assured. The bridge of the Rock Island over the Canadian River is considered one of the engineering wonders of New Mexico. It is 759 feet in length and spans the river 135 feet above its bed. There are 140 miles of telegraph lines.

CLIMATE AND ATTRACTIONS FOR TOURISTS.

The climate of Union County is as perfect as is to be found in the United States. The altitude ranging from 4,000 to 8,000 feet gives the air a lightness that is especially beneficial in pulmonary troubles. The nights are always cool and the summer heat is moderated by the altitude as well as the cool breezes from the mountains, while the cold. in winter is tempered by the constant sunshine and protection which the mountains afford from high wind. The numerous mineral springs will help to make Union County famous as a health resort. Fine mountain views, deep canyons, charming valley vistas, and rugged rock formations are attractions that nature has provided. Game in abundance, such as bear, deer, antelope, gray wolves, badgers, coyotes, foxes, rabbits, squirrels, etc., is found.

TOWNS AND SETTLEMENTS.

Union County has no large towns as yet, but several of its towns give promise of being large cities some day, and even at the present time are very prosperous trade centers. The county seat is Clayton, situated in the northeastern part of the county on the Colorado and Southern Railway. Here the Federal land office for the northeastern part of New Mexico is situated. The town has a population of 800. It has electric light and water works, a telephone system, a splendid public school system, and a fine public school building, a Methodist and Christian church, a number of secret societies, many business establishments, and contains many nice homes. From here 2,000,000 pounds of wool, 160 carloads of cattle, and 400 carloads of sheep and lambs are shipped annually. There is a first-class hotel in the town. A $20,000 court-house was recently completed. Two weekly newspapers, one in English and the other in Spanish, are published in the town. Coal deposits are being worked in a small way near Clayton. Folsom is the second largest town of the county, having a population of 750. It is situated on the Colorado and Southern Railway. It is gaining fame as a health resort. It is 6,400 feet above sea level and is located in a beautiful valley. The Sierra Grande, 12 miles distant, rises to an altitude of 11,500 feet. During the summer months this mountain is one mass of flowers and is a magnificent sight. Sierra Capulin, 5 miles from the town, is 9,500 feet high and is an extinct volcano with a perfect crater. The view from Mount Capulin is grand. Nine miles from Folsom, on the Colorado and Southern Railway, are the so-called American Alps. Emerys Peak and Buffalo Head are also visible from Folsom. Twin Mountains, Robinsons Peak, Red Mountain, and Dales Peak are landmarks, while in the distance Pikes Peak and the Spanish Peaks can be seen on clear days, and three hundred and thirty days each year are clear at Folsom. The Cimarron Falls near the Hotel Capulin, a sanitarium built at the cost of $75,000, but not completed, are a beautiful sight. Numerous springs bubble forth from the sides of the mountains inclosing the valley of the Cimarron

in which Folsom is situated. The water of some of the springs is almost absolutely pure, while others are charged with minerals and cure persons suffering from gout, rheumatism, neuralgia, stomach troubles, and certain formis of kidney disease. Several sulphur springs and sulphur wells near Folsom are wonderfully beneficial to persons suffering from skin diseases and impure blood. The most celebrated spring is in Oak Canyon, near the town, the waters of which are superior to those of the famous iron spring at Manitou, Colo. These waters contain iron. sulphur, magnesia, and carbonic acid gas. Folsom is an important trade center. Immense sheep-dipping tanks have been erected here by the Colorado and Southern Railway and the shipments of wool, sheep, lambs, and cattle from this point annually are very large. Folsom has an $8,000 public schoolhouse, a $7,000 hotel, in addition to the Hotel Capulin, which is soon to be completed and promises to become one of the most famous sanitariums in the West. Water is found anywhere in the Cimarron Valley from a depth of 14 to 30 feet and is free from alkali. Indications of gold, silver, copper, lead, and coal are found near the town. Lime quarries are located near and the product is being utilized in the manufacture of plaster. A Union Protestant and a Catholic congregation have been established in the town. One newspaper, a weekly, is published here.

Logan is a new town in the southern part of the county on the Rock Island Railroad. It already has several business houses and promises to become quite a business center.

The only other settlement of any size in the county is Bueyeros, with a population of 300, a fine Catholic Church, and lying in a broad valley underneath the Black Hills mesa. It is the center of a rich grazing country.

Post-offices have been established, in addition to Clayton, Folsom, Logan, and Bueyeros, at Exeter, Veda, Pasamonte, Gladstone, Benham, Miera, Clapham, Barney, Leon, Albert, Gallegos, and Revuelto. Union County offers many inducements to the settler, who has a small capital to tide him over the first year or two until he has established himself. To the man with ample capital it offers splendid opportunities for profitable investment. There can be no doubt that the county is destined to become one of the wealthiest and most populous counties of New Mexico.

VALENCIA COUNTY.

Valencia County is situated in the central portion of New Mexico, is one of the largest counties in the Territory, and covers an area of over 5,300,000 acres of land. It is 236 miles from east to west and an average of 62 miles from north to south; is bounded on the north by the counties of McKinley and Bernalillo, on the south by the counties of Socorro and Lincoln, on the east by the counties of Bernalillo and Guadalupe, and on the west by the Territory of Arizona.

Stock raising is one of the most important industries, and large quantities of wheat, corn, alfalfa, vegetables, and fruits are also produced. It is mostly famous for grape and wine culture. Some of the finest wines have been manufactured in the town of Belen, in this county. It has over 15,000 inhabitants, and the people are very prosperous and enterprising.

TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

Los Lunas, which is the county seat of Valencia County, is situated on the west bank of the Rio Grande, about 21 miles from the city of Albuquerque, and is one of the stations on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad system. The population of this town is between 800 and 1,000. It has a fine two-story court-house and a large and commodious Catholic Church. There is also a substantial wagon bridge. across the Rio Grande opposite the town. Its business and professional lines comprise 2 large general stores, 1 hotel, 2 blacksmith shops, 2 saloons, 2 meat markets, 2 attorneys, and 1 physician. Farming and stock industry is the principal business. It is also a great shipping point for wool and alfalfa.

Another town of importance is Belen, about 12 miles south of Los Lunas and situated in the Rio Grande Valley, with a population of about 1,500. One of the largest merchandise stores to be found in the Territory is established in this town. It has a fine flour mill, and is one of the greatest wheat-producing sections of the Territory. The wheat raised in. the immediate vicinity of this town received the first premium at the World's Fair in Chicago.

The next town of importance is Peralta, also in the valley of the Rio Grande, opposite Los Lunas, and has a population of about 800. It is connected by a long-distance telephone with the city of Albuquerque, which is 20 miles north. The town has a fine flour mill, 5 general merchandise stores, 2 saloons, 1 blacksmith shop, 2 attorneys, 1 Methodist minister, and 1 physician. There is also 1 Catholic and 1 Methodist Church building. The principal industries are farming and stock raising.

Peralta is renowned for her famous battle during our civil war, which took place on April 15, 1865, between the Union and Confederate forces.

The other towns of importance are Manzano, San Rafael, Tome, Bluewater, Eastview, Cubero, and Valencia.

FARMING.

Farming in this county is mostly done in the valley lands along the Rio Grande, and is carried on by irrigation, although considerable farming is carried on in the mountains, where the rainfall is sufficient to produce good crops, and where wheat, oats, corn, rye, and most all vegetables are raised in large quantities, unsurpassed in quality, and with but little cultivation. Corn, beans, and alfalfa are grown in great quantities. Some of the finest vineyards, producing the finest of table grapes, are located in this county. Grapes are grown in large quantities, and not only the justly celebrated Mission grape, but also several other varieties, as the Tokay, Sultana, Concord, Muscat, Gro Colmers, etc., which find a ready market at various Eastern consuming centers.

WESTERN VALENCIA COUNTY.

The western part of Valencia County has several important places worthy of note, among them the Bluewater country north of the Zuñi Mountains, at which place a California company has established a

modern farm whereon they have spent several hundred thousand dollars in improvements. This company has built a large reservoir for irrigating several thousand acres of land. This reservoir is filled by a small permanent stream coming down the canyon of the Bluewater. The company has made it a success and raises a large number of tons of alfalfa, thousands of pounds of wheat, oats, and barley. Vegetables of all kinds are grown there in great abundance. This farm supplies Fort Wingate with hay and other products. Near Bluewater, in the Zuñi Mountains, are a number of farms and ranches where oats, wheat, and potatoes are grown in abundance. The Zuñi Mountains are also noted for the valuable timber to be found there. The mountains are rich in valuable minerals and valuable pasture lands. There is a Mormon settlement called Ramah, in these mountains, and the enterprise displayed by these people and the products that they raise proves the fact that the mountains are capable of producing everything that tends toward earning a good livelihood.

San Rafael is 3 miles south of the Santa Fe Railroad and has a population of 1,500 inhabitants. It is situated near old Fort Wingate, and the lands here are irrigated from the waters of the largest spring in New Mexico, filling a ditch of clear water 6 feet wide on top and 4 feet wide at the bottom. From this stream extends fertile bottom land, consisting of about 4,000 acres of land which produces all kinds of cereals and vegetables successfully. One of the principal industries is sheep raising. North of the Santa Fe Railroad about 26 miles is the San Mateo country, another fertile and productive spot. The lands are irrigated from permanent, large running streams which come down from the San Mateo Mountains. This town has a population of about 500 inhabitants. The principal industry of the people is farming and stock raising. The farms here are very fertile and there is never a lack of water for irrigation, while the mountains of the San Mateo Range are the best pasture lands in the West. It has magnificent bodies of timber, and the whole country is well watered.

TIMBER.

The timber resources of this county are enormous, having a belt on the western slope of mountains of about 80 miles long by 50 miles wide. In the vicinity of East View, on the eastern slope of the mountains, two sawmills are kept constantly at work and several hundred thousand feet of lumber are sawed daily, cut from the finest pine and cedar to be found. The belt in the eastern slope is about 15 miles long by 10 miles wide. In the near future, with her enormous resources of timber, Valencia County will contribute greatly to the building industry of the country.

STOCK RAISING.

Valencia County is one of the leading counties of the Territory in stock raising and has some of the finest grazing lands to be found in all the broad West. The sheep and wool business has grown remark ably in the past year, owing to the favorable conditions existing under our present protective-tariff laws. The number of sheep in the county is estimated at 350,000 head. There are also several thousand head of horses and cattle.

RAILROADS.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad traverses the county from north to south and the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad from east to west. The Rock Island road is now building through the eastern portion, opening up a rich region.

MINES AND MINING.

The mountains in Valencia County are almost wholly unexplored, although so far as prospecting has gone the results are highly satisfactory. They are now beginning to receive some attention from practical mining men, and not long ago a company of Minnesota capitalists was organized to develop some copper properties in the Zuñi Mountains, near Bluewater, which promise great results. Large deposits of iron and gypsum have also been found. Gold and silver has been discovered in the Manzano Mountains. There is a virgin coal field 100 miles from north to south and 100 miles from east to west in western Bernalillo and Valencia counties. Coal is found at the crossing of the Rio Puerco, about 20 miles west of Albuquerque, and extends west for fully 100 miles. It is found in the Nacimiento Mountains, thence to the Socorro County line, extending about 100 miles from north to south through western Valencia County. Coal indications are found in many places in these vast areas where the flood waters have washed out the gullies and arroyas and where the sides of the mountains have been left exposed. The whole section seems to be underlaid with coal.

Recently a large deposit of high-grade lithographic stone has been found in Valencia County. Exhaustive tests have been made and prove the stone in color and texture to be of a very high grade. The analysis shows it to be practically identical with the Bavarian article, which now furnishes almost the world's supply, and tests of both transferring and engraving are entirely satisfactory. Six hundred and forty acres of this stone have been located by a company of which John M. Gunn, of Laguna, is acting president, George H. Pradt, of the same place, acting secretary, and J. H. Drury, of Albuquerque, manager, and a permanent camp will be located and regular development commenced at once.

According to the United States geological report no valuable lithograph stone deposits have ever been found in America, and as the stone is in constant use in every civilized country, all having depended on the quarries of Bavaria for their supply, the great value of the discovery at once becomes apparent.

EDUCATION,

Within the county there are 28 school districts in which school is taught from three to ten months in the year, thus guaranteeing to every child a good common school education. In Los Lunas teachers are employed for ten months in the year and receive good salaries for their services. Both English and Spanish are taught, and most of the native-born children of Spanish origin are now able to read and write the English language. With the present excellent school system of New Mexico, Valencia County will make great headway in education. Of the total area in the county about 3,000,000 acres make good