Malaria does not exist; sunshine predominates, thus encouraging out-door life and sports of all kinds; therefore to the pleasure seeker as well as to the invalid Las Vegas Hot Springs offers attractions unsurpassed in the West, and is the property of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad system, which system has erected numerous buildings at a great cost for the convenience of visitors, and the work of improvement is still progressing. The main building, named the "Montezuma," is a large structure of sandstone, beautifully situated on a commanding eminence overlooking the picturesque Gallinas Cañon, as it opens out toward the rolling meadows, which meadows give the name to the town of Las Vegas, 6 miles distant. From the broad verandas, extending the entire length of the front, east, and west sides of this building, a delightful view is obtained; on the one hand are mountains with their massive shoulders outlined against the skies; in front the little hurrying Gallinas River rushes along, filling the air with the distant murmurs of its waters; in another direction the valley is seen to stretch far out to the horizon; little Mexican villages with their adobe houses are scattered on both sides of the stream. In many respects the surrounding country reminds one of Switzerland, and to those fond of tramps and excursions among the mountains it offers an endless variety. Another building just completed is a hospital for the care of those invalids who need quiet and such attention as can not be given in the Montezuma. The bath house and the peat house are prepared for such as require treatment there. Numerous cottages scattered about the plant, along the confines of a large park, are held in readiness for those who desire home life. The Springs Branch of the Santa Fe Railroad affords constant and easy communication with Las Vegas, where it connects with all through trains on the Santa Fe route.

There are other springs and artesian wells near to Las Vegas besides those at the Las Vegas hot springs; the two most celebrated are the Macbeth mineral wells, owned by Peter Roth, and the Onava alterative water springs, owned by Charles Wright; the first, the Macbeth well, is an artesian well of a depth of 338 feet, geologically speaking, in the lower part or bottom of the Jurassic formation and immediately over the Triassic formation, the Triassic forming the bed and bank of this ancient extinct Jurassic sea by curving from under to an antiincline or uplift at this immediate location. The salts in the water are derived from a bed of seaweeds formed on the coast of this ancient extinct sea by a leaching through the ashes of the decomposed marine plant for ages, extracting therefrom a natural mineral which analysis shows to be a pure sodium or trisodium compound of salts from the algae and fucus marina, namely, in proportion of sodium chloride, 35 grains; sodium carbonate, 9 grains; sodium sulphate, 1 grain; or 45 grains to each quart of water. These are the principal ingredients or elements of the salts found in the Macbeth mineral water. The water is absolutely free from the other alkalies, such as lime and magnesia, which renders all waters hard and unfit for drinking purposes. It is a most pleasant and palatable mineral water to the taste, and to which the most fastidious do not object; really a beverage after becoming accustomed to it. The trisodium compound is a solvent of mucus in catarrh of the stomach and biliary ducts, also solvents of albumen in the urine and found in Bright's disease of the kidneys; it also corrects the acidity of the blood, of the stomach and urine, such as lactic acid, uric acid, and lithiæma found in dyspeptics and disordered intestinal digestion, and is necessarily indicated in

the rheumatic or gouty diathesis, gastric catarrh, dysentery, constipation, albuminuria or Bright's disease, and of the skin. It aids and promotes the appetite, stimulates the secretions, is antiacid, an eliminant, a diuretic, and a laxative.

Macbeth mineral water is not only known at home, but each week thousands of gallons are shipped abroad.

Onava alterative water, a sulphureted, carbonated, mineral water, incomparable as a system cleaner, blood purifier, and appetizer, is found at a depth of 250 feet, and has a chemical analysis in grains per gallon as follows:

Some remarkable cures have been effected by this water, and while Mr. Wright does not make any pretensions at running a sanitarium, there are always from three to a dozen health seekers at his ranch, a few miles from town, who are there for the benefit of the curative qualities of Onava alterative water.

SIERRA COUNTY.

The beautiful county of Sierra is one of New Mexico's smaller counties, having not quite twice the area of the State of Rhode Island, or 2,376 square miles, covering 1,073,000 acres. It is situated in the

south central part of the Territory, is partly bounded on the west, north, and east by Socorro County, with Grant and Doña Ana counties on its west and south. For 48 miles the principal meridian of New Mexico forms its eastern boundary, whence it stretches across the Rio Grande Valley, and thence in a gentle slope to the summit of the Mimbres and Black Range mountains, a distance of about 60 miles. The population is about 5,000.

On the eastern edge of the county towers the San Cristobal and Caballo ranges, running parallel with the Rio Grande. Its diversified contour of plain, valley, and mountain makes it one of the most attractive and promising regions of the Territory.

BUSINESS FEATURES.

Mining and stock raising constitute the chief occupations of the residents. Beautiful and fertile valleys, seamed by torrential streams, slope down from the mountain heights on either side of the Rio Grande. Agriculture is not an important industry here, there being less than 5,000 acres under crop, but 50,000 acres could be easily watered from the mountain streams and the great flow of the Rio Grande. Several enterprises for the reclamation of large tracts of excellent agricultural land present themselves in this county. The mining camps and stock ranches furnish an extraordinary market for all that can be produced. Vegetables, fruits, and dairy products are in constant demand at figures that would astound the average Kansas farmer; alfalfa sells for $14 to $16 per ton.

TOWNS AND CAMPS.

The principal towns and camps are Hillsboro, Chloride, Kingston, Lake Valley, Hermosa, Grafton, and Engle. The latter is the impor

tant stock-shipping point and the railway distributing station for the eastern part of the county. From Nutt station a spur of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad runs to Lake Valley, thirteen miles, thence well-equipped stage lines, operated daily over good roads, lead to Hillsboro and other towns and camps. The pretty town of Hillsboro is the county seat and center of the gold-mining district. It is a thoroughly up-to-date place, has a handsome court-house, excellent public schools, good hotels, a newspaper, and numerous mills and smelters for the treatment of ores. Lake Valley has produced $10,000,000 of the precious metals, and there is plenty of it there yet. Kingston is the center of a rich mining section, yielding ores that run 200 to 400 ounces in silver to the ton. Chloride lies in the northeastern part of the county in the midst of a remarkably rich but undeveloped section of the Black Range, and promises, together with Grafton and Hermosa, to enjoy a substantial boom as the result of the early construction of the Black Range Railroad. Quartz and placer gold, copper, silver, lead, iron, marble, and immense lumber resources are among the attractive features of Sierra County. Officially and financially the county is exceptionally well managed.

LIVE STOCK.

Cattle, sheep, and goats receive quite as much attention here as mining. This is the home of the Angora goat in the Southwest, and among the flocks in the county are many of the best-graded flocks of Angoras in the West. At present there are about 85,000 head of cattle on the ranges, and the number of sheep is over 50,000. The native range grasses throughout the county have no superior anywhere, and the climatic conditions are such as to have an important bearing both upon this industry and the mining business.

SOCORRO COUNTY.

This splendid empire, compared with the area of which the great States of Maine, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, or Massachusetts are but pigmies, it being one and a quarter times greater than any of them, extends from about the center of the Territory to the Arizona line, having a width of 164 miles east and west, and its greatest length is 94 miles. It covers an area of 9,686,000 acres, of which about 3,000,000 acres are mountainous, and the balance fit for agriculture or pasture. The inhabitants number abut 19,000.

The fertile Rio Grande Valley is very wide in this county. It is walled in on the west by the Socorro, Magdalena, and San Mateo mountains, whose average elevation is about 9,000 feet, or from 4,000 to 5,000 feet higher than the valley, while on the east rise the Sierra Oscura and Chupadero mesa. From the Magdalena Range west stretch the San Augustin Plains, into which the Black Range, Datil, Mogollon, and Pinon mountains intrude their rugged fronts, and beyond which again, flanking the great Cooney mining district, rise the snow-capped San Francisco Mountains. Between the Black Range and the Mogollon is a great timber belt, the forests continuing to the summit of the ranges, and within this area runs the Continental Divide. Throughout the county the most varied geological conditions present themselves; fruitful valleys abound, while wide alluvial plains rise into mountains whose breasts swell with the precious metals, and all formations, from the archæan rocks to the coal beds of the Tertiary period, are exposed.

The following are a few of the principal points of importance in the county, to wit: Socorro, San Marcial, Magdalena, San Antonio, Kelly, Mogollon, Cooney, Graham, Alma, Frisco, Gila, Mangus, Luna, Sabinal, Lemitar, San Acacia, Polvadera, La Joya, and Paraje, of which Socorro, commonly known as the "Gem City," is the county seat and headquarters for the fifth judicial district, comprising the counties of Socorro, Lincoln, Chaves, and Eddy.

The city of Socorro is situated on the western bank of the Rio Grande a little south and west of the geographical center of New Mexico, and the meridian line runs through the center of the city. The schools are excellent, there being three fine brick buildings equipped with all the modern appliances for ventilation. A fine brick court-house and jail ornament the city, as well as the Territorial school of mines, a building second to none in the States.

The city owns its own water system, piped from a thermal spring situated in the foothills of the Socorro Mountains 3 miles distant, and which is chemically pure. And the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad runs through the city, and its engines are supplied with water from the city waterworks. The elevation gives a pressure sufficient to throw water over the highest building, hence insurance is cheap.

The city stands on a sloping mesa commencing at the river at an altitude of 4,500 feet, rising gradually toward the mountain, which stands at an altitude of 5,500 feet, the exposure being toward the rising sun, making it an ideal place for sanitarium purposes.

A few years ago the United States granted a patent to the city of 5 miles square of land, that portion of which lying near the river and subject to irrigation from the stream is capable of producing wheat 80 bushels to the acre, and corn, rye, oats, barley, and vegetables of all kinds, including the sugar beet. This land has been appraised at $5 per acre. In a few years it can not be bought for $20. That portion of the land which lies on the sloping mesa subject to irrigation from storage reservoirs or from artesian water has been appraised at $1.25 to $2.50 per acre. It is well known that the city spring is a natural artesian spring and water can be obtained anywhere over this land. With the application of water it will grow any crop, and grapes that produce wine that rivals that of Italy, France, or Germany. It would be an ideal place for a walnut grove or any nut-producing tree. And no more beautiful place exists for a health seeker to build him a home surrounded by all those climatic conditions, together with the purest water in the world, so necessary to regain health and conduce to longevity. This land will be sectionized and placed on the market. No better investment exists.

SURROUNDING COUNTRY.

There are tributary to the city the following mining districts: Socorro Mountain, Magdalena, Silver Mountain, Cat Mountain, Abbey, Cooney, Wilcox, Telluride, Rosedale, Oseura, San Andreas, etc. Many of these have mines that have produced millions. There are large bodies of coal, gypsum, fire clay, and tripoli near by, which will eventually be utilized commercially.

Socorro is the most desirable place for a sugar-beet factory, having thousands of acres of land adjacent well adapted for the raising of

It is a splendid point to establish a wool-scouring plant and blanket factory, thousands of tons of wool being shipped through

here each year. It is also an ideal place to establish a tannery and glove factory, being the center of the goat-raising region, and would save the freight on raw hides to Eastern factories. The city will donate to any parties sufficient land upon which to build factories. Wood can be contracted for here at $2 per cord and coal for $4.75 per ton.

THE SCHOOL OF MINES,

above referred to, is a high-grade college of technology, geology, mining, and engineering. The board of regents is striving to make the school the best mining college in the West, and have succeeded so far that no better school of mines is to be found in the Rocky Mountain region. The main buildings have been thoroughly renovated during the past few months. Its class rooms are larger. Additional rooms for storage and engines have been added by taking out the unsatisfactory heating system. One wing of a new building is being completed and will be ready for occupancy when the school opens, September 9. When completed the structure is to be the metallurgical building, and will be finely equipped with modern machinery and apparatus. The school is up to date in every respect. It possesses modern machinery for testing ores and treating them, modern apparatus for assaying, ore furnaces, etc. It strives to attract especially the promising young men of the Territory, in order to make good chemists, assayers, mine superintendents, and geologists out of them. There is no more promising field than New Mexico for the trained expert in mining. With its increased facilities, its modern equipment, its fine buildings, a satisfactory heating and ventilating system, and its opportunities for practical work, the school of mines. easily holds preeminence among Western schools of its class.

AGRICULTURE.

The farms of Socorro County are found principally along the Rio Grande Valley, beginning at Sabinal, about 30 miles north of Socorro, and thence stretching down to the beautiful fields about San Marcial. Probably 20,000 acres are under cultivation, though six times that area could easily be reclaimed in the first bottoms by the establishment of reservoirs to catch and store the flood waters. This land is of inexhaustible fertility, friable, and loamy. The mild climate allows the cultivation of a wide range of products. Alfalfa and wheat are the chief crops here. Fruit does well, especially apples, peaches, and grapes, and south of Socorro are some famous orchards and vineyards.

LIVE STOCK.

The live-stock interests of the county are large and with mining occupies the attention of the great mass of the people. There are probably 150,000 head of cattle, horses, and goats in the county and some 250,000 head of sheep. The mild, open winters make this a stock-raising region par excellence, long cold spells and disastrous blizzards never interfering with the accumulation of animal fat and profits. Socorro, Magdalena, and San Marcial are each important shipping points for live stock.

SAN MARCIAL.

San Marcial is situated in the Rio Grande Valley, about 28 miles south of Socorro, and is a stirring, enterprising, up-to-date town of