10 'Che Conservative.
snow-plow. Hero there is sage brash
and a branching cactus that grows into
little bashes , and one single prairie dog
is espied. The roads may be traced at a
distance by a Buioko of white dust fol
lowing some chance cowboy on his pony
or Mexican on his bnrro. One looks to
be overwhelmed with dust in the car ,
bat for some reason the dnst does not
appear. How it is prevented is not clear ;
one is used to being smothered with
dust on railroads in much less dusty
countries. It is clear we are getting
further sooth. Windows are open here
and there through the train and people
sitting by them bareheaded ; the sun is
warm , the air balmy , no wind stirring ;
it is like one of those inspiriting days of
which we in the northern states get one
in the-early spring of some years , and in
other years none at all. Can this be
their homo ? New Mexico would per
haps not be such a bad place to live in
that case ; and in truth the inhabitants
say it is not. All the two hundred
passengers are rejoicing in the sun and
air. The number of old people , very
old , wrinkled , white-haired , trembling
people , on the train is noticeable ; one
can but hope that California , whither
they , with most of the other passengers
are bound , may have nothing worse in
store for them than this day.
Along the rim of the plain to the west
are the mountains , the Rockies ; always
a few shining white peaks in sight ,
among which one is evidently Taos
Peak , a handsome broad , square topped
mountain. This is the region to which
a number of the famous frontiersmen
retired , when they began to be attracted
with advancing years , by the idea of a
life , not too quiet , but more restful
than the life of the rifle and the pack.
Here is Maxwell City , named for a com
panion of Carson and Fremont , who
married a daughter of Colonel St. Vrain
( or of Beaubieu , some say ) and owned
at one time nearly two million acres of
land surrounding this town. Maxwell
is long dead , but his huge ranch is said
to be still intact , b-ingnow the property
of a German syndicate. And here is
Wagon Mound , a famous landmark on
the old tiail ; but it is perplexing to find
two mounds , one on each side of the
railroad , each having on its rounded
summit , the distinct dome with clean-
cut sides which the plainsmen likened tea
a wagon top. Just below here the two
branches of the trail , which diverged
away back on the Arkansas , reunited.
Here Colonel Doniplmu's regiment was
encamped for two days and "an adven
' * ? H turous fellow by the name of George
Walton" gained renown among his com
rades by clambering to the top of the
wagon.
- The 1'ecoH ,
ff-m
' Las Vegas ; forage purchasable. "
This is the extent of Captain Maroy's
comment in his old itinerary , but it is
less than justice today. Forage is still
I
purchasable in Lis Vegas , but it is
dealt out at a hotel that it is an artistic
pleasure to look at , and consists of such
a dinner as travelers seldom meet ; too
good for any but a very honest traveler ,
to misquote on old writer. Here too ,
one meets with a surprising mark of
consideration from the manager , who
approaches each table in the course of
the meal and remarks in a confidential
tone that we have some twenty minutes
yet to ppare ; a pleasing courtesy indeed ;
one would think he might have traveled
himself , and after galloping through a
wayside meal , seen the engine stand
sizzling on a side track for half an hour ,
waiting for a connection. This jewel
among eating houses is called after
Castaueda , a private soldier of Coro-
nado's band , whose diary is one of the
classics of this region ; let us hope that
he found something particularly good
to'eat when he passed this way 860 years
ago.
ago.Now
Now we are in the Pecos valley , and
we have to cross over into that of the
Rio Grande , the Great or Brave River
of the North , as the Spanish called it.
It is but 65 miles and yet it takes the
rest of the day , and one could wish it
might take a week , for it is ( in the
writer's opinion ) one of the beautiful
rides of the country. Its beauty con
sists in this , that while it is a mountain
road , winding in and out between the
bright sunshine and shady recesses
where snow banks lie , yet its path lies
for hours high up on the mountain side ,
where the observer overlooks the valley
of the Pecos far and wide and has the
main chain of the Snowy Range always
to hem in his view in the distance.
Perhaps the main charm of it is in the
nature of the Pecos valley itself , which
is a thing as different from a valley in
the Allejihanies as it is from a Rocky
Mountain gorge. It is wooded , and the
trees are evergreen , while the soil is red ;
and it is a world by itself , full of little
hills and valleys of its own , and puzzling
effects in light and shade , and so vast
that one can only guess at sizes and dis
tauces in the great panorama that lies
before him. When you have not seen
it before , and are not expecting it , and
hardly know what it is , and do not at all
know where the train is going next nor
what new variation the next curve will
bring in sight , when , in a word , novelty
and expectation add their peculiar charm
to a landscape wonderfully charming in
in itself , you are likely to find this alto
gether the part you will remember long
est out of a ride that has not contained a
dull mile from its beginning.
The Old Church.
The business done on this road is evi
dently enormous. All trains seem to be
drawn by two locomotives , with some
times one or two more to help them up
hill ; the one in front is eqaipped with a
light snow plow as a seasonable precau
tion. So huge and heavy are these
engines that it seems incredible that
one of them should need help in pulling
any train whatever ; the conclusion one
comes to is that the limit of possible
power in the individual locomotive has
been reached in them , so that when still
more power is demanded it can only be
secured by doubling them up. We
meet , it seems , miles of freight trains in
this afternoon's run , beaiing the fruits
of California and the wares of the
Orient to the East and Europe. We
come to a standstill on a shelf on the
mountain side ; above us on our left
rises a snow streaked cliff , on the right
deep down below us and running off
into infinite distances is the fascinating
Pecos valley. We are in no hurry ; this
is good enough. We lean from the
window and enjoy all the pleasures pro
vided for the senses of seeing , smelling
and breathing in this historic region.
Back , by the way we have come , the
striking outline of Starvation Peak
arrests the eye ; how did this prospect
look to those whose crosses still peer
over the edge of that rock at the stream
of traffic passing beneath ? Then here
comes the train we are waiting for ; the
two iron monsters that lead it swim
gently by our windows , immense , slow ,
irresistible ; all in black , with their
boiler-iron cabs , they are more like
battleships than like ordinary locomo
tives ; each has its one great gun point
ing pkyward , and the muffled thunder
of their exhausts quickens to a volley as
they pass over the switch and plunge
onward toward the valley below.
"Look , look quick , " says the well-in
formed person , passing down the isle ;
"that red blotch yonder is the ruins of
the old Pecos church , built in 1637. "
Whether his chronology is correct or
not the old Pecos church is a most inter
esting fact. But there were two
churches there , one "Aztec" and one
Catholic ; there was also a pueblo , said
to be worth digging into to this day.
The vast original extent of these sanctu
aries is shown by the number of paint
ings and other loot from the "old Pecos
church" for sale at surprising bargains
in the shops of Santa Fe ; but this is
verging on archaeology , which is too
large a subject to be broached in this
paper.
Corouiulo.
What appears to be certain is that the
explorer Ooronado , of whom Nebraskans
have heard a good deal , passed through
that now deserted village before us ,
both going and coming , in hia expedi
tion in search of golden cities on the
plains more than three centuries and a
half ago. And it seems wonderful , and
somewhat shameful as well , to an ama
teur investigator from Nebraska , where
we are in doubt as to the course of trails
traveled by a mighty emigration only
forty years ago , to hear the students in
this country say , in speaking of that
straggling ancient band , "behind that