Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-04-02
This LOCALITY
Las Vegas, the Chief City
of New Mexico--Some
Of Her Resources,
Attractions and
Advantages.

S6>a8trf obt&hAeAA u SAROti
ment station, headquarters OF the Atchi'
son railway system, New Mexico division
together. with railroad machine shops ant
tie -preserving works, stock yards, and th,
largest sheep shearing and dipping plan
in the United States.
West Of the river, the old town has thu
QUAINT and picturesque Mexican appear
ance - adobe houses, narrow, crooked
streets, native people and customs, handi-
crafts and occupations; but the plaza and
all 81 the new town, east Of the river, con
stitute a 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-flled
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,
courthouse, 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 edifces
in any town, Of equal size, in.tbe 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, dry, rarified, and highly cleo
trifled-a certain cure for consumption, IL
the disease be taken In time. The hot
" aters are q specific for liver, skin, rheu-
matte and blood disorders. Her Montezn-
ma hotel is the finest hostelry between
Chicago and Califoin mia, and is situated in
u D6duUiIuI CduYOu, AF6 ulicS lIO" tOWu,
where the Hot Springs, forty In number,
boiling to the surface.
The latitude Is about the same as that OF
Tennessee, while the altitude is
$500 feet. This combination gives
a peculiar, but most happy, result. In the
during the day, the thermometer
falls, 10 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
is too warm for comfortable sleep,
under one or two blankets. The sun will
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,
down from the pine-clad noun
tains; the large amount of electricity in
the air, n the consequent ozone, result
ing from thesltitude; and the location of the
town, land locked by mountain and mesa
all conspire to produce an atmos-
pnere which is q balm to all diseases of the
organs. The percentage of
from consumption Is lower in New
than it is anywhere else in the
States; and no other place in New
excels Las Vegas in the salubrlty
Of its climate. Asthmatics experience
mi permanent relief, in this
altitude.
In the way Of health and pleasure re-
,orts, Las Vegas IL unrivaled. In a radius
IL twenty miles, In romantic mountain
ylens and beside babbling mountain brooks,
are the Las Vegas Hot Springs. Harvey's,
Porvenir, S~andoval's Mineral Hill, Ro-
nero Ranch, Blake's, Sparks, Sapello,
Rociada, and other places, too numerous
mention, where health can be recovered, |
md life becomes q pleasure to the ennuye,
The invalid, the over-worked business man. |
LAS VEGAS has two daily and ive weekly
papers, three banks, two building and loan
associations, three hotels, many boarding
houses, nine churches, a number of clubs,
Ind all the leading civic and social socie.
les; a roller -four mill, capacity, fifty bar
per day two w~ool-soouring establish
nents,- cleaning 1,500,0 900 pounds Of wool
annually; q we'll equipped brewery and
establishment; q mandatory of
and carbonated waters; two wag-
N n carriage factories; a saddle and
factory; q foundry. elec-
ric light plant, three planning mills,
other enterprises of less Importance.
There are eight large wholesale houses,
whose trade extends throughout the Ter
itory, and into the adjoining sections;
While the volume of this trade, and the
'alue of the stocks which they carry, can
be duplicated west of Kansas City and
outh of Denver. Three m~erchants' brok-
rs rave selected the city as their distrib-
ting center, the mount of their yearly
ales exceeding, in the aggregate, the COM
lined sales OF all other such brokers 10
lew Mexico. The retail merchants, of
.as Vegas, are more numerous, and carry
rgera and better stocks of goods thar dc
be retail merchants of any other town in
his Territory or Arizona.
LAS VEGAS is the distributing point for
early all New Mexico. By the Atchlson
ystem, she has connection with Kansas
n the east, Colorado on the north, Arizo-
a and California on the west, and Texas
nd Old Mexico on the south. Besides
hese, she has more stage lines, connecting
er with tributary territory, than has any
town in New Mexico. This territory
the entire section east and south
[ the mountains, and comprises the coun-
les Of Colfax, Mora, Taos, San Miguel,
anita Fe, Eocorro, Dona Ana, Grant,
'alencia and BernaliIlo-a country larger
han all New England. This takes In the
smous Valley ofthe Rio Grande, and the
ss famous, but not less excellent, Valley
[ the Pecos-the finest fruit sections Of
le west.
This Territory Is rich in everything that
the Wealth Of Nations. Iron,
lead, silver, gold, mica, limestone,
lndstone. marbles, gypsum, soda In end.
70 variety and exhauetless quantities,
re among the several products Of the
)untry which Las Vegas cOmmands.l
heep, cattle and lumber abound, SO that
each of these prime articles Of commerce
lis city Is the best market in New Mexico.
handles more wool than all the other
,wns in the Territory combined, while ?
or commerce 10 hides is truly enormous.
i the same way. she stands nre-eminent
,r her trade 10 grains, hay, vegetables,
nd other farm products: while her trade
ice. gathered in the ~neigbboring noun