Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-10-09
From Saturdays Daily.

Morgan Steward, who has just re-
turned from his New Mexico ranch to
mis- pretty Lightner villa, was in to-
day. saying that stock is fat and that
stockmen will have good winter
In the petrified timber district.
about twenty miles southwest from
Durango. Is curious freak of nature |
that OF a gnarly cedar or juniper |
tree growing through large. petri-
fed stump. The juniper tree is evi
IDENTITY hundreds upon hundreds ol
years old--possibly thousands ol
years. judging from its decrepit ap
pearance, but It retains vitality anu
seems to be good for ages 10 come
although imbedded in the petrified
stump.
Mrs VIM. DObbins and children re
turned on the eastern yesterday ev-
ening from Connecticut, where Mrs.
| Dobbins went several months ago to
visit her mother. AS announced in
these columns several days ago the
| aged mother became i'll and died
| short time ago. and this detained Mrs.
Dobbins' return to Durango. A very
pleasant surprise had been arranged
for the family on their return; home
more than twice as large as the one
they left and more modeIn in detail.
Their many friends will welcome their
return
| Mrs. Crawford. wife of the well
known railroad contractor, is at the
| Strater, arriving from the reservoir
| amp this morning. With Mr.. Craw-
ford she expects TO leave in the morn
ing for Denver. thence to Wyoming,
where Mr.. Crawford has another rail
road contract adjoining the contract
| secured by Mr.. Leonard. While
| Messrs. Leonard and. Crawford con
| tract separately on railroad work they
pull together and are thus able to
dovetail their work to the mutual in
| terests of both.
The street and alley committee has
| announced on several occasions that
dilapidated sidewalks must be re
| moved and new ones built, but this
seems to have no effect on the owner
| of the lots on the corner OF Fourth
avenue and Eighth street. The side.
walk for distance of $50 feet is one
of the worst in the city and a menace
to pedestrians. Last night the writer
stepped on the edge of a rotten and
broken plank which Topped up and
came near breaking his leg. The first
thing the city knows 1t will have
damage suit for injuries, as it is evi-
dent the owner has a pull or the side
walk would be condemned and re-
moved and charged up to the prop
erty.
There are all kinds of labor saving
machinery in vogue. and the one for
handling dirt used by Messrs. Leon
ard and Crawford in the construction
OF the reservoir on Florida mesa is |
surely in keeping with advances made
in other lines. The machine is an i'm. |
mense plow cutting Il wide furrow
about ten inches deep. the dirt being |
thrown on a revolving belt which car
ries 1t through funnel, dumping the |
same into wagon. The machine is |
propelled by fifteen horses. ten In |
front and five behind, five abreast |
A line OF wagons replace each other |
in carting away the dirt. In this |
manner $4,000 cubic yards of dirt were |
handled inside of thirty days without |
the use of shovel.
o
Railroad construction is in the air
trunk lines, branch lines, spurs, etc. |
Surveyors are now locating a line
from the May Day spur at Hesperus |
to the May Day mine. a distance of
one and half miles. II is quite prob !
able that the road will be built this |
fall. The tonnage from the May Day
is increasing every week and will |
probably continue TO do so for some
time to come. And, by the way, 1t
might be of unusual interest II the |
public knew Just what the May Day |
was outputting, But 1t is close cor.
poration and the owners are not given
to talking, yet close observer will
tell you the May Day is one of the
biggest propositions in the San Juan
country and The Herald is glad of it.
Durango is the gamer in more ways
than one. The building of branch
road to the mine means its continu-
snce to La Plata City before the end
OF another year. And thus Durango
and this southwest section continues
to advance.
In the trial of Adolfo Trujillo and
the wife Of Lucario Borrego, charged
with adultery and various other hid.
eous behavior. Adolfo was given by
Judge Pike thirty days in the cage
and the errlng or wanton woman was
discharged. Lucario is not quite sat
isfed but thinks IL was too good for
them. As AdolfO has no money and
few II any friends he will doubtless
serve his time. Lucario says he did
not want to run that kind of a board
ing house II he ran one at all. The
Mexican population will subside to
the normal now until disturbed again.