Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-10-04
A~PPREClATIVE ALBANIAN

The Evergreen tAla.) Courant
prints the following %appreciative Las
Vegas letter by +. l.. Riley. who with
his wife. spent some time here:
Editor Courant.
A short letter relative 10 my trip
10 this place and a brief descriptive
sketch OF this country. including Las
Vegas and vicinity. would hardly be
out of place and would probably in
terest some OF your readers. There
fore. an excuse Is unnecessary.
trust.
After leaving 81, Louis n Is ma
~terially impressed with the beauty Of
the landscape. the rugged face OF The
country, with here and there large
farm houses located In what appeared
10 be richest OF lands. Judging from
the over-burdenel apple trees whose
fruits We're cleaning In cardinal and
emedald hues In luscious contrast 10
The green branches around the piles
of rlpe fruit under the trees, the lux
uriant growth Of late corn. the gigan-
tic piles of wheat CHAIR. showing
recent work of threshing machines,
as seen from the car window. ! hasten
10 say this Is a country highly IA
vored with natures richest endow-
ments, II remains for you TO get past
Kansas City. way out on the plains.
before you are losl In a vast eypanse
whose limits you cannot define with
the natural eye, whose level and
slightly undulating soil yields wheat
and corn, wheat and corn I'LL YOU
gel tired looking and YOU content
Yourself with ,he consolation that
twelve hours will draw a curtain over
the ~monotOni0us, immutable scenery.
Notwithstanding this sameness. you
cannot overlook the substantial
houses Of the residents. the number
less windmills that bedeck the cham
payne colored land for hundreds Of
miles. and you are half convinced
that the west Is the place for big
things. We had crossed and recross.
ed a muddy shallow stream for some
distance, the volume Of which is
commensurate with our own SANDY
Creek" and on inquiry found II to be
the Arkansas river. and you will
kindly remember that the upper
waters ~ this river have no banks,
but simply occupy a low broad place
In this vast plain.
We never had a change Of scenery
until we got 10 La Junta, Colo, (pro.
nounced La Huntal when we com
oaenced 10 behold The foothills Of the
distant Rockies. and a slight turn
southwest Of the railroad takes IFS
through the richest valleys, well
stocked ranches and immense wheat
and grain fields. A beautiful back
ground 10 all this are the table-lands,
called mesa (macey) by the natives,
which further on becomes more ex-
tensive In dimensions and finally
merge into the Rocky Mountain range
v thousand six hudred and eight
feet above sea level, like a giant
stone doorway leading to Las Vegas.
you will find the Ration tunnel. Here
II Is after a gradual incline for quite
a. distance back, you make a quick
decent into the sunkissed valley in
which Is located Trinidad and further
on Las Vegas. Exactly 1O6 miles
from Ration tunnel you are pleasantly
introduced to the "City Of the Mea-
dows." as Las Vegas is known in a
literal translation. The first impress.
sion on a ~tenderfoot is that you are
In a first class city. The buildings
are upto-date; sidewalks cemented
and shaded larger part by trees In
diginous 10 this climate; streets laid
off perfectly and breadth OF which
far exceeds. as a general thing. the
streets In st. Louis or Kansas City.
and but for the fact a few buildings
are tile covered you would least sus-
pect you were In a city Of New Mex
leo.
This city has about 10000 inhab.
itants; has public schools and
churches here are represented. Ow.
ing to the fact that this city is $3.50
feet above sea level and has a natural
southern slope and drainage the at.
mosphere IL pure and climatic condi.
tions just ideal. Water supply comes
from the mountains as well as Ice,
\ which Is packed up In winter for sum.
inner use.
This brief outline would be in.
complete II We fail to tell about the
DIVE over The Scenic Driveway
Though the mountains. We were
agrteably surprised when our land
LADY, Mrs. Behringer, together with
Mrs. VIII McGown from Kansas. came
with , fine turnout to carry Mrs,
Riley and myself for a drive IN the
canyon. We we're now fully con
WINGED h was an all-day picnic in the