CHIHUAHUA
Separated from the United States of America by the Rio Grande,
Chihuahua is the largest State in the Republic. It cannot be termed a
beautiful State from a scenic point of view, but there are parts where
it furnishes picturesque scenery not to be outrivalled anywhere in
the world. A prolongation of the Sierra Madre mountains traverses the
western part of the State and is rich in minerals. It is practically
an undulating tableland, the plains averaging four thousand to five
thousand feet above the sea, while the mountain-tops rarely rise more
than a thousand feet higher. The climate is pleasant, the seasons being
about like those of southern Texas.
The capital city, Chihuahua, has a large mixed population: English
is as much spoken as Spanish, and many American enterprises and
manufactories give it an air of progress. It is distinctly a mining
State. Numerous and important exploitations of silver ore has been
made for many years. The mines of Chihuahua have been celebrated for
centuries. The most important are Batopilas, Santa Eulalia, Parral,
Cerro Colorado and Minas Nuevas. Santa Eulalia is the famous mining
camp to which Chihuahua owes its origin and prosperity. It is still one
of the great silver-lead producers of the world. Batopilas became noted
for its ruby silver at an early period, and is best known for both
quality and quantity.
Batopilas has only about four thousand inhabitants and is located on
the river of the same name, a mountain stream low and quiet during nine
months in the year, but during the rainy season rising to a mighty
torrent. Owing to the steady work in the mines this town is more
advanced than others in the vicinity. The Batopilas mines are among the
richest in the world, although in this State there are others which
rank almost equally well.
[Illustration: STREET SCENE IN CHIHUAHUA.]
In cattle-raising the State of Chihuahua is one of the most important.
The temperate climate and the fertile fields serve to nourish thousands
of head, which are shipped to points in the Republic and to the United
States. The price of pasture lands is low, owing to much undeveloped
land. The stock is thoroughly healthy and the government maintains a
strict quarantine on all imported animals.
The ride over the Mexican Central route down through Chihuahua
furnishes an ever-changing series of infinitely interesting views. The
distant heights are rich in mineral dyes and exquisite in outline.
Through some break in the hills one catches a glimpse of an exquisite
valley with slanting sunlight streaming across it. Silent faraway
cities, forests of cacti and yucca plants, and a host of brilliant
flowers are always fleeting backward until the approach to Chihuahua
brings one to the first distinctly Mexican city. Purpled mountains are
in the distance below, two large steeples of the cathedral dominate the
landscape, and low flat roofed houses lie along the reddish horizon
with a truly oriental effect.
[Illustration: MONUMENT TO JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA.]
Inside the city streets, long colonnades with arches outside the houses
offer shelter from the mid-day sun, and the outer walls are frescoed
in pastel colors. Broad stone seats with high backs line the principal
streets while clumps of Mexican aloes and prickly cacti hedge the
roadway.
The Cathedral faces the beautiful Plaza de la Constitucion. It was
completed in 1789, being under construction about fifty years. There is
a barbaric richness of ornamentation about the façade of this beautiful
edifice, carved in solid stone by native artists. Within its sacred
portals and under the flickering lights of the altars many troubled
souls find solace.
Chihuahua was founded in 1698, but the town proper was not built
until 1718, and it was elevated to the dignity of a city in 1824. Its
principal public buildings are monuments of art and industry. The
governor’s palace is a gray stone building covering a square, with wide
balconies and a large courtyard. It is not only a handsome building
but it is furnished with an elegance and a refinement of taste that is
so indicative of the Mexican people. Most Mexican towns are built in
the Mexican style with plazas and garden spots and one-storied houses,
but in this city there are evidences of the foreigner and it has the
appearance of some of the Texan cities. In the Plaza de Hidalgo is a
monument commemorating the execution on the spot of the first heroes of
Mexican independence.
As the scene of several historical events Chihuahua has many monuments
to the nation’s heroes. The city is very much Americanized: banking
houses and investment companies are well organized institutions.
[Illustration: STATUE OF HIDALGO, CHIHUAHUA.]
There are hospitals, houses of correction, military schools and the
State Normal School, which has a very high standard of education. A
technical or industrial school for young ladies has been of great
benefit to young women who are called upon to support themselves by
their own efforts, and it is one of the prides of the city.
Public education receives much attention and is conducted in a most
progressive manner. Among the most important schools are the Scientific
and Literary Institute, which consists of preparatory, special and
professional courses. There are also departments of commercial,
industrial, mechanical, mining and farming and these embrace a very
practical course of learning.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE PALACE, CHIHUAHUA.]
In Ciudad Juarez, a school of agriculture has been installed under the
supervision of the Government.
Industry is taking a firm hold in the State. All enterprises have the
full encouragement and protection of the government. There are several
smelters, a brewery, ice and gaseous water factory, canneries, and iron
and steel foundries. Arts and crafts establishments abound in all the
smaller cities.
Chihuahua has the honor of being represented in the Cabinet by Señor
Don Enrique C. Creel, who was formerly the Mexican ambassador to
Washington, and the governor of the State. His administration was noted
for the manner in which he endeavored to elevate the Indians, and
create in them an ambition to become good and useful citizens, to own
land and cultivate it. He was called to Mexico to fill the place of the
late Señor Mariscal.
Shortly after leaving Chihuahua one approaches the smelting works of
the celebrated Santa Eulalia mine, which was discovered in 1703, and
not far away is a great hacienda comprising more than sixty thousand
acres of fine land. On that estate is an adobe palace two hundred feet
long and one hundred and twenty-five feet wide. The gates and pillars
are of cut stone, finely carved by natives. It has beautiful towers
at the angles and a patio within that is as large as the plaza of
some towns and much more attractive. This hacienda has a yearly crop
of seventy-five thousand bushels of wheat and of twenty-five thousand
bushels of corn.
Agriculture was once the great resource of the State, but has given
place to mining. Farming is carried on in a primitive way. The land is
rich and all kind of fruits grow in abundance. Alfalfa produces several
crops a year. Fine timber is found on the mountain slopes.
Escalon is the junction point with the Mexican Northern Railway running
to the great mining districts of Sierra Mojada, seventy-eight miles
east of one of the largest carbonate camps in the world.
Paso del Norte, now known as Ciudad Juarez in this State, is the
connecting link between El Paso, Texas, and the republic. It gets its
name from Benito Juarez, the first president of Mexico and during the
occupation of Mexico City by Maximilian it was the seat of government.
[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF SEÑOR DON ENRIQUE C. CREEL,
CHIHUAHUA.]
The people of this city have stood foremost and served as an example
for their patriotism and loyalty and it was to them that Benito Juarez
owed his great assistance of food and money in 1865, when the Liberal
cause was passing through dark and uncertain times.
[Illustration: THEATRE OF THE HEROES, CHIHUAHUA.]
One of the most interesting spots in the State of Chihuahua is Casas
Grandes, a town of a few thousand inhabitants on the San Miguel
River. This place is noted for its ruined houses, which are probably
the relics of some Indian metropolis. The main features seem to have
been three large structures connected by ranges of corridors or low
apartments and enclosing several courtyards of various dimensions. The
extent from north to south is eight hundred feet, and from east to
west two hundred and fifty feet. A range of narrow rooms, lighted by
circular openings near the top, and having enclosures three or four
feet high in one corner, supposed to be granaries, extends along one
of the main walls. Many of the apartments are very large, and some of
the enclosures are too vast ever to have been covered by a roof. About
two hundred feet west of the main building are three mounds of loose
stone, which may have been burial places, and two hundred feet west of
these are the remains of a building one story high and one hundred and
fifty feet square, consisting of a number of apartments ranged around
a square court. For twenty leagues along the Casas Grandes and Llanos
rivers are found artificial mounds from which have been dug up stone
axes, corn grinders and various articles of pottery, such as pipes,
jars, pitchers, etc., of a texture far superior to that made by the
Mexicans of the present day, and generally ornamented with angular
figures of blue, red, brown, and black, on a red or white ground. The
best specimens command a high price in Chihuahua and neighboring towns.
On the summit of a mountain about ten miles from Casas Grandes are the
remains of an ancient stone fortress which may have been intended as a
lookout.
Santa Rosalia is famous for its hot springs, which for curative
properties are claimed by those who have used these waters, to excel
any known springs in America. They are especially noted for their
wonderful properties in cases of inflammatory rheumatism and all blood
and skin diseases.
Jimenez is a city of about nine thousand inhabitants and is the railway
shipping point for the rich silver mines of the Parral and Guanacevi
districts. Archæologists find this town interesting on account of the
enormous meteorites found here. The greatest ones picked up are now in
the National School of Mines in Mexico City.
[Illustration: PART OF THE ARCHWAY OF THE OLD AQUEDUCT,
CHIHUAHUA.]
[Illustration: FALLS OF JUANACATLAN, JALISCO.]
[Illustration: STREET SCENE, GUADALAJARA.]