Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1896-04-29
LOCALITY
Las Vegas, the Chief City
Of New Mexico Some
of Her Resources,
Attractions and
Advantages.

1t has water works, street cars, arc Rnd
incandescent electric light plant, telephone
exchanges, Territorial agricultural expert
ment station, headquarters of the Atchi.
son railway system, New Mexico division.
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 aud customs, handi-
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 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 we'll 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 edifices
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, 10 gnats, rats or mosquitoes. The
air is pure, dry, rarifed, 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 hostelry between
Chicago and California, and is situated in
a beautiful canyon, five miles from town,
where the Ho 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, 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
is too warm for comfortable sleep,
under one or two blankets. The sun will
shine nine days out of every ten, the year
This, with the extreme dryness of
the air, caused by the very slight precipi-
.ation of moisture; the %resinous aroma,
down from the pine-clad noun
the large amount of electricity in
he air, and the consequent ozone, result
ng from thealtitude; and the location Of the
own, land-locked by mountain and mesa
ell conspire to produce an atmos-
which is q balm to all diseases Of the
organs. The percentage of
Heath from consumption is lower In New
than it is anywhere else in the
United S~tates; and no other place In New
Mexico excels Las Vegas in the salubrlty
II its climate. Asthmatics experience
Immediate and permanent relief, in this
altitude.
In the way of health and pleasure re-
,orts, Las Vegas is unrivaled. In a radius
II twenty miles, In romantic mountain
ylens and beside babbling mountain brooks,
ire the Las Vegas Hot Springs, Harvey's,
nero Ranch, Blake's, Sparks, Sapello,
aociada, and other places, too Numerous
o mention, where health can be recovered,
Ind 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, TO building and loan
associations, three hotels, many boarding
ind all the leading civic and social socie-
les; a roller flour mill, capacity, fifty bar
per day; W wool-sc0uring establish
nents, cleaning $500, 900 pounds of wool
lnnually; a well equipped brewery and
establishment; a mandatory of
and c~arbonated waters; two wag-
N and carriage factories; a saddle and
rio light plant, three planning mills.
md 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
lot be duplicated west of Kansas City and
outh of Denver. Three merchants brok-
RS have 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 in
yew Mexico. The retail merchants, OF
las Vegas, are more numerous, and carry
and better stocks OF goods than do
be retail merchants OF any other town in
his Territory or Arizona
LAS VEGAS is the distributing point for
learly all New Mexico. By the Atchlson
ystem, she has connection with Kansas
n the east, Colorado on the north, Arizo-
IA and California on the west, and Texas
nj Old Mexico on the south. Besides
hese, she has more stage lines, connecting
ler with tributary territory, than has any
ther 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,
Fe, Socorro, Dona Ana, Grant.
T~alencia and Bernalillo-a country larger
han all New England. This takes in the
amous Valley ofthe Rio Grande, and the
sss famous, but not less excellent, Valley
I the Pecos-the finest fruit sections Of
he west.
This Territory is rich in everything that
institutes the Wealth of Nations. Iron,
oal, lead, silver, gold, mica, limestone,
andstone. marbles, gypsum, soda In end
IS variety and ~exhaustless quantities,
re among the several products of the
ountry which Las Vegas commands.
'heap, cattle and lumber abound, so that
d each of these prime articles of commerce
bis city is the best market ia New Mexico.
lie handles more wool than all the other
Ia the Territory combined, while
er m in hides Is truly enormous.
q the same way, she stands pre-eminent
or her trade in grains, hay, vegetables,
other farm products; while her trade
0 ice, gathered in the neighboriug noun
ain canyons. extends east into Kansas,
rect iato Arizona, and south into Old