CITIES, AMERICAN. (VIRGINIA CITY, WASHINGTON.) 



133 



road. It is 60 miles from the border of Mexico, 

 and about 175 miies from tbe Gulf of California. 

 la 1884 it had about 10,000 inhabitants, and 

 in 1887 about 7,500. It is the county-seat of 

 Pima County, and has the most expensive 

 court-house in the Territory. It has a fine, 

 large brick school-house, erected at a cost of 

 $50,000, and there are now in course of erection 

 a very large Catholic church, hospital, and 

 convent, and a Territorial university. Con- 

 gregationalists, Baptists, and Methodists have 

 each a fine church- building. There are no 

 manufactories, but arrangements for a tannery 

 are being made. A root found in very large 

 quantities in the surrounding country contains 

 96 per cent, of tannic acid. Two new railroads 

 have been projected, one of which is now in 

 course of construction. There are several large 

 irrigating ditches in course of construction in 

 the immediate neighborhood of this city, which, 

 when finished, will place many thousands of 

 acres under cultivation that are now of no 

 value whatever. Tucson has gas works, ice- 

 works, and water- works. Two daily papers 

 are published here, and ona weekly in the 

 Spanish language. 



Virginia City, the largest town in Nevada, in 

 Storey County, in the western part of the State, 

 on the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, 6,100 

 feet above the level of the sea. It is 52 miles 

 by rail from Reno, on the Central Pacific Rail- 

 road, with which it is connected by the Vir- 

 ginia and Truckee Railroad, Virginia City being 

 the southern terminus. The town grew rap- 

 idly for several years following the uncover- 

 ing of immense bodies of ore in the Comstock 

 lode, in 1868-'69. From 1875 the ore-yield 

 was much less. Deep mining proved unprofit- 

 able, and many people sought their fortunes 

 in other directions. Houses were taken down 

 and removed to other localities, or burned for 

 fire- wood. Large bodies of low-grade ore had 

 been left in the haste of extracting that of 

 more value, and it having been found that this 

 can be milled with profit to the mining com- 

 panies, fresh bodies of ore being also found 

 near the surface, a new impetus has been given 

 to the town within the past two years. No 

 new buildings have been erected for ten or 

 twelve years, owing to the causes mentioned. 

 The town's prosperity depends wholly on the 

 mines, there being no business except such as 

 is connected with them, and the furnishing of 

 supplies for the people. The production of 

 the mines varies largely; in some years it has 

 been as high as $80,000,000, but it is now much 

 less. It is supplied with water from LakeMar- 

 lette and its tributaries, distant 21 miles, by an 

 extraordinary piece of hydraulic engineering, 

 the-fluiru's and pipes having been carried up 

 and down the walls of 12 steep canons, one of 

 the depth of 1,540 feet. The town contains a 

 line coiirt-luni-e, school-houses, 5 churches, a 

 it private residences, and the largest 

 and most complete hoisting- works over the 

 mines that are to be found in the world. The 



population is fluctuating, depending on the 

 amount of milling and mining being done. In 

 1885 it was estimated at 10,000 ; but it is now, 

 1887, nearer 12,000. 



Washington, the capital of the United States 

 of America, in the District of Columbia, on the 

 northeast bank of the Potomac river, 11 6 J 

 miles above its mouth at Smith's Point, and 

 184J miles from the Atlantic at the mouth of 

 Chesapeake Bay, between the Anacostia or 

 Eastern branch and Rock creek (which sepa- 

 rates it from Georgetown on the west), 35 miles 

 (direct) S. W. of Baltimore, and 205 miles S. W. 

 of New York ; latitude (Capitol) 38 53' 20-1" 

 N., longitude 77 0' 27'9" W. of Greenwich ; 

 population in 1870, 109,199 (35,455 colored and 

 13,757 foreigners) ; in 1875, estimated at 133,- 

 000; in 1880, 159,855; in 1887, estimated at 

 179,000, of whom nearly one third are colored. 

 It covers a little more than 9| square miles. 

 The site is an undulating tract having a mean 

 altitude of about 40 feet above the river. Be- 

 yond the limits is a circling range of wooded 

 hills. The streets, with the exception of those 

 designated as avenues, are laid out at right an- 

 gles, running due north and south, and east 

 and west. The north and south streets are 

 designated by numbers, the east and west by 

 letters. The width of the streets varies from 

 70 to 160 feet. There are 21 avenues, named 

 after States of the Union, crossing the streets 

 diagonally, the principal of which radiate from 

 the Capitol, the White House, or Lincoln Square 

 east of the Capitol. Of these 19 are from 120 

 to 160 feet wide, and 2 are 85 feet wide. 

 Pennsylvania Avenue, the great business thor- 

 oughfare, extending across the city from Rock 

 creek to the Eastern branch, is interrupted by 

 the Capitol and the White House, between 

 which it forms the main avenue of communi- 

 cation. There are several squares handsomely 

 laid out and containing fountains, trees, shrub- 

 bery, and statues of naval and military heroes. 

 Among the most noteworthy are Farragut 

 Square, between Sixteen-and-a-half and Sev- 

 enteenth and I and K Streets, with a heroic 

 statue in bronze by Vinnie Ream Hoxie; La- 

 fayette Square, between Vermont Avenue and 

 Sixteen-and a-half Street and Pennsylvania 

 Avenue and H Street, containing an equestrian 

 statue of Gen. Jackson, designed by the late 

 Clark Mills; Washington Circle, at the inter- 

 section of Twenty-third Street and Pennsyl- 

 vania Avenue ; McPherson Square, at the inter- 

 section of Vermont Avenue and I Street; Scott 

 Circle, Sixteenth Street and Massachusetts 

 Avenue; Thomas Circle, Fourteenth Street 

 and Massachusetts Avenue, all of which contain 

 statues of the men after which they are named. 

 The Mall, extending west from the Capitol 

 Grounds, contains the Botanic Garden, the 

 Smithsonian Institution, and the Department 

 of Agriculture. The " Park 1 ' extends west from 

 the Mall to the banks of the Potomac, and con- 

 tains the recently finished Washington Monu- 

 ment, 555 feet high, and the Government Fropa- 



