THE RIO GRANDE; CHIHUAHUA. II 



Taking a direction southward, a little westerly, the railroad runs to a point on 

 the Durango border-line, not far distant from a cluster of famous mining-villages. 

 Halfway to the line, it passes near Santa Rosalia, where are some celebrated 

 hot-springs. About a day's ride by diligence, west of the railroad at Huajuquilla, 

 is Parral, a thrifty mining-town, with a flower-adorned plaza and a fair hotel. 



The general character of the great plateau through Chihuahua, Durango, and 

 Zacatecas, is sterile, and to the eye forbidding; and the lack of fuel and water will 

 keep it so, though rich mines here and there have created prosperous towns. 

 The plateau along which the railroad takes its course has not its like, probably, 

 in the world, as it runs, without an important obstruction, from Santa Fe in New 

 Mexico to the Aztec capital. The following altitudes illustrate this: — 



Santa Fe, 7,047 feet above the sea; Paso del Norte, on Rio Grande, 3,815; 

 Chihuahua, 4,273; Durango, 6,848; Fresnillo, 6,244; Zacatecas, 8,038; Aguas 

 Calientes, 6,262; Lagos, 6,376; Leon, 6,000; Silao, 5,911; Guanajuato, 6,836;. 

 Salamanca, 5,761 ; Celaya, 6,017; Queretaro, 6,362; San Juan del Rio, 6,490; Tula, 

 6,733 ; Mexico, 7,469. 



Off the line of road, in an obscure corner of Durango, is the small though rich 

 town of Mapimi, famous for its mines of gold, silver, and lead. The capital of the 

 State, Durango, lies to the westward of the road, with which it is connected by 

 stages. It was founded by the Viceroy Velasco, in 1559, previous to which time 

 it was a frontier post erected against the Northern Lidians. It contains about 

 28,000 inhabitants^has regular streets, shaded walks, and plazas, watered by a large 

 spring ; some beautiful bridges span a fine stream; its cathedral is celebrated for its 

 richness of ornament; its "palace " is large; its markets are excellent; its schools 

 (eighty-nine in the State) are well cared for; its institute (InstiiJito Juarez) has 250 

 students; another (for girls), 150; and it has a Monte/io, or government pawn- 

 shop, like the City of Mexico. The climate of Durango is cool and healthy, the 

 soil fertile in watered valle)-s, but generally sterile. A wild country stretches 

 southward to Sombrerete, a great mining-town with 20,000 people, where in 

 olden times bonanzas, the richest in America, have been extracted from its famous 

 veta negra, or black vein, of silver. It lies on the old wagon-trail ; but the railroad 

 leaves it to the east, and at Fresnillo strikes another great mining-centre, with 

 28,000 population. The hills about this town are full of mines which have been 

 rich, whatever their condition now. A share which the government once held in 

 one yielded an annual revenue of $500,000; but Santa Anna when in power, eager 

 to possess all the golden eggs at once, sold its interest for less than one year's 

 income. Around Fresnillo, and north and east, to Catorce and San Luis Potosi, 

 stretches a " waste and sterile moorland, almost treeless, with little natural vege- 

 tation save the mesquite, with only an occasional hacienda to be met with, and 

 the people collected in the crowded mining-towns." Such is the approach to 

 Zacatecas, capital of the State, with a population of 64,000. This populous city 

 is in the midst of the richest mines of Mexico. 



Zacatecas is a mountain country of the high plateau, cut up by spurs of the 

 Cordillera, and mostly arid and inhospitable. The region between San Luis Potosi 

 and Sombrerete, and Mazapil and Zacatecas, is a broad plain, interspersed with 

 a few swelling knolls, and an occasional group of hills or mountains. The country 

 is unusually dry ; and water-tanks, wells, and reservoirs are important features of an 

 estate, and noteworthy objects to the traveller in this arid region. Zacatecas, the 



