Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-04-02
Her Montezuma hotel is the finest hos

Her Montezuma hotel is the finest hos
telry between Chicago and California
is situated in a beautiful canyon,
five miles from town, where the hot
springs, forty in number, come boil
Ing to the surface. Besides this,
st. Anthony's Sanitarium. conducted
by the Sisters of Charity, and the
Plaza SanitarIum. conducted ty DR..
William Curtiss Bailey. M. d.
Las Vegas Is the distributing point
for nearly all New Mexico By the
Atchison system. she has connection
with Kansas on the east. Colorado on
the north, Arizona and California on
the west, and Texas and Old Mexico
on the south. Besides these, she has
more stage lines, connecting her with
tributary territory, than has any other
in New Mexico. This territory
includes the entire section east and
south of the mountains. and com
prises the counties of Colfax, Mora.
Taos, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Socorro
Dona Ana, Grant, Chaves, Lincoln, and
Eddy with parts of Valencia and Der
nalillo-a country larger than all New
England. This takes in the famous
valley Of the Rio Grande, and the less
famous, but not less excellent, valley
Of the Pecos-the finest fruit sections
of the west.
There are eight large wholesale
houses, whose trade extends through
out the Territory, and into the ad-
joining sections; while the volume OF
this trade. and the value OF the stocks
which they carry, cannot be duplicat-
ed ives. of Kansas City and south Of
Beaver. Three merchants brokers
have selected the city as their dis
tributing center, the amount of their
yearly sales exceeding, in the aggre-
gate, the combined sales of all other
retail merchants, of Las Vegas, are
more numerous, and carry larger and
better stocks of goods than do the rc-
tail merchants of any other town in
this Territory DR. Arizona.
Las Vegas has two daily and six
weekly papers. three banks, three
building and loan associations, six no.
tells, many boarding houses, nine
churches. a number of clubs,
and all of the leading civic and
social societies; a roller -four mill,
capacity, fifty barrels per day:
five woll-scouring establishments,
cleaning 3,0O0,000 pounds of wool an
nually; a well-ecuipped brewery ard
bOttling establishment; n mandatory
of mineral and carbonated waters;
three wagon and carriage factories sad
die and harness factory; a foundry,
electric light plant, three planning
mills, and other enterprises Of less i'm.
pOrtance.
A city hall, four public school build
ings, courthouse, Masonic temple, Op-
era house, Territorial Normal school
and Territorial insane asylum and pub
lie buildings, constructed of red and
white sandstone, unsurpassed in beau
ty by similar edifices in any town, of
equal size. in the states.
The latitude is about the I'M as
that of central Tennessee, while the al
titude is nearly $500 feet. This COM
bination gives a peculiar, but most
happy, result. In the winter, during
the day, the thermometer seldom falls,
in the shade, below forty degrees.
while it often run IN the sunshine, to
sixty-five degrees-Or even more. On
the other hand, in the summer, the
heat is never oppressive, in the shade,
and no night is too warm for ON
Portable sleep, under n Or two
blankets. The sun will shine nine
days out of every ten, the year round.
This, with the extreme dryneSs of the
air, caused by the very slight precip-
itation Of moisture; the resinous aro-
ma, rolling down from the pine-clad
mountains; the large q of cleo
tricity in the air, and the consequent
ozone resulting from the altitude; and
the location Of the town, land-locked
by mountain and mesa--these all con-
spire to produce an atmosphere which
is a balm to all diseases of the respi-
ratOry organs. The percentage of
death from consumption is lower In
New Mexico than it is anywhere else
in the United States; and TO other
place in New Mexico excels Las Vegas
in the salubrity of it's climate. Asth-
mates experience immediate and per
manent relief, in this altitude.
In the way of health and pleasure
resorts, Las Vegas is unrivaled. In a
radius of twenty miles, in romantic
mountain glens and beside babbling
mountain brooks, are the Las Vegas
hot springs. Harvey's, Ell Porvenir,
Blake's, Sparks Sapello, ROciada,
oAu OIAOA RAoSOSS wv AuAlOAOu0 ~
mention, where health can be recov-
cred, and life becomes a pleasure to
the ennuye, the invalid, the over
worked business man.
This Territory is rich in everything
iron, copper, coal, lead, silver, gold,
that constitutes the wealth of nations.
mica, limestone, sandstone, marbles,
gypsum, salt, soda in endless variety and
exhaustless quantities, are among the
several products of the country which
Las Vegas commands. Sheep, cattle,
and lumber abound, SO that in each
Of these prime articles of commerce
this city is the best market in New
Mexico. She handles more wool than
all the other towns in the Territory
combined, while her commerce in hides
Is truly In the same way,
she stands pre-eminent for her trade
in grains. hay, vegetables, and other
farm products; while her trade in ice,
gathered in the neighboring mountain
canyons, extends east into Kansas
west into Arizona, and south into Old
Mexico.