The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-09-24
IN THE SIERRA MADRES
B. Y. A. Expedition Has Now
Reached Old Mexico.
SEEK CAVE JEWELLERS
GRAPHIC CONDITION OF LIFE
AMONG THE POOR MExICANS.

Pocheco, Chihuahua, Sept. 15.-That
northern Mexico is anything but
Mexican. so far as financial interests
are concerned. is made apparent after
a very few days of travel in Sonora
and Chihuahua The rich copper prop
critics of the former state are controlled
by German, English and American
capitalists. Foreign brains direct; for
eign machine. : accomplishes and only
the labor that falls to the lot of the
half-paid drudge is performed by the
native Mexican. On crossing the Sierra
Madre into Chihuahua the vast cattle
ranges ere in the hands OF Americans
or English. An immense valley, where
antelope riYaled the cattle in numbers,
is the property of younger son or
Lord BeresfOrd. Here and al the estate
known as THE Chimneys,' on the San
Pedro river, his lordship, as he is COM
monty dubbed, exercises his hounds on
antelope. deer, bear and wolves, while
MS cattle grow fat without care or
stock having been shipped northward
by the trainlOad, he goes back to Eng
land to blow in" the profits.
The next ranch to Beresford's IS own
ed by an American On ii, in the
valley of the San Pedro, were the first
evidences of buried towns that we have
come across. though we have seen
many isolated mounds and houses.
Then comes the range of the Standard
Oil company-a large tract of rolling
hills and wide valleys. The hillsides
are timber grown, but are, like the
valleys, COY ed with nutritious grasses.
The giant monopoly has not stocked its
territory, and is probably awaiting an
opportunity to organize cattle trust
in the southern republic. Then come
ranches and ranges belonging to the
Mormon people of Juarez and other
colonies. The finest of these is the
Cave Valley ranch, with adjacent
range, be longing to Thatcher Bros, of
Logan
Not only is the range excellent, the
scenery beautiful. and game abundant
in Cave valley, but here are found the
first of the ancient cave dwellings that
dot the higher Sierra 'Aiadre through
almost their entire length The walls
of these cave buildings are made of
cement and are in an excellent state of
preservation. They have not been en-
tirely despOiled Of the implements and
utensils that they once contained, but
the best specimens have long since been
taken to enrich the museums of ~Ee
world.
Among all these foreign-Owned
ranches, from Ojitos to Cave valley and
PachecO and Garcia, we sometimes for
get that We are not in the states, but
often we are rudely awakened to
sense of our whereabouts. Both ma
ture and man cOPspire to bring about
this result. In the densest pine forests
are parrots, trogons and other tropical
birds of gorgeous plumage- In the can
yons and valleys is a wealth of jungle
vegetation and a variety Of trees that
the canyons of the WaSatch cannot
boast. But Il is among the poorer peO-
pie that we learn not only our political
location, but our utter inability to
cope with the intricacies of the most
beautiful of the romance languages
Spanish as it is written and Mexican
l.
tionshiD to each other that Choctaw
does to Chinese.
Homes of the Poor.
The large ranches would make very
respectable counties in Utah. The ha-
ciendas are from ten to thirty miles
apart, but between these places, where
modern civilization ana a barbaric love
of the gorgeous are contending for
mastery, lie the little 'dObe hutS of the
peasantry-little one-roomed, ill-venti-
lated, poorly lighted, foul-smelling cab
ms, where barbarisn, pure and simple,
has full sway. Each hut is surround
ed by corn field, a watermelon patch
and garden spot of green chilli. Then
comes the yard, infested by half-naked
children, quarreling hea-bitten dogs,
pigs, poultry and Vermin- In rainy
weather and at night the whole aggre-
cation retires to the common living
room. Fortunately the weather is so
mild that. save on stormy days, all
cooking and baking can be done in the
open air. Nevertheless. when we tire
of venison, antelope and wild turkeys,
we find these novels very convenient
places for getting vegetables and milk.
To show how poorly the MeXicans
understand their own language sin
gle incident will suffice: Last week one
of our party, young man from Nephi,
went to ranch AMI asked TO buy some
potatoes. Now, he had prepared him
self for just such emergencies by a
careful and conscientious study of Old
endorff, TOrnOs ROsenthaI and other
systems of practical linguiStry. Natur
ally he supposed that he should have
no trouble in making himself under
stood. The senorita whom he accOsted
lost her wonted gravity at his very po-
lite and formal address. and almost
laughed in his face. BY the aid of the
whole family he was made to under
stand that he had asked to buy wind
mills. a second and third trial were
equally amusing to the natives, and
finally he was obliged to return to camp
with an armful of roasting ears, the
MeXicans being perfectly satisfied that
this was what he had desired all the
time.
In addition to the vegetables, every
Mexican housewife has cheese to sell,
such cheesei 1t is the old Dutch or
sour milk cheese of our grandmothers,
caSed and allowed to stand until
mouldy or half decompOSed- Still, with
the addition of beans, chilli and little
meat it is possible to eat the stuff.
Milk is boiled or scalded before being
sold. For sanitary reasons this is
most excellent precaution TO which we
never object
It is strange that in a country where
everything is so favorable to fruit Gull
ture the MeXicaEs, as a rule. do Moth
ing with this industry. Only in the vi
cinity of large cities like Hermosillo
and Chihuahua, and there only when
spurred by foreign competition, is
fruit being successfully raised and
marketed. This. in spite of the fact
that an acre of fruit is " Jrth 1, 900 acres
of range, and that labor may be OBJ
tanned a from 81 to 50 per month,
American money, the labOreTS boarding
themselves. 1t is the labor system of
Mexico that is responsible for the peOn-
age that amounts to virtual slavery
store where his people trade, and sup
plies them with goods at such exOrbi-
tant prices that the balance is always
in his favor, and the peOn is under OBJ
legation until the uttermost farthing is
paid.
The Mexican Cowboy.
Gorgeous sombreros, morse trappings
and mescaI monoDolize the money of
the Mexican cowboy. He smokes con-
stantly, but his cigarettes are inexpen-
sive. An American dollar will buy
eighty packs of ten each. Mescal costs
21s cents a drink, when bought by the