Milford chronicle., 1916-09-15
GLIMPSE OF 10TH CENTURY
CIVILIZATION FOR A JITNEY

ClRlLlLAIlUN FUk A JllNEI
one of the pleasant surprises in store
for those who Witnessed the dedication
by President Wilson Of the SlO,00O,Q00
Elephant Butte dam and who participate
in the deliberations Of the International
/ Irrigation Congress or the International
Farm Congress and Soil PRODUCTS expo
sition, all Of which viii take place be-
tween Saturday, October IA, and Tues
day, October Gath, next, viii be trip
into romantic and mysterious Mexico, al
least as far as the street cars will take
one into Jaurez, El Paso's sister city on
the banks of the Rio Grande.
El Paso is the largest city in the Unit
ed States from which trip may De
made into a foreign country where lang-
mage manners. customs, mode Of dress
and styles in architecture are SO apso-
lutelv different from the American con-
ception Of these details Of lie as they
are in Mexico, and the trip may be made
at a cost of five cents in money ana 10
minutes in time, If the tripper has no
Fl Paso Is probably the only point in
the world where a traveller may pass
/ in so short a time from the clylllzatlon
OF the goth century as eApreS,seu IS,,l DS Ine
I modern city of FL Paso to the civiliza-
/ tfon of the 10th century as found in the
city OF Juarez, the largest Mexican CITY
on the long international line stretching
I from the mouth Of the Rio Grande on
! the east to San Diego, Call on the west,
/ a distance of 1000 miles.
/ The traveller is not required to go FAR
/ into the interior Of the country which |
has been featured so literally as the hot
! bed Of revolution, by the newspapers Of /
the world during the past five or six
years to find men and women living as !
| they lived in the time Of Christ.
The houses built of sun dried bricks |
made Of mud and straw, described in the /
old testament; the land being cultivated |
by means of plows made Of crooked /
sticks and narrowed by means Of bun |
dies Of brush drawn by oxen, the wood /
wheeled carts, the burden bearing /
burros, the reaping Of grain with sickles /
and the threshing of il by running herds /
of ponies or goats over II on earthen /
threshing floors all will remind readers /
Of the Bible Of the customs which pre- !
vailed in the time of Moses and others
who wrote the sacred book.
The old missions of California have !
long been tabled in song and story yet .
there is a mission in Juarez and another
at Ysleta. Texas. a suburb of El Paso,
which were nearly zoo years old before
the foundation Of the first California
mission was laid. 1t is true the archi-
lecture Of the missions Of this part of
the United States is not as ornate as
is that of the California missions. so far
as may be judged from the ruins, but It
marks the difference In temperament be-
tween the Franciscan fathers who pass
ed this way in the train Of the early
Spanish cOnquistadores and of the Jesuit |
priests who travelled in the wake of the
later explorers, who devoted themselves
to the discovery and subJugatiOn of what l.
is now known as California.
The part played by the followers and
successors Of CorteZ, the conquerOr Of
the Montezumas, in the settlement and /.
development of what is now southwest
ern United States, will also have an in
terest for even the most casual observer
and reader of American history and no.
where else can the evidences Of the en-
deavors of those pioneers of the western
world be studied at first hand as they
can at El Paso and its immediate en-
virons. L
These little journeys, whether into
Mexico or up and down the Rio Grande
on the American side of the river may
be taken in perfect safety. While there
are in the neighbOrhood Of 10000 Amer
lean troops stationed in El Paso and
patrolling the boundary line and while
the soldiers are much in evidence on the
streets of Ell Paso, the tide of travel be- ! .
tween El Paso and Juarez is as high now I
as it was in the days Of the profound J.
peace which characterized the good old i
days when POrtiriO Diaz was at the helm /
of the Mexican ship Of state and Mexi-
cans and Americans mingle in amity as q
though their respective governments ,
were not at loggerheads.
During the time the irrigation and the I
farm congresses are in progress there [
will be a series Of military maneuvers Y
at FL Paso in which the largest num-
Der Of troops ever gotten together In the
United States will participate Owing to
the absence Of forests and the peculiar
laY of the land the war game which will
be played on so grand a scale may be
from points Of vantage which a
Will accommodate hundreds of thousands g
OF spectators, should 1t happen there
might be that many to occupy them I
While the irrigation congress is in ses-
sion in FL Paso, following the dedication
OF the Elephant Butte dam by President "
Wilson, the delegates TO the International D.
Farm congress viii be gathering to hold =
their annual convention as soon as the n
irrigation congress have concluded their
a
In the meantime the doors of the inter- d
national Soil Products exposition, the F
largest agricultural fair to be held in the
United States this year, will be open and "a
will afford visitors an excellent oppor-
-unity to see what is being done in the G.
way Of development along all lines of
agricultural activity d
The United States department of agri- T
culture has agents already on the
ground preparing to install an exhibit II
or which the national congress has made
IN appropriation of $4,000 The Canad- a
an government win also make an eX-
libit which viii rank as one of the best lie
exhibits ever made by the Dominion. m
Besides, twenty states Of the American
Union which are classed as agricultural a.
tates will make exhibits and to those az
viii be added the exhibits Of countless
counties of the various southern states.
The exhibits Of dairy and beef cattle y,
nd hogs will be particularly good as viii Il;
he the exhibition Of minerals from the q"
mining districts Of which El Paso is now IL
he center and chief city. N
While El Paso is comparatively close
o the Tropic Of Cancer it is not hot. Its af
levatiOn of nearly 1900 feet above the ht
ca, coupled with an extreme dryness |
nd rarity of air and lack of rain fall pt
nd consequent lack Of humidity gives M
a peculiarly delightful climate at all
easOns of the year. This may be of in G.,
crest to many who have entertained the NJ
ear that because Of the city's proximity So
o the tropics the climate might not be
eSirable. DO