The old house, believed to antedate the Spanish occupation.

The Cathedral of San Francisco, behind which is the chancel of the old parish church, with a carved and painted reredos, both curious and interesting, erected by Governor Del Valle and his wife in 1761.

The cathedral museum, containing many Spanish paintings and other objects of interest.

The Territorial historical rooms, full of antiquities of historic interest.

Old Fort Marcy, the commanding situation famous in all the sieges of the city; ruins of the old fort built by Colonel Kearny in 1846. The garita, on the road to old Fort Marcy, by the west wall of which the leaders of the revolution of 1837 were executed.

The plaza in the center of the town, around which cluster many memories of the conquest of the land by the hardy Spaniards and of the stirring scenes of more recent days. The soldiers' monument is located in the center of this park.

The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with its large and interesting altar piece on canvas, containing six pictures of the appearance of the Virgin to Juan Diego, and other paintings and wood carvings. Monument to Kit Carson in front of the Federal building.

The Rosario Chapel, erected on the spot where De Vargas made his vow before the surrender of the city in 1692.

The most interesting of all the buildings is, without doubt, the governor's palace, an adobe structure built in 1598 and continuously occupied by the Spanish, Mexican, and American governors for three hundred years. The men who have lived and conducted the affairs of state in the old pile included some of the foremost names of the land, not only of the Territory but of the Eastern States.

To quote from the words of Ex-Governor Prince, author of the most authentic and complete history of New Mexico extant:

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, and has stood during the two hundred and ninety-nine years since its erection, 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 Southwest. Through all that long period, whether under Spanish, Pueblo, Mexican, or American control, it has been the seat of power and authority. Whether the ruler was called viceroy, captain-general, political chief, department commander, or governor, and whether he presided over a kingdom, a province, a department, or a Territory, this 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 Quivirato to ask aid in their war with the Axtaos; from here, in 1618, Vicente de Salivar set forth to the Moqui country, only to be turned back by rumors of the giants to be encountered; and from here Peñalosa and his brilliant troop started on the 6th of March, 1662, on their marvelous expedition to the Missouri; in one of the strong rooms the commissary-general of the inquisition was imprisoned a few years later by the same Peñalosa; within its walls, fortified as if for a siege, the bravest of the Spaniards were massed in the revolution of 1680; here, on the 19th day of August of that year, was given the order to execute 47 Pueblo prisoners in the plaza which faces the building; here, but a day later, was the sad war council held which determined on the evacuation of the city; here was the scene of the triumph of the Pueblo chieftains as they ordered the destruction of the Spanish archives and the church ornaments in one grand conflagration; here De Vargas, on September 14, 1692, after the eleven hours' combat of the preceding day, gave thanks to the Virgin Mary, to whose aid he attributed his triumphant capture of the city; here, more than a century later, on March 3, 1807, Lieutenant Pike was brought before Governor Alencaster as an invader of Spanish soil; here, in 1822,

the Mexican standard, with its eagle and cactus, was raised in token that New Mexico was no longer a dependency of Spain; from here, on the 6th day of August, 1837, Governor Perez started to subdue the insurrection in the north, only to return two days later and to meet his death on the 9th near Agua Fria; here, on the succeeding day, Jose Gonzales, a Pueblo Indian of Taos, was installed as governor of New Mexico, soon after to be executed by order of Armijo; here, in the principal reception room, on August 12, 1846, Captain Cooke, the American envoy, was received by Governor Armijo and sent back with a message of defiance; and here, five days later, General Kearny took formal possession of the city, and slept, after his long, weary march, on the carpeted earthen floor of the palace.

Coming down to more modern times, it may be added that here Gen. Lew Wallace wrote Ben-Hur, while governor of the Territory, in 1879 and 1880.

SIERRA COUNTY.

There has been a remarkable and gratifying development of the two principal industries of this county during the past two years, and latest reports prove that in both stock-raising and mining interests this progress is in full tide.

Though small in area, Sierra County contains a large proportion of rich pasture lands, and the cattle interests are perhaps the most uniformly prosperous. At present there are upon the various ranges 130,000 head of cattle, 100,000 sheep and goats, and some 16,000 horses. About one-tenth of the cattle is owned by the Las Animas Cattle Company, the remainder being well divided between a great many smaller ones. The profits of the industry remain with and redound to the benefit of the community.

In agriculture there has been little progress. About 6,500 acres are under cultivation out of some 300,000 acres of good, arable land that could be brought under ditch without too great expenditure. The farmers are prosperous and find a ready market for their entire product in the mining camps and at the cattle ranches. The prices they get would excite the envy of a Kansas farmer: Hay, $12 to $16 per ton; grain, 1 to 14 cents per pound; potatoes, 2 to 24 cents per pound; apples, 2 to 5 cents per pound. The product of the farms does not near supply the needs of the towns and ranches, and the merchants get their largest supply from Kansas, Colorado, and California.

POPULATION.

The population of the county is between 5,000 and 5,500, and is composed of two-thirds American miners and settlers and the remainder of the native Spanish-American people. There are no Indian residents within 150 miles, and those only a miserable remnant, kept strictly upon an Arizona reservation. The native Mexicans are a peaceable, frugal, and industrious race, and they afford an increasing source of cheap labor in mine and field.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Excellent schools are maintained in seventeen school districts, under the supervision of the county school superintendent. Eight to ten months of the year are devoted to the education of children, and the teachers selected are of the very best character. The school fund has always been cherished, and commodious, substantial, and handsome schoolhouses have been built and are building. In all departments of primary education the school system of Sierra County will bear comparison with communities otherwise far more advanced.

CLIMATE.

It is not too much to say of this land of sunshine that there exists a perpetual summer. There is but just enough of cold in the months of November and December to mark the change from summer to winter, while a fall of snow is rare, and at most does not remain upon the ground more than a few days. In the higher portions of the mountain ranges some snow is, doubtless, preserved during the colder months, and serves to maintain the summer streams. With such a winter temperature it might be expected that a very high thermometer would rule in summer, but such is not the case. From 90° to 95° in the shade is the greatest heat recorded, and from 20 to 30 below freezing point the most severe cold. The altitude-4,000 to 5,000 feet-of the main portions of the region will account for these moderate extremes. In such a climate mining operations are pursued to the greatest possible advantage, and agriculture aided by irrigation has no drawbacks. The devastations of snowslides and blizzards are here unknown, and the same may be said of pneumonia, that scourge of the miners in the North.

THE SANTA FE RAILROAD.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad passes through Sierra County, like the river, from north to south. Its distributing points are at Lake Valley for the south and at Engel for the east, from whence well-equipped stage and freight lines penetrate to the different towns and villages of the county. The Santa Fe directory has done much to develop the resources and aid in the growth of this section by granting low rates of transportation on ores to the great smelting points of Colorado, and of Kansas City, Socorro, N. Mex., and El Paso, Tex. For the 740 miles from Lake Valley to Pueblo and Denver the rate is but $5.80 per ton. Some important branches and extensions are contemplated to penetrate to the most remote mining camps of this region, and it is the aim of the directory to foster and sustain, to the extent of its power, the rapid growth of the mining industry. An immediate improvement is the extension of the Lake Valley branch to Hillsboro, the county seat, which will bring the road within 12 miles of the most distant mines in the southern half of the county.

WAGON ROADS.

The roads are of good grade, well-maintained repair, and conduct through the most important districts and reach the more notable mines. Roads from the agricultural lands enable the farmers to sell their produce in the markets of the mining towns, where they obtain prices really remunerative.

LABOR AND WAGES.

Miners earn $3 and $3.50 per day; laborers $1.50 to $2.50. Most of the labor is performed by the native people, and of these there has been, with the growth of the mining industry, and from the neighboring lands of Texas and Mexico, a steady and sufficient immigration. Skilled miners from the North are constantly arriving, and so far no difficulty on the score of help has been experienced.