Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1921-10-19
Primitive water Carts on Mexican sorde

| eastern states. Windmills are every
where-"big electric fans TO keep the
cattle cool" waggish cowboy once ex-
planned to a London tenderfoot.
III Paso ('',fhe Pass'), great border
mart Of west Texas, is set on the
edge OF a rich stretch of the Rio
Grande valley. II stands at the point
OF intersection between two old high
ways, the first channels of traffic estab-
llshed by white men in America. 1t is
the only large city from "San Antoine"
to Los Angeles. a ride OF 1900 dry,
dusty miles. II is well served by both
American and Mexican railways, and
its merchants buy and sell goods for
hundreds Of miles below the Rio
Grande. Despite the arid HOuntry
about IL and its occasional binding
| dust-stOrms, It's climate Is exception
ally good. owing to high elevation.
The largest irrigation reservoir any
where is the great Elephant Butte
dam. which stores more water than the
world-famous Assuan dam on the Nile.
This big dam, built in the Rio Grands
/
leo, holds water enough, we are told,
'to cover Massachusetts to a depth Of
six inches"
Juarez. FL Paso's sister city across
the Rio Grande, like most Mexican Dor
der towns, Is known chiefly because
Of fits pitched battles and its bizarre
methods of entertaining sporty AmerH
can visitors. A wooden bridge spans
the river here. and FL Paso street cars
! loop over into Mexico-when the loop
ing is safe.
Across an Arid Wilderness.
From the point at Monument No.
where the boundary line crawls ont OF
the Rio Grande lat the southeastern
corner of New Mexieo), IL strikes west
Into a wilderness of singularly dry
and empty aspect. For 40 miles along
this march the traveller must carry
his own water. Near Columbus
few small trees appear.
To the west lie the rough, hostile
foothills of the Dog mountains; near
here. In the San Luis range, the line
reaches a point 5000 feet above the
sea. marking the continental divide.
Through San Luis pass runs the old
emigrant trail
Slightly west of the one hundred and
eighth meridian the line turns at right
angles and runs south for a few miles,
thence west again.
In the san Bernardino valley the
line strikes the first running water
after quitting the Rio Grande-192
miles 10 the east. In the whole TOO
mile stretch from the Rio Grande TO
the Pacific this line crosses only five
permanent running streams, and the
average rainfall throughout its length
is only eight inches. Save the ham,
lets of Columbus and Hachita. the
New Mexico section of the border is
almost uninhabited.
Hurdling this line In pursuit Of Ge-
ronimO and his Apaches was for years
a favorite outdoor army sport in these
parts; but nowadays most ambitious
residents are mining copper, roping
and branding cattle or fussing with ir-
rigation bitches.
Not long ago coyotes were chasing
horned toads over an empty desert
where Douglss. Ariz.. now stands, with
libraries. country clubs. theaters, pub
lie baths street cars and n hotel that
might have been lifted bodily out or
] ClN veland or Kansas City. Just over
the line from Douglas lies drab. dusty
Aqua Prleta. with its sleepy poems and
sad-eyed burros.
Bistee in a Canyon.
West of Douglas. eight miles north
of Naco, on the line, and quite hidden
in the barren Mule mountains, lies the
quaint upside-down, busy. hustling Bis
bee. Its main street runs up deep
canyon, many OF it's houses clinging
like pigeon cotes TO steep hillsides.
OF our whole border, the California
section Is perhaps best known TO
Americans because OF denser popula-
ton. excellent motor trails and prox-
unity TO cities like San Diego. Los An
geles. Ell Centre and the below-the-sea
border town of Calexico, opposite Mex
icali The incredibly fertile Imperial
valley OF California sweeps north from
Calexico TO the Salton sea. more than
200 feet below the sea level
From Calexico the line runs west
past Signal mountain. up the Jacumba
pass over the Lagunas past the his
toric border town Of Campo. through
the towns OF Tecate and Tia Juana
famous for races and gambling ca
sinos), and thence to the Pacific. few
miles below San Diego.