USA > New Mexico > Santa Fe County > Santa Fe County: The Heart of New Mexico, Rich in History and Resources > Part 6
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Foremost in interest and value in historic archaeology are the old mission churches of the Franciscans. In every occupied Indian pueblo and upon the site of every abandoned pueblo, there is one of the monuments of those pioneers of Christianity and civili- zation, the Franciscan Fathers. Many of these are in a good state of preservation, while others are in ruins, but every one is an object of historic interest.
Mission Churches.
The old mission church of San Diego, which is the oldest of the California missions, was founded in 1769. It is almost a total ruin ; only the front remains in a good state of preservation. The side walls are still standing, but no portions of the roof or interior remain. This is the most venerable and venerated historic monu- ment in the State of California, and is annually visited by thou-
,
RUINS OF MISSION CHURCH "AT PEÇOS.
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sands of tourists. It has stood for 164 years. It marks the be- ginning of civilization and Christianity in California. And yet, in New Mexico, on the upper Pecos, twenty miles east of Santa Fe, at the site of the abandoned pueblo of Cicuice are the ruins of the old Pecos Church. The church is 300 years old. It was nearly 150 years old when the San Diego mission was founded. It was projected before the Spanish Armada was destroyed and antedates the coming of the Mayflower and the settlement of Jamestown.
The churches at Santa Cruz, San Ildefonso and Santa Clara are in a complete state of preservation. They are nine years older than the oldest of the California ruins. The old San Miguel mis- sion in Santa Fe has been rebuilt. Its walls date from 1650, the roof from 1694, or possibly a few years later. It has a bell dating from the Fourteenth Century. From the old church at Algodones was taken a bell cast in Spain in 1356, and at the Cathedral at Santa Fe and other churches are ancient relics and art treasures of old Spanish and Italian masters.' Every one of the pueblos is worthy of a visit, both for historic and present-day interest.
The Old Palace.
Nor is there any other building in this country to compare in historic interest with the Old Palace at Santa Fe, which has been more to New Mexico than Faneuil Hall to Massachusetts, or Lib- erty Hall to Pennsylvania.
To quote from the words of a history of New Mexico by ex-Gov- ernor L. Bradford Prince :
"Without disparaging the importance of any of the cherished historical localities of the east, it may be truthfully said that this ancient palace surpasses in historic interest and value any other place or object in the United States. It antedates the settlement of Jamestown by nine years, and that of Plymouth by twenty-two years, and has-stood during the 308 years since its creation, not as a cold rock or monument, with no claim upon the interest of humanity except the bare fact of its continued existence, but as the living center of everything of historic importance in the South- west. Through all that long period, whether under Spanish, Pu- eblo, Mexican or American control, it has been the seat of power and authority, whether the ruler was called viceroy, captain-gen- eral, political chief, department commander, or governor, and whether he presided over a kingdom, a province, a department, or a territory; that has been his official residence.
"From here Onate started in 1599 on his adventurous expedition to the eastern plains; here, seven years later, 800 Indians came from far-off Quivaro to ask aid in their war with the Axtaos;
IN PAJARITO PARK.
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well as to the Indian pueblos, is worth many miles of travel, even from the scenic standpoint alone. The Scenic Highway that is being built between Santa Fe and Las Vegas, through the Pecos Forest Reserve, and over the highest and steepest divides of the Sangre de Cristo Range, opens to the traveling public as beautiful scenery as any in the world. It is being built by convict labor up the Santa Fe Canon, over the Dalton Divide into the upper Pecos Valley, and thence to Las Vegas. It ascends the rugged backbone of the Sangre de Cristo Range by a dozen switchbacks on a grade not exceeding three per cent, and is hewn out of rock or blasted out of mountain sides, a marvel in modern road building, ascend- ing from an altitude of 7,000 to 10,000 feet, and then descending to 6,400 feet.
The immediate surroundings of the Capital City are beautiful, picturesque, romantic and interesting. The Santa Fe Canon, the Tesuque Valley, Nagel's Sunny Pine Grove Ranch, the Indian pu- eblos, the cliff dwellings, the Cochiti gold mines, the turquoise mines, the Bishop's Ranch, Box Canon, the Divide, the mountains towering to 13,000 feet in height, the lava fields, the crater, and many other grand and mysterious sights of Nature's handiwork are within an hour's to a day's journey by foot, burro, horse or carriage.
The mountain and summer resorts combine many advantages and attractions difficult to find anywhere else. Santa Fe has an atmosphere and color of its own. Here the civilization of cen- turies ago and of today meet ; here are found prehistoric ruins and historic monuments, the history of yesterday and of today have left their impress side by side; the civilization of the Indian, the Spaniard, the Mexican and the Yankee commingle. Still, Santa Fe is strictly up-to-date in its hotels, railroad accommodations, its colleges, its public schools, its sanitariums, its charitable institu- tions, in its progress and in its prosperity. Churches, newspapers, together with fine stores, banking institutions, and every safety, comfort and luxury that the centers of civilization of the east afford, are to be found at Santa Fe.
Mineral Springs.
About four miles east of Santa Fe is a spring, the waters of which are favorably known and have been used to a considerable extent by the people of Santa Fe and elsewhere. This spring is known as the Aztec (Ojo Gigante), since, like other watering places, it was frequented by the aborigines. While the solid mat- ter contained in the water is not so great as that found in many
ST. VINCENT'S HOSPITAL AT SANTA FE.
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other springs in New Mexico, nevertheless the water has beneficial effects in stomach and liver troubles.
F. W. Clark of the United States Geological Survey gives the following analysis of the Aztec Spring, which was made at the re- quest of an army surgeon who had been drinking the water when stationed at Fort Marcy, and who first recognized its beneficial effects on himself and troops :
Calcium carbonate 1538
Magnesium carbonate
.0605
Sodium sulphate .0225
Calcium sulphate .0050
Sodium chloride .0193
Silica .0220
Parts in 1,000. Total .2831
(In a foot note the chemist adds: "The water contains enough carbonic acid to retain the carbonates of calcium and magnesium in solution as bi-carbonates.)
West of Santa Fe is another mineral spring containing iron. The county has no hot springs, but is the gateway to the famous hot mineral springs at Ojo Caliente, Jemez, Wamsley's and other springs in Sandoval and Taos Counties, if not as well known, yet as efficacious.
Among the hot springs which ought to rank among the most remarkable in the United States are those at Ojo Caliente, Taos County, north of Santa Fe, and 6,290 feet above the sea level. There are four of these springs in a small area, each peculiarly adapted for the cure of particular diseases. The dissolving power of their waters is very great and they are especially recommended by physicians for rheumatism, gravel and other calcareous affections, gout and other kidney, stomach and blood disorders. The temper- ature of the springs varies from 90 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, and the largest is classed as a chalybeate spring, as it carries a large amount of iron carbonate. Its waters contain 1,686.84 grains of alkaline salts to the gallon, and no organic matter. The fourth spring of the group pours forth lithia water. The combined flow of these springs is 300,000 gallons in twenty-four hours. Ojo Caliente is reached by a short stage ride from Barranca on the Santa Fe-Antonito branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and has hotel accommodations.
There is a good sulphur spring at Rio Pajarito, in Taos County, with a temperature of 68 degrees. The water contains carbonic acid, hydrogen sulphide, sodium carbonate, sodium chloride, cal-
OJO CALIENTE HOT SPRINGS NORTH OF SANTA FE.
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cium and magnesium carbonates. At Ojo Sarco, on the Rio Grande, north of Santa Barbara, Taos County, is a fine group of mineral springs. In the same county, three miles north of Ojo Caliente, are soda springs. Five miles south of Taos, as well as between Penasco and Mora, on the Rio Pueblo, are sulphur springs of rare medicinal virtue. Among the best thermal springs in the Terri- tory are those known as Wamsley's Hot Springs. They are located in a deep gorge of the Rio Grande on the road from the station of Tres Piedras, on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad to Taos. The water is lukewarm and in that respect similar to another group of mineral springs situated at Glenwoody, eighteen miles south. Hotel accommodations are provided.
There are two groups of fine medicinal springs less than fifty miles directly west of the City of Santa Fe, in the Valles Moun- tains, and they are counted among the most efficacious mineral waters to be found in the Rocky Mountains. They are situated in the picturesque San Diego Canon in Sandoval County, and are known as the Jemez and the Sulphurs, or the upper and lower Jemez Springs. The lower group embraces ten springs varying in temperature from 94 to 168 degrees Fahrenheit. The tempera- ture of the hottest of these is the highest of any spring in the Ter- ritory. Their altitude is 6,620 feet. The waters of the hottest and largest spring run about fifty gallons per minute, with escaping carbonic acid gas and depositing white carbonate of lime. One spring, with waters of 103 degrees, carries free carbonic acid gas, and its deposits are reddish brown. A third spring, of 119 degrees, is impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen and iron. The other springs of the lower group are impregnated with sodium, lime and magnesia. Their solid constituents are about .24 per one hundred parts of water.
The upper springs, or Sulphurs, are situated two miles above the lower group, at an altitude of 6,740 feet, and their tempera- ture varies from 70 to 105 degrees. They flow from caves of lime, forming a ridge 30 feet high and 200 feet long, and varying in size from a few inches to twenty feet in height. The waters are strongly impregnated with sulphur and resemble those of Marien- bad. The springs are both mud and vapor, and their principal constituents are chloride of sodium, sulphate and carbonates of soda, lime and magnesia. They are especially potent in rheumatic and syphilitic disorders. Their solid constituents are .3726 to every one hundred parts of water. Hotel accommodations have been provided at both groups.
In the same section of country is the San Ysidro mineral spring. near Jemez, whose waters are carbonated and carry .5632 parts of
WAMSLEYS' HOT SPRINGS NORTH OF SANTA FE.
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solids in every one hundred parts of water, mostly sodium chloride, sodium sulphate, calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, iron carbonate with traces of silica, potassa and lithia to every one hum- dred parts of water.
Four to six miles west of the Sulphurs are the San Antonio Springs, which resemble the Jemez Springs and are equally effica- cious in kidney and stomach disorders.
Historical.
Up to the time of the occupation of Santa Fe by United States troops, almost sixty years ago, the history of Santa Fe was prac- tically the history of New Mexico. Tradition speaks of two pros- perous Indian pueblos upon the site of the City of Santa Fe, prior to the coming of the Spanish Conquistadores, over 350 years ago, and it was within the confines of Santa Fe County that the first. permanent white settlements in the United States were made. A house occupied to this day is still pointed out as a survival of the Indian pueblos on the site of the City of Santa Fe and, therefore, has a just claim to be called the oldest occupied house within the boundaries of this nation. The romance of the early expeditions of the Spaniards into the Southwest, the story of the incessant warfare with Indians and with the elements, the accounts of the Christianization of the Pueblos and the martyrdom of mamy dis- ciples of the cross, all form an intensely interesting narrative. In 1680 the Pueblo Indians drove the Spaniards out of New Mexico, and it was not until 1692 that De Vargas reoccupied the City of Santa Fe after a sanguinary battle on the outskirts of the city. The revolutions and counter-revolutions that followed the estab- lishment of the Republic of Mexico found their echo in New Mexico and less than three generations ago Governor Perez met a tragic death at the hands of rebels near Agua Fria, in the suburban part of Santa Fe. It is quite natural, therefore, that so many buildings and spots in the county are hallowed by historic associa- tions, and that, aside from every other attraction, this alone makes a visit to Santa Fe worth the while.
Inhabitants.
Santa Fe County has about 17,000 inhabitants, of whom one-half live in and about the City of Santa Fe. Fully three-fourths of these inhabitants speak the Spanish language, but many of these can speak, or at least understand, English. They are peaceable, con- servative and hospitable, and, to a certain degree, independent, nearly every head of a family owning his own home and patch of ground, which he cultivates. There are 310 Pueblo Indians within
RESIDENCES AT SANTA FE.
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the county, occupying the villages of San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe and Pojoaque. The pueblo of Santa Clara, formerly in the county entirely, is now in greater part within the county of Rio Arriba. These Pueblo Indians are peace-loving and industrious.
Each precinct has a public school and every settlement a church. The county is well supplied with roads that connect the different villages and towns, all of them leading to the Capital City. Gen- erally speaking, these roads are good, having solid bottoms and, owing to the dryness of the climate, very seldom muddy and never impassable. The "good roads" movement has reached the Capital City, and a model roadway has been constructed from the city to the Tesuque Valley, a distance of six miles, while other roads are contemplated. The Scenic Highway has been referred to, and is being built by the Territory with county aid. It will eventually extend from the northern boundary to the southern boundary of New Mexico, with branch roads in every direction. At present, work is being prosecuted on the section between Santa Fe and Las Vegas, which is mearing completion. Convict labor is employed, And the road opens to tourists the most magnificent scenery in the Southwest.
CITY OF SANTA FE.
The Villa Real de Santa Fe de San Francisco, to give its original nd full name, is the historic seat of the government of the Terri- ory of New Mexico, as well as the county seat of Santa Fe County nd the see of an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church. It injoys the distinction of being one of the oldest towns and the Idest capital in the United States. Its permanent settlement by Europeans antedates the founding of Jamestown and also the land- ng of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth more than twenty years. The thrilling and romantic incidents composing its history-the protracted and bloody struggles with hordes of savage Indians, the capture and pillage by hostile Pueblos in 1680, the general massa- cre of missionaries and explorers and flight of the governor and a few followers in the night to El Paso, the reserving of some of the handsomest Spanish maidens for wives of favored warriors, the desecration and destruction of some of the Roman Catholic Churches, and the restoration of the worship of stone idols, the reconquest by Diego de Vargas twelve years later, the terrible pun- ishment visited upon the rebellious Pueblos, the change from Span- ish rule to the rule of the triumphant Republic of Mexico, the cap- ture by the United States forces under General Kearny and the building of Fort Marcy, the stirring scenes accompanying the dis- tribution of the immense traffic of the Santa Fe Trail, the wild
ST. CATHARINE'S INDIAN SCHOOL AT SANTA FE.
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deeds of desperadoes and the fabulous hazards at cards in the days before the advent of the railroad-afford the material for an epic poem of deep interest. However, from the strenuous life and tur- bulent times of the past, the City of the Holy Faith has become as modern and peaceful as a New England city, looking back with pride upon the part it has played in history, and forward hopefully to its future.
Railroads.
Santa Fe enjoys the advantage of three railroad systems. It is on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and the Santa Fe Central Railway, giving it con- nection with the outside world and great railroad systems in every direction. It is the only city in the Southwest that receives nine railway mails a day and dispatches as many. It has a free delivery mail service, electric street lighting, the purest drinking water to be found in New Mexico, a local and long distance telephone system, and many other advantages of a thoroughly up-to-date community.
/ Environed by protecting hills and thus exempt from strong i winds and sand storms ; surrounded by enchanting natural scenery; beautified by orchards and gardens of flowers; blessed with a cli- mate that is free from extremes of heat and cold, and air that is pure and tonic; supplied with an abundance of pure water for domestic, manufacturing and irrigation purposes from the exten- sive storage reservoirs in the mouth of the Santa Fe Canon; fur- nished with competing rail, express and telegraph communication with all outside points; the headquarters of the federal and Terri- torial officials, the meeting place of the Legislature, the Supreme Court, the United States and Territorial District Courts, and the various Territorial Boards ; the see of the Archbishop of Santa Fe; the headquarters of the New Mexico Historical Society, the New Mexico Horticultural Society, the New Mexico Pioneers' Society; of the District Attorney for Santa Fe and Taos Counties; a city having started a modern sewerage system; possessing a public school system with a good high school and four ward schools, and endowed by the national government for public school purposes with the Fort Marcy Reservation of almost seventeen acres in the heart of the city; having eight churches, as well as colleges and private schools, many fraternal societies and social organizations, Santa Fe is naturally forging to the front as a popular residence town.
Santa Fe is first of all a health resort, a tourist center, but it
PRESBYTERIAN MISSION SCHOOL AT SANTA FE,
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does not depend alone upon tourists, health seekers and officials for its existence. Good crops are raised in the Santa Fe and ad- jacent valleys; the orchards of Santa Fe are revenue producers; dainty filigree jewelry is made here; an excellent quality of brick is manufactured; in the surrounding Indian pueblos bas- kets and blankets are woven, pottery produced, and beadwork is made that finds a ready sale all over the United States. Santa Fe has the largest printing establishment in New Mexico and Ari- zona, employing twenty to forty men. Santa Fe is a thriving railroad and mercantile center, supplying a vast region, and there are manifold natural resources that are just being developed. Not only historic memories and landmarks make Santa Fe a spot well worth a visit, but the beauty of its location, like a jewel in the lap of the mountains, its perfect climate and its many present-day interests, make it the most interesting spot between New York and San Francisco. Santa Fe with its suburbs has a population of 8,700. Its altitude at its lowest point is 6,920 and at its highest 7,240 feet.
Resources.
Draw a circle of fifty miles radius with Santa .Fe as the center. It will take in the heart of New Mexico. Within it will be found a score of producing mining districts. Not only gold mines, but mines of silver, copper, zinc, lead, iron, coal, turquoise, quarries of marble, building stone, limestone, beds of clay, deposits of gypsum, veins of mica, and prospects of other minerals in abund- ance. In that circle are found some of the best agricultural lands in the Southwest. There are raised the best fruit, the best sugar beets, the best grain in the world. Take a peep at the Espanola, the Tesuque, the Chama, the Taos, and other valleys. Within that circle there is room and chance for profitable irrigation enterprises. In that circle flow the waters of the Rio Grande, the Pecos, the Chama, the Santa Fe, the Tesuque, the Nambe. the Rio Pueblo, the Truchas, the Pojoaque, the Santa Clara, the Galisteo, the Rio Medio, the Chupadero, Bishop's Creek, the Arroyo Hondo, the Manzanares, the Canoncito, the Dalton, Indian Creek, Holy Ghost Creek, the Mora, Willow Creek and other streams, all perennial rivers with a never failing water supply in their upper courses. In that circle are found the water power, the fuel, the raw material for a hundred great industries. The circle is the most densely populated area in New Mexico or Arizona, and offers cheap and plentiful labor for industrial enterprises and at the same time a good market. Mexico, Central America and the Orient are nearer
ST. MICHAEL'S COLLEGE AT SANTA FE.
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SANTA FE COUNTY, NEW MEXICO.
with their markets to it than they are to the eastern and northern manufacturing centers. In that circle are very superior sheep, cattle and goat ranges, and extensive virgin forests.
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New Mexico has the finest climate in the world, and in that circle is the best climate in New Mexico. Within the circle are the great Pecos River and Jemez Forest Reserves, which insure forever a bounteous supply of water, a summer retreat for tourists, health seekers, pleasure seekers, sportsmen, or the tired man and woman who seek rest in communion with nature in its most sublime or gentlest moods.
In that circle are located the world famous cliff dwellings, the pyramids of America, ten Indian pueblos, the oldest buildings in the United States, the Scenic Highway, the Santa Fe Trail, a hundred spots which awaken memories of the romance of the great stretch of time between the coming of the Conquistadores and the supplanting of the Santa Fe Trail by the steam railroads.
It is a circle invaded by three great railroads and their important branches and connections, a circle near whose circumference are located the cities of Albuquerque and Las Vegas, which, with Santa Fe, form the three largest and most important towns in New Mexico. The center of the circle is the most advertised spot in the United States, a town whose name is one to conjure with, a . name given to one of the great transcontinental railway systems, a town whose very name is an invitation to the health seeker, to the tourist; the capital of the coming Sunshine State, the county seat of one of the most densely populated and richest counties of the Territory, an archbishop's see, the location of many Federal, Territorial, Catholic and Protestant church institutions, a town most charmingly situated, with a peerless climate all the year around, and a better summer climate than possessed by any sum- mer resort in the world, free from excessive heat and protected from the icy blasts of winter with the sun shining almost every day in the year. These and many more are the advantages, re- sources and attractions, the hub of which is the City of Santa Fe. The city and suburbs contain about 8,700 people, and this popula- tion is steadily on the increase.
Nor must it be forgotten that the vicinity of the city offers good hunting of bear, mountain lion, coyotes and smaller game; that the Pecos, the Santa Clara, the Santa Fe, and other streams are splendid fishing grounds; and that the peculiar fauna and flora of this arid mountain region offer. much that is interesting and worthy of note. The intending home seeker should also re- member that in Santa Fe and surroundings agriculture is carried
PROTESTANT CHURCHES AT SANTA FE.
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on with the aid of irrigation, which means that the farmer is always certain of his crops, for he can apply moisture to them when they need it and withhold it when moisture is not needed.
Antiquities.
- Here, so carefully preserved that the marks of its three hundred years of age are not perceptible, is located the noted Adobe Palace, which was the official residence of the Spanish and Mexican gov- ernors, and since the Mexican war has been the headquarters of all the Territorial governors or secretaries appointed by the different Presidents of the United States. The men who lived and conducted the affairs of state in this building include some of the fore- most, not only of the Territory, but of the nation. Here the postoffice, the Republican Territorial headquarters, the Territorial headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the museum of the New Mexico Historical Society are located. The latter is open to the public every day and its collection contains historical articles of priceless value.
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