The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1916-05-04

CRY or
A COUNTRY of treeless hills, OF
~ dried up, thirsty water courses;
~ a country of eternal sunlight,
Il a Of great stretches made DESC
late by sand and the white crust of
alkali; a land of prairie dogs, Looping
Jack rabbits, lonely hawks circling in
a cloudless sky. This is northern Mex
leo, where an American army went in
pursuit of Villa.
The state of Chihuahua and it's west
sern neighbor, Sonora, have been VII
las stamping ground. They are the
two largest states in Mexico, although
Sonora had only 221,682 inhabitants
five years ago and Chihuahua 527,SoO.
Between the states, and tapping over
into both, lie the Sierra Madre noun
tains on whose wooded slopes. dark
with pines, bears, black and grizzly,
mountain lions and leopards abound.
It is a high-lying country. Four
lifths of Chihuahua is table land 4,ooo
to 5000 feet above the sea. Snow falls
In winter time in the mountains, and
rivers that are valleys full or dry
stones most of the year become rush.
Ing torrents after storm.
But the rivers are few and the
stretches of arid country very great.
Always in northern Mexico you nave
the impression of vastness, and the
,sharp-toothed hills against the blue
sky, the naked hills, washed in the
sunlight of thousand years, add to
the bigness and the loneliness and the
\ desolation Of It all There is, little LIE
apparent. Here and there cattle Craze,
for cattle and mining are the life OF
this country. Sometimes you pass
where ragged Mexican in sombrero
and serape herds a flock of goats. Lit
tile dusty, sun-baked settlements or
low adobe houses huddle beside the
railroad track at far intervals in the
desert.
Land Of Mirage.
The dust is choking often; white, al
kali dust that gets into your throat and
eyes. burns, blinds and chokes. me
;tllusion Of lakes is not uncommon IN
the shimmering heat; they seem to lie,
broad and shallow in the sum- ana
with tall. feathery trees around their
rims. Neither lakes nor trees are
there. This is northern Chihuahua,
along the line of the Mexican central
railroad.
Sonora, a wilder country, has only
tone real line of railway, division OF
the Southern Pacific which runs down
to Guaymas.
Chihuahua is country of mines
and great cattle ranches. Sonora IS
even richer in minerals, and has Deen
since Spanish days. 1t furnished the
gold of Montezuma, and afterWard
many a jealous padre built churches
with the gold Of the Sonora hills. Hid
den in the hills lie many fertile val
1eys, and irrigation has produced rlcn
crops; but farming Is not one OF the
great industries Of Sonora.
Half.wild cattle roam the Chihuahua
plains; the great haciendas count thelr
acres by the hundreds of thousands.
It is easy to understand why caval-
nv had to form a large part Of the ex-
Evolutionary force against Villa. This
is a country of horsemen; Villas toi'
lowers have lived on horseback. va
uueros, they are, many OF them, MeAl'
can cowboys; and when they became
fighters it was natural that they should
become troopers rather than infantry
men.
Much Of the arid country is admlra-
bly adapted for horseback going; 1t IS
hard packed, sandy soil.
Cities Are Few.
Cities of size are few; the most I'M
Dortant of these is Chihuahua, capital
of the state of the same name. mere
ia Juarez, of course, the sordid, monde
script and squalid town across from
Ell Paso, where gambling, bull fighting
and all forms of iniquity are accus'
toned to run without much curb. Then
the desert, and ESQ miles to the south,
Chihuahua. Chihuahua has popula'
ton of close on $1,000. It is an ancient
city. dating from Spanish days, and 1t
is not without its beauty. Set in the
midst of a wide circle Of treeless hills,
the town and the twin towers OF the
taguy old cathedral of San Francisco
d'Assisi may be seen from great dis
lance. Much ore comes into Chihua
hua, or did in days OF peace, for the
barren hills are rich in silver. 1t was
silver that brought most Of the Ameri
cans to Chihuahua; they were mining
men who were murdered few weeks
ago at Cus., outside chihuahua.