Omaha daily bee., 1910-02-01
Some Things You Want to Know
New Mexico.

Few states have come into the union
with greater promise Of future develop
ment thar New Mexico. SO vast is Its
domain that a hundred Rhode Islands could
be tucked away within It's roomy bound
aries with stil enough space left for a
Massachusetts,. In population It claims
nearly 10000 and of wealth almost a half
billion dollars Could Daniel Webster come
back to earth long enough to learn the
facts about New Mexico and California
he would conclude that he was neither a
prophet nor the son Of a prophet. After
the Mexican var he lnveiRhed with all the
force of his powerful oratory against ac-
ceptlng California and New Mexico as in
demnity. He said It was as sure death
and taxes that neither Of them would ever
be worth a dollar. and he beseeched and
lmDlored, entreated and demanded that all
this sage brush" be not made a part Of
the United States. He said that our chill
dren's children would not live to see New
Mexico the home of more than $1,000 souls,
Yet Arizona was made in the main from
the territory of New Mexico, and together
they have over 10000 people.
New Mexico is known as the land Of the
turquoise sky. The records Of the United
States weather bureau show that no other
region in America has as many hours OF
sunshine The federal government has
shown wha It thinks Of the climate by
establishing its principal army and navy
-sanitariums there. Thousands Of afflicted
Americans Journey there for pulmonary
troubles, and someone has alliteratiVeiy
styled Il the land Of the slunger." Former
Senator Teller of Colorado tells the prize
story about the climatic benefits of New
Mexico. Once he had a serious throat all
lment that threatened to take from him the
record Of being the most persistent talker
in the senate, SO he journeyed to New
Mexico. He afterward declared to friends
that his throat trouble began to get better
soon after he reached the New Mexican
boundary, and tina by the time he reached
his destination he felt as well as ever. The
result was that he came back to the senate
to use his famous "Ah, Mr.. President" q
few thousand times more before his term
of office expired.
Like Arizona, the territory of New Mexico
is famous for It's geology and for Its pre-
historic ruins. Its geology tells of millions
OF years Of matchmaking. and affords
examples Of how even the solid rock may
grow. The face of the Sandal mountains,
which lies toward the Rio Grande, shows
a record OF 5000 feet Of perpendicular
geology, each foot of which may have
been thousands OF years in the making.
West of Mount Taylor. toward the Zuni
reservation, erosion has had a gigantic
playground, and It Is said that nowhere
else on earth has It played such phantasies.
The teeth Of time, wind and water have
been busy for more million years than the
geologist can estimate.
1t is said that New Mexico possesses. the
Oldest living town in the new world, If
indeed its founding does not antedate Baby
lon, Ninevah or any of the other cities of
ancient story. 1t Is the little Pueblo town
OF Picuris. once a flourishing place of
thousands of inhabitants, but now having
only about thirty denizens Of the passing
race--the last links that bind the prehIs-
toric past with the living present. The
ethnologists conclude that ere long the last
leaves of the whitening tree of the Pueblos
will have fallen, and that a noble race
will then live only in tradition. Race
suicide has become an epidemic among the
younger Pueblos-race suicide in the shape
OF intermarrtage with the Mexican greas-
ers. These marriages produce a progeny
which forgets about the Pueblo blood.
Never did a high caste Spaniard or a proud
English nobleman protest more vehemently
against the intermarriage Of his children
with mean-born people than does the old
Pueblo against these matches that obliter-
ate his racial identity. but his opposition
meats with little success.
That comparatively little Of the area Of
New Mexico has felt the influence Of civil
ization is shown by the fact that of the
7s.oO0,0o acres OF land less than 500. 900
acres are under actual cultivation. But
Its river valleys, once their famished sands
are satisfied with draughts Of water from
the big Irrigation lakes, reward the ir-
rigationist a thousand fold. Water is the
only magic necessary to transform them
from parched deserts of hot sand to verit-
able bowers Of wealth-producins vegeta-
ton.
In return for the water to satisfy their
thirst they give barley that stands seven
feet high. oats whose heads measure
thirty inches, pears Weighing nineteen
ounces, peaches that will balance a pound
of gold, watermelons that weigh forty