Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-01-27
DUN p CLIMATE.
A Visitor shows Its Marked Superior.
tty to Other Climates, and Makes a
Practical Suggestion Calculated to
Draw Residents.
70 the Editor OF the Optic.

1871 want to begin this letter BY
such a sincere and enthusiastic tribnt,
to the climate Of Las Vegas, as l hay;
never been able to pay any climate be
fore in my life. l have now been herr
. little over three months. 1t is per
fectly true that my greeting on the
the part OF the elements, was not Who'll.
, h%ospitabls; but from October 20lt
or t~hereabouts, to December goth, there
was such a Succession Of glorious day
and exquisIteiy beautiful nights as ]
never experienced in any portion Of
tho world. neither Italy, Swift srland,
southern France-in which parts Of
Europe ! spent two ryears-nor 10 this
country, southern California, (whtre |
lived . Year,, have in my experience
any such record. | could contrast in
detail this climate with those of all the
localities named. l will simply say
here, 10 brief, that 10 southern Cslifor-
mia more or less of dampness is oc.
casioned by the influence Of the Pacific
ocean, and in the coast towns, like
Santa Barbara, this dampness takes the
form OF dense toys, which interfere
seriously with the comfort and welfare
OF the health-seeker. In southern
France, as at Nice and Mentone, while
there Is brilliant sunshine and, as a
rule, q very mild winter, there is an
enervating tropical influence far diff
ferent from the tonic quality of the air
here. In "Sunny Italy" judging at
least by my experience in Florence aud
Rome, cold, damp winds prevail more
or less 10 winter. There are places In
Switzerland, high up among the noun
tains, that have eli nate In
summer quite closely resembling
this. But rain is not infre-
quent, at that season, and deep
snow lies on the ground all winter long.
As compared with each and all of
them, this Las Vegas climate, judging
by November and December, Is far
and away the most perfect.
The early morning air is to me
peculiarly invigorating. 1t is like
wine. Morning after morning, / have
watched the sky. as it grew tremulous
with delicate, %throbbing, pink light,
with indescribable pleasure. And the
evenings are scarcely less beautifu.
than the mornings, and | will add here
that my private letters 10 eastern
friends fully bear out all l say here Of
tbo ohar~s ~ ~ostFvorad ol;-.,l
Now, having paid this tribute to the
natural attractions Of the place, may l
make one or two we'll meant sugges-
lions as t possible and needed i'm
~provementsPg l will con6ne myself in
this letter to two.
l experienced extreme difficulty for
a whole month after coming here in
finding the sort Of house eastern people
who come here for health naturally
want. 1t was by the merest accident
that l was finally successful. l have
had no experience of this climate In
summer, but / have been here long
enough to know that in winter, either
q brick or a carefully built adobe house
Is preferable to the ordinary wooden
frame house. Sometimes it seems, !
here, q high wind and . low
temperature are ~coincident, and the
solid brick or adobe wall affords none
too great protection. Then the houses,
for the purposes of the health
seeker, should have q full
exposure to the south. The
ground around ii should be we'll drain
cd. To come 1000 miles for purposes
Of health. as l did, hoping, above all
thipgs, to avoid dampness, and to fDd
such extreme, almost complete search
ty of attractive houses for rent, was
profoundly discouraging. For the
want OF such a house hosts of people
leaye Las Vegas with disappointment
and keen regret. 10 fact, eastern ply.
s~icians, TO my certain knowledge, dis
courage people coming here to live for
The want Of precisely this thing.
Now, l am aware that it takes money
to. build such houses, and / am we'll
aware that capitalists at the present
lime shrink from anything like that IN
in putting mp a number of them.
The hard times have been too prodig-
severe and prolonged to make it
to practically promote a plan like
this. But this I will say-could half
\ dozen or q ,dczan such houses be
built; and plainly and neatly furnish.
I'd, l believe it would do more, as a
at least, in promoting the
Of this town, than its old resi-
dents in the slightest degree realize.
l will venture to make q further sug-
g~estion which certainly 10 practicable,
I my other is not. The few houses
WHICH the real estate agents could
how me when l first came, were, as a
in such dilapidated, unkempt
condition That they were not nearly as
as they might have been.
Jobwebs; old musty articles of furni-
ure, evidence Of leaky roofs, more or
ess old rubbish accumulated ia the 1
Jack yards, are not calculated to
scnrey to the landlords the much de-
ired tenants. A small matter Of a very
ew dollars spent in cleaning, re pairing,
nd painting, will often secure a tenant
rho turns away, repulsed and scornful,
rom places in the condition of some
vhich / saw here last October. 1,
I do not believe in destructive crit
oism but IN constructive criticism I do
e~lieves--such criticism, | mean, SIS is.
Iot d~iscouraging, but helpful and stimI
lating.W such . character most ass
dol want this letter to be. I'll
rite it withs profouud sense OF the
opportunity of Development,
rowtb, increased prosperity, which
as Vegas1possesses. Lam more than
with the climate, I am Charm
d by it. And II this place a be