6 



A GUIDE TO MEXICO. 



much has been claimed for New Mexico in the way of natural wealth, we cannot 

 affirm that it possesses any greater attraction than its climate, which is indeed a 

 glorious one, filling the year with bright, sparkling days, and making it an elysium 

 for people afflicted with bilious disorders or pulmonary complaints. At no place 

 in New Mexico — or, in fact, in the great South-west — is there such a sanitarium 

 of nature's own creating, aided by man's efforts, as at the Hot Springs of Las 

 Vegas, reached at a point 125 miles south of the Colorado line, and 777 miles west 

 of Atchison, among the foothills of the Spanish mountains. More than a score 

 of thermal springs lie hidden in a little valley, protected on every side from the 

 penetrating winds that sometimes sweep the bleak plains. They contain sulphate 



LAS VEGAS HOT SPRINGS. 



and chloride of sodium, with traces of iodine, bromine, and lithium, while the bog 

 through which their waters have for centuries percolated yields that curious silt 

 used in the " mud baths " so efficacious in the treatment of cutaneous diseases. 



In this mountain valley a great hotel was erected, a few years ago, at an expense 

 of nearly a quarter of a million dollars, containing 250 rooms, heated by steam, 

 and lighted with gas, with numerous appointments for the comfort of guests, and 

 such sanitary provisions, that it was declared to be " a most delightful resting-place 

 on the southern route across the continent." Baths in every variety — medicated, 

 electrical, Turkish, vapor, with sprays and douches — are administered by experienced 

 medical attendants, while all the establishments in this miniature Saratoga are 

 supplied with water from the mountain-springs above, pure as the air which fills 

 the lungs, and brings tonic to the systems of patients who seek here the fountain of 

 rejuvenescence. The first hotel built here by the railroad company was destroyed 



