The Holt County sentinel. (Oregon, Mo.) 1883-1980, 1919-11-14
Interesting Letter From New Mexico,
From Leo W. Petrec,

eng tReu IN 1ielu WORK as an OIL gcOlo-
gis;. In letter to his family he gives
"a very interesting sketch of the coun-
Try ana people.
Grant, New Mexico, Nov. 2, 1919.
Dear Folks:
have been out in the hills all week
and part of last week. We are in here
now for couple Of days, but expect
To- go out again soon. This will pos
sibly be headquarters for while.
1t has been cold out here, freezing
every night. There was a little snow
day before yesterday. The altitude Is
G,46i feet; so II has every right to be
cold.
\ description Of this country will be
interesting TO you. So ! will briefly
describe what have seen Of IL.
The. country is practically all rough
There are several mountain ranges
scattered across the country. with a
few level valleys. between.
| In the eastern part of the State
there is some mesquite. but over here
there Is "A great deal of sage brush
and chaparral, at the higher attitudes
all over the state there is "A great deal
Of pine and cedar.
The bulk Of the population is MeNi-
can, Or rather of Mexican descent.
They ATE Of much higher class than
the native McNicans. The governor of
New Mexico Is a Mexican, born in
Mexico, but raised in Texas. think
most Of the political offices are held
by McNicans. In some counties the
only language spoken in court is
Spanish, apd most of the records are
kept in Spanish.
The ranches are mostly large here.
One ranchcr is rcputcd to control a
million acres. The larges, grant own.
cd 10y one man is at Las Vegas. lie
has $4,000 acres. The ranchcrs raise
both cattle and sheep.
| ! have seen several stretches Of dry
farming country. Success is very un.
certain. This year they raised good
crops, mostly kaffir corn and cane,
but some corn and hay. In the east.
crn part Of the state there are many
farms devoted to raising navy beans.
But in general this is grazing coun-
try. This Is testified To- By the num-
Der Of abandoned hOmcstcadS that are
encountered in travelling over IL.
| In our trip across the state we
II
passed through the Sandia Mountains,
just out Of Albuquerque.
Albuquerque is modern city Of
10000 population. West of Albu-
qucrpuc We passed through a settle
lncnt Of Pueblo Indians at lslcta. They
live IN an adobe town and farm the
valley OF the Rio Grandc. They are
industrious and have ~ fine corn and
alfalfa farms ~ you will see any
j where. They are more thrifty aud
better farmers than the Mcxicans.
N The Pueblo women wear short
dresses and long wool moccasins, look
ing great deal like felt boots. Tho
men wear ordinary white men
clothes, and wear their hair down Ia
) their shoulder. The older men braid
their hair into a short qucquc, wrap,
ped In what looked like red flannel
II was rcd anyhow. They have goo,
horses, while the McNicans, except tn,
better ranches, depend upon burro,
for draft purposes.
About forty miles east of here ",
entered the lava country, where In an.
Gent times, when the volcanoes wor,
active, lava flowed in streams down
the valley. The country IL made uu
OF solid beds of lava aud Jagged rocks
and Is tough on shoes and auto tires
II II known locally as "Malpai," which
means bad country" and IL IL not mis-,
named.
Grant, or Grants, il "a small town OF
possibly 200 people located nj the foot
OF Mt. Taylor, an extinct volcano, att.
tudc of 1920 feet. The lava flowed
ont nj "a Tina mh,n tk, ,.a,,.,.,I -