What to see in America . bsolutely cloudless. The sun makes its journeyacross the vast blue dome of the sky without the least filmof mist to obscure its brightness, and there are three hundredsuch days every year. To the casual observer much ofNew Mexico seems a half naked and stony wilderness whereonly the scantiest population can ever find there is a vast amount of good land that only needsirrigation to make it productive and beautiful; and byutilizing the streams fully and getting artesian water frombelow the surface the aspect of the region is being materiallychanged. The c
What to see in America . bsolutely cloudless. The sun makes its journeyacross the vast blue dome of the sky without the least filmof mist to obscure its brightness, and there are three hundredsuch days every year. To the casual observer much ofNew Mexico seems a half naked and stony wilderness whereonly the scantiest population can ever find there is a vast amount of good land that only needsirrigation to make it productive and beautiful; and byutilizing the streams fully and getting artesian water frombelow the surface the aspect of the region is being materiallychanged. The climate is cold in the elevated regions, hoton the plains, but everywhere dry and healthful. In thesouthern part the temperature seldom goes below thefreezing point. Heavy rains fall in July and August, but therest of the year is dry. The oldest place in the state is Santa Fe. Relics foundalong the Sante Fe valley show that the region enjoyed itsgreatest prosperity when it was peopled by the prehistoric 426 New Mexico 427. Inscription Rock, El Moro Forest Aztecs. According to anIndian legend Monte-zuma was born in thisvicinity, whence he jour-neyed southward on theback of an eagle. Thepeople followed, and ateach place where theeagle stopped for thenight they founded acity. Finally the city ofMexico was built wherethe eagles long flightended. A great-grand-daughter of the Aztecchief, Montezuma, married a wealthy Spaniard, who becamethe founder of Santa Fe, which, next to St. Augustine, is theoldest town in the United States. In 1598 he startedfrom Mexico with 400 colonists, 83 wagons, and 7000cattle. He reached theIndian pueblo of SanJuan about thirty milesnorth of Santa Fe, andthere he built a town onthe west side of the RioGrande. Not until eightyears later did he removeto Santa Fe, where heestablished his settle-ment on the site of twosmall Indian pueblos. Such was the zeal ofthe Franciscan mission-aries that by 1617 eleven Navajo (
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
