134 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (KINGSTON, LAS VEGAS.) 



There are 5 banks with an aggregate capital of 

 $500,000, and 2 loan and building associations ; 

 'j daily, 4 weekly (1 German) newspapers, and 2 

 monthly publications. Keokuk has a large whole- 

 sale and shipping trade in groceries, lumber, dry- 

 ;.. Is, drugs, hardware, butter and eggs, boots 

 and shoes, and manufactured articles. The coal 

 fields of Iowa and Illinois being in close prox- 

 imity, its manufactories are developing rapidly. 

 Among these are 2 large canning factories, pickle 

 works, 2 stove works, 2 flouring mills, pump and 

 tuniiture factories, 2 starch works, 3 iron found- 

 ries and machine shops, plow works, a brick- 

 iiKiking machine and wind-engine factories, large 

 shoe factory, 2 railway shops, sash and blind fac- 

 tories, cooper shops, a large pork-packinghouse 

 (slaughtering 140,000 hogs annually), 3 large saw 

 mills, and extensive lumber yards that manu- 

 factured and received in 1888 96,500,000 feet of 

 lumber, 13,000,000 lath, and 25,000,000 shingles. 

 A large powder plant is being erected near the 

 city. There is a national cemetery, a large army- 

 hospital having been located here during the civil 

 war. The city was incorporated in 1847. It is 

 in a sound financial condition, the debt of $300,- 

 000 being funded at a low rate of interest: 



Kingston, a city of Ontario, Canada. Its set- 

 tlement is almost contemporaneous with that 

 of Quebec. In 1673 Count de Frontenac, Gov- 

 ernor of New France, made a voyage hither 

 with 120 boats in great state, and established a 

 fortified trading post after his own name, with 

 the favor of the Iroquois tribe. Here La Salle 

 built a vessel, and sailed up the lake, establish- 

 ing a fort at Niagara, where again he built for 

 the navigation of Lake Erie, a part of his aim 

 for a passage to China and by the Mississippi to 

 Mexico. About Fort Frontenac, called by the 

 Indians Cataraqui, colonists settled. The treach- 

 ery of its next commandant, De Denouville, to- 

 ward the Indians had its fruit in siege, capt- 

 ure, and massacres. Frontenac, recalled from 

 France, rebuilt the fort, and it had a tranquil 

 existence till the British capture under Col. Brad- 

 street in 1758. It again became important when 

 the loyalists flocked over from the United States 

 as a result of the War of Independence, and set- 

 tled in and about it in great numbers, giving it the 

 name of King's Town. In 1842 it was made the 

 eapital of Upper Canada, and great building en- 

 ter]. rise was undertaken, but within a few years 

 the seat of government was withdrawn, dissipat- 

 ing the fortunes of the people, and giving a death- 

 blow to enterprise while that generation lasted. 

 It settled down to the life and dependence of a 

 garrison town, fostered by extensive fort build- 

 in- under imperial policy. The British troops 

 being withdrawn, and lake commerce being on 

 the decline, Kingston roused itself in the sixties 

 and has steadily advanced from a population of 

 12.600 to one of 21,000, including the Canadian 

 regulars in garrison and suburbs of Portsmouth. 

 Hi-re, are Queen's College, with 500 students in 

 arts, science, theology, and medicine; the Royal 

 Military College, beautifully located and finely 

 equipped; the Royal College of Physicians; a 

 Woman's Medical College, the pioneer of its 

 class in Canada : the Dominion Business College ; 

 and a collegiate institute in unbroken operation 

 since 1794. Various fortifications give the town 

 a military strength second only to that of Quebec, 



and its five armed Martello towers possess an es- 

 pecial interest for visitors. Here, in the days 

 gone by, Navy Bay was filled with vessels of war 

 from England ; but the dock yard, after many 

 years of idleness, is doing duty as a site for the 

 military college. Its commercial importance 

 before the era of railroads was pre-eminent in 

 Ontario due to its position at the juncture of 

 Lake Ontario and the river St. Lawrence, with a 

 land-locked harbor easy of access, and to its be- 

 ing also at the foot of Bay of Quint e and Rideau 

 Canal navigation. Extensive grain transship- 

 ment takes place from lake vessels to river 

 barges, rafting of timber is a vigorous business, 

 and a fair lumber, coal, and iron trade is dune 

 in vessels. A dry dock, claimed to be the best 

 on the continent, is nearing completion. Besides 

 the Grand Trunk Railway there is the Kingston 

 and Pembroke, running 120 miles north through 

 the iron-mining district, and connecting with 

 the Canadian Pacific system ; the Kingston, Nap- 

 anee and Western, running 90 miles northwest : 

 and the projected Kingston, Smith's and Ottawa 

 Railway, 120 miles to the northeast. Its indus- 

 tries include locomotive and engine works em- 

 ploying 500 men. a cotton mill, a hosiery mill, 

 car works, machinery foundry, stove works, and 

 cement, oil-cloth, biscuit, and broom factories. 

 Its public institutions include the provincial 

 penitentiary, with 600 inmates ; 2 provincial asy- 

 lums, with 800 patients ; 2 hospitals ; 2 orphan- 

 ages; and 2 homes for the aged. The public 

 buildings and churches are all of stone, the city 

 hall, court house, and Roman Catholic cathedral 

 being models of fine architecture. It is the 

 seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and of an 

 Anglican bishop. The assessment of property 

 aggregates $8,000,000. 



Las Vegas, the county seat of San Miguel 

 County, New Mexico, on Gallinas river. It was 

 founded in 1835 by a colony of Mexicans, on the 

 direct road between Santa Fe and Missouri 

 river, and was a stopping place for the great 

 wagon trains from the United States to the north- 

 ern Mexican provinces. It was taken possession 

 of by Gen. Stephen W. Kearney for the United 

 States, Aug. 15, 1846. On July 4, 1879, the 

 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad entered 

 the town, which at that date was constructed 

 principally of adobe. The population in 1890 

 was 4,692. In 1888 the total of freight forwarded 

 from Las Vegas was 84,599,670 pounds, and of 

 that received, 107,633,570. San Miguel County 

 contains 8,468,881 acres, of which 38,241 are un- 

 der irrigation, and the total assessed valuation 

 in 1888 was $8,064,610. It contains quarries of 

 building stone of various colors and fine quality. 

 and lumber is abundant, the mountains northwest 

 of the city being covered with heavy forests of 

 pine, easily accessible. Large amounts of lum- 

 ber and building material are cut and shipped. 

 Good clay is also found, and is utilized in mak- 

 ing brick. Las Vegas is supplied with water 

 from the springs of Gallinas river, conveyed seven 

 miles, with a fall of 300 feet, affording pressure 

 for security against fire and power for manu- 

 facturing. The city has a large flouring mill. 

 Street cars, gas, and electric lights are in use, 

 and there is telephone communication to Los 

 Alamos and Mora. There are 1 daily and 2 

 weekly newspapers (one of the last being pub- 



