NUEVO LEÓN, SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, AGUASCALIENTES
The kingdom of Nuevo León was once the name of the State of Nuevo León.
It is inland, bordering on Tamaulipas, Coahuila and San Luis Potosí.
Its surface is irregular, as several branches of the Sierra Madre Range
come into it and one-fourth of the State forms a part of the great
central tableland of Mexico.
Mineral productions abound in the mountains. The climate is perfect.
The atmosphere is seldom chilled with frost but sometimes it steals
in at long intervals like a thief in the night to disappear in the
darkness ere the sun has risen. Snow is unknown in the Valley of
Monterey and is seen rarely on the peaks of the mountains which
surround the city.
The Topo Chico hot springs are in the suburbs. This is a famous
health resort. The thermometer never descends to freezing point and
the condition of the atmosphere permits the weakest and most delicate
invalid to promenade in the plazas.
Monterey is fifteen hundred feet above sea level; it is one of the
oldest cities but has been made over and has now all sorts of modern
improvements. Nature is vested in gladness expressed by beauty
and wealth of color, over which flows the mellow radiance of a
semi-tropical sunshine. It is surrounded by some of the most beautiful
mountain scenery in the world. The houses are well-built and tasteful
both in architecture and interior decorations. The Casino is the
principal club.
Honorable Philip C. Hanna, the American consul general, has endeared
himself to the people of Monterey. He was appointed the special
representative of the American Red Cross and did a notable work during
the flood which came near destroying Monterey in 1909. At the Consulate
he protected hundreds of the unfortunate, giving food and clothing to
the desolate in the flooded district.
Monterey is only a few hours ride from Laredo, in Texas. It is a very
American city, with splendid churches, schools and manufacturing
establishments.
[Illustration: PLAZA ZARAGOZA.]
SAN LUIS POTOSÍ
No country is more beautiful in its picturesque vegetation and useful
products than San Luis Potosí. There the highest trees give support to
a multitude of creeping vines and to a swarm of vegetable parasites
which create an agreeable confusion and form obscure thickets where the
foot of man has never yet penetrated. The multitude of color, the green
leaves and the divers hues of the flowers, with a half-light produced
in many places by the shade of the trees, allowing an occasional vista
of purest blue sky; the silence of the bosks at certain hours of the
day; the harmonious songs of the birds at the rising and the setting of
the sun, are all poetical, and invite to meditation and the adoration
of the Author and source of so many marvels. The entire State is a gem
of varied beauty.
[Illustration: PALACE OF GOVERNOR, SAN LUIS POTOSÍ.]
In the towns to the southeast and east of the capital there are lands
well adapted for agriculture. The enterprise directed to this class of
work will find there every kind of products which temperate and torrid
climates know, not only in cereals and fibre-bearing plants, but also
in fruits and hard woods. In all portions of the State Indian corn is
cultivated as well as wheat and beans, all most useful as food for
the inhabitants; but the branches of agriculture which have been most
developed are the cultivation of coffee and tobacco. The coffee plants
number about four million, with a mean yield of forty thousand quintals.
San Luis Potosí may justly lay claim to a first rank among cities
of the Mexican Republic, whether considered from a historical,
political, or commercial point of view. Founded in the days of the
Spanish Conquest, the geographical position, some six thousand feet
above the level of the sea, secured pre-eminence from the earliest
times. The history of the city may to a great extent be read in its
outward appearance. Grand old Spanish churches, such as that of San
Francisco, dating from the sixteenth century, El Carmen with its
two-hundred-year-old carvings, and the Guadalupe, with its charming
sacred associations. The imposing French-built government palace
and the Mexican cathedral, the old Spanish Plaza with its American
tram-lines and electric lights, the old fortified mint, telling of
revolutionary times, the college hospital, the library, and the
splendid theatre, with many new and elegant buildings, speak for the
prosperity and advancement of the present day.
[Illustration: CATHEDRAL, AGUASCALIENTES.]
It has always been a very busy and flourishing place, holding the
same relation to eastern Mexico that Guadalajara holds to western
Mexico. The surrounding country is a very fertile district and San Luis
furnishes a ready market for its produce. There are many fine buildings
in the capital. The government palace is attractive in appearance;
the cathedral shows some fine stone-work on its towers. There is a
characteristic painting of high quality in the church of El Carmen. The
old church has a clock which was given by the King of Spain in return
for the largest piece of silver ore ever taken from a mine. On the
entrance to this beautiful sanctuary are these comforting and inspiring
words:
Aqui el que pide recibe,
El que busca halla,
El que toca se le abre.
(“Here he who asks receives, he who seeks finds, to him who knocks it
is opened.”)
[Illustration: THE BATHS AT AGUASCALIENTES.]
The two tall towers of this church form the most striking feature of
the city to the traveler approaching from the south.
The Theatre in San Luis Potosí, one of the handsomest in Mexico, is
a monument to the progressive spirit of the late General Carlos Diez
Gutierrez, the former governor of the State. The building is of stone,
massive and large. Immense columns of stone and iron adorn the front.
The entrance is very much like that of the Grand Opera in Paris. It is
elegant yet massive in design. There is a grand and beautiful lobby
which is approached by wide marble steps and covered by a dome of heavy
stained glass. Seen from below, this last has a magnificent appearance
with a huge balcony winding around in the interior, with a heavy iron
railing. This is entered above by beautiful glass doors, opening from
an immense hall, large enough for a ball-room, with marble-tiled
floors. The stage has all the latest improvements, and the whole
theatre is a noble example of what taste can do when backed by immense
wealth. The governor’s private box, facing the stage, is magnificently
fitted up, with the coat-of-arms of the State in silver and bronze.
[Illustration: STREET SCENE IN AGUASCALIENTES.]
The law requires that all houses shall be kept freshly painted, so
that the city is bright in every quarter. The markets are particularly
interesting, with picturesque water-carriers, many fountains and novel
scenes. The statue of Hidalgo formerly occupied the Plaza de Armas,
but has been removed to a more important place and a kiosk erected
in its place. When the evenings are warm, as most of them are in San
Luis, the Plaza presents a most attractive appearance with families
promenading to the gay music under the silvery light of the moon or the
more brilliant radiance of the electric light. This historic city has
the record that here was made the first discovery of silver in Mexico,
which went so far as to found the country’s greatness. The tradition
is that early in the sixteenth century an Indian was climbing the San
Luis hills, when his foot slipped and to save himself he clutched at a
neighboring bush, which giving way beneath his weight, was uprooted and
exposed to view the native silver beneath.
San Luis is far advanced in education. There are many magnificent
schools. In the School of Arts and Trades for Girls are taught English
and French. There are civil and military schools, and hospitals, all of
which are supported by the government.
[Illustration: THE BISHOP’S PALACE, MONTEREY.]
The governor of this State is José Maria Espinosa y Cuevas. The success
of the opening of the port at Tampico gave San Luis Potosí commercial
advantages equal if not superior to those of any other city in the
Republic of Mexico.
In the northern part of the State is the mining town of Catorce, “The
Silver City.” These mines were discovered by a group of fourteen
bandits and are the most celebrated in Mexico.
AGUASCALIENTES
Aguascalientes though one of the smallest is one of the most
interesting States in Mexico. The eastern district consists of
tablelands six thousand feet above sea-level and the western portion
includes the Sierras of Laurel and Pinal, spurs of the Sierra Madre.
The tablelands produce abundant crops of cereals. The capital is
Aguascalientes, which means hot waters. It is an attractive city, noted
for its hot springs, well-appointed bath houses and healthful climate.
One of the most celebrated and well-attended fairs of the republic,
the Feast of San Marcos, is held at Aguascalientes in April of each
year and thousands of people from all parts of the country throng the
streets and plazas of this quaint old city. There are many special
attractions notably the beautiful needle-drawn work which is made by
the Indians and excels in beauty the celebrated Fayal work which is so
much better known.
The city takes its name from the warm mineral springs in its
neighborhood. The baths are reached by long avenues of superb
cottonwood trees. They are built of soft red stone and are much
frequented. On one side through a canal flows the surplus water from
the springs, which is used for bathing by those who are unable to pay
the small charge for the baths.
There is a handsome alameda. The country around is fertile and highly
cultivated. In the tropical altitudes of Mexico and in the hot spring
sections there is a sort of Egyptian disregard of the conventionalities
in attire and the disposition to take a daily fashion hint from the
Garden of Eden, the children disregarding even the fig leaf.
The water-carrier of Cairo is much like his brother of Mexico. The
groups about the fountains all over the republic have long earthen jars
of pottery borne by the women and balanced on the shoulders of the men
and look very oriental.
The climate is healthful and is noted for its constant sunshine. Many
invalids go there from the north. It is half way between the City of
Mexico and the northern border.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF SAN MARCOS, AGUASCALIENTES.]
[Illustration: THE FEDERAL PALACE, QUERÉTARO.]
[Illustration: CONVENT OF THE CROSS WHERE MAXIMILIAN WAS
IMPRISONED.]