papers, three banks. two building and LOAF
associations. three hotels. many boarding.
houses, nine churches, a number OF clubs
and all the leading civic and social socie
ties; a roller four mill, capacity, fifty bar
rels per day two wool-scouring establish
ments, cleaning 800 900 pounds Of woo
annually; a we'll equipped brewery an
bottling establishments; a mandatory o
mineral and carbonated waters; W wag
on and carriage factories; a saddle an
harness factory; .h a fon u1an;,o m eisc
and other enterprises Of less Importance.
There are eight large wholesale houses
whose trade extends throughout the Ter
risory, and into the adjoining sections
while the volume of this trade, and tn
value of the stocks which they carry, ca
not be duplicated west OF Kansas City an
south of Denver. Three merchants brok
ers have selected the city as their distrib
uting center, the amount of their yearl
sales exceeding, in the aggregate, the com
bined sales Of all other such brokers /
New Mexico. The retail merchants, Q
Las Vegas, are more numerous, and carr
larger and better stocks of goods than d
the retail merchants OF any other town /
this Territory or Arizona.
LAS VEGAS is the distributing point 70
nearly all New Mexico. By the Atchlso
system. she has connection with Kansa
on the east, Colorado on the north, Arizo
ma and California on the west, and Texa
and Old Mexico on the south. Beside
these, she has more stage lines, connectin
her with tributary territory, than has an
other town In New Mexico. This ~territor
includes the entire section east and sout
Of the mountains, and comprises the cou
ties of Colfax, Mora. Taos, San Migue
Chaves, Lincoln and Eddy, with parts q
Valencia and Bernalillo-a country large
than all New England. This takes in til
famous Valley ofthe Rio Grande, and tn
less famous, but not less excellent, Vale
Of the Pecos-the finest fruit sections 6
the west.
This Territory is rich In everything the
constitutes the Wealth of Nations. Iror
coal, lead, silver, gold, mica, limestone
sandstone. marbles, gypsum, soda in end
ess variety and ~exhauetless quantities
are among the several products Of th
country which Las Vegas commands
Sheep, cattle and lumber abound, SO the
in each of these prime articles Of commerce
this city is the best market ia New Mexico
She handles more wool than all the othe
towns In the Territory combined, Will
her commerce In hides is truly enormous
10 the same way, she stands pre-eminen
for her trade in grains, hay, vegetables
and other farm products: while her trad
10 ice, gathered in the ~neigbhoriug noun
tain canyons, extends east into. Kansas
west into Arizona, and south into Oh