Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-01-26
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Special Correspondence.

Special Correspondence.
Hacienda del Compo, Verdi. Mexico
Dec. 2C-From Guadalajara the road
leads through the little town Of San
Pedro. the summer home for the rich
Of the city, then gradually ascends
bin from the top OF which u good View
Of the valley may be obtained The
city Is built apparently In the lowest
part Of the valley Surrounding IL, and
from four TO ten miles distant are eight
smaller settlements, scattered around
near the foot OF the mountains. Their
tall church spires, when nothing else
can be seen, mark well their location.
One Of these towns is especially noted
for the fine pottery made IN H. Beyond
the city for six miles are green fields OF
wheat now about six inches high, con-
trastIng strongly with the dry hills and
corn fields. TO the left as we look
back run ing almost East and West
Is q high range of mountains. The
mountains on the right are broken, ana
apparently not so high.
We left our camp at 2 o'clock ,. m.
ana were, therefore, late In finding a
place 20 camp for the night The land
is AN fenced and most OF IL is farmed.
II Is necessary, therefore, 10 buy corn
fodder, the only kind Of hay % be had,
or rent pasturage. We usually rent
and count ourselves fortunate n we
can find corn field Just opened TO
pasturage The charge are light be-
Ing as rule cents per head In the
money Of the country, but TO buy fo1-
der the cost per head would be az least
10 cents. This night we obtained a
good pasturage just at dusk, but IL was
after dark before all the packs were iu
and unloaded Then occurred one OF
those experiences which an who travel
as we do meet nc times There was no
wood 10 be had the water was a long
way of, and we had to 90 q mile or so
Co buy grain for our animals, For wood
we gathered corn stocks. and with the
most persistent efforts succeeded In
baking a few cakes in the ashes, as we
could not use the bake skillet. They
were as heavy as lead. but this fact
did not disturb US, the main question
being 20 get enough OF them as they
constituted the entire supper. While
Brother Kienke and ! were returning
from purchasing grain we came nearly
having an accident. A few feet farther
and we would have fallen I'm wash
twenty feet deep. the bottom OF which
was full Of boulders, but Ike the hero
in n novel, we were rescued IN the nick
OF time We heard the voice OF a
Mexican approaching, TO whom we
called out, enqulring the way. He was
more frightened than we when he saw
whore We were,
IN BROKEN VALLEY.
Our next days drive was a most
pleasant one. The weather was cool,
owing 10 the high altitude. We were
now over FIVE thousand feet above sea
level and the roads were good The
valley became more broken. and some
timber appeared on the higher hills and
benches. Corn folds stretched out
everywhere. and little ranches dotted
the Hill sides, while occasionally we
would pass. or see at distance,
the more pretentous buildings and
corrnls Of a hacienda, Two towns we
passed during the day. one Is Puenta
Crande. so called because Il Is located
near large bridge spanning the RIO
Grande de Santiago. A panoche mill Is
near the town and extensive cane
fields lie up and down the river bot
toms Quite a traffc in cane Is going
on we Judged. for every mile or so, ana
I'm towns I'm front Of every store, are
vendors Of cane with a large bunch for
sale exposed In the most advantageous
way TO tempt the passer-by Three
cents buy the large stocks, two cents,
and one. the smaller ones. There were
also. especially in Puenta Grande, nu-
merous little stands with white cloths
over them, exposing for sale sweet
cakes corn cakes. tomales and often
cooked sweet potatoes. Everything Is
very cheap. and the many muleteers
passing every day. indeed almost every
hour In the day. with the heavily laden
mules bound Tor the Guadalahara mar
kets furnish considerable trade to
these little stands.
SPIRES FROM AFFAIR.
The other village. Tepatitlan, contains
about two thousand inhabitants and is
the happy pOssesser OF four large
churches. the spires Of which are seen
from afar. Any one Of these churches
costs as much az half the rest OF the
town besides. I might observe here that
Mexican towns and cities are towns and
cities rich I'm church buildings Often
the church cost more than all the rest
Of the houses In the town. Sometimes a
little village which seems not able to
support one church as II should be sup
ported. has two or three. But many NJ
these churches are now not used. and In
the northern states many are In a STATE
Of decay. There must have been time
however. when either the whole efforts
OF the people were directed 10 erection
% tbeco buildings or mllllOue Of dollars
from outside sources came here 70 build
them
Tepattlan Is also known locally for