DUEANGO. 101 



tlie oldest station in north Mexico, having been founded in 1585 by a Franciscan 

 missionary. This " ford," as the word means, was formerly much frequented by 

 the American convoys which conducted the transport service across the western 

 prairies between the Missouri and Mexico, but it gradually lost its importance, 

 owing to the competition of the ocean highways. Paso, however, has acquired 

 great commercial value since it has become the junction of the four railwaj^s 

 running to San Francisco, to New York through Denver, to New Orleans and to 

 Mexico. In 1889 its exchanges amounted to over £4,000,000. At the confluence 

 of the Rio Bravo and Conchos river stands the frontier military station of 

 Fresidio del Korte, which lies beyond the trade routes, and, desj)ite its strategic 

 value, has never risen to the rank of a town. 



In the hilly region stretching west of El Paso parallel with the Rio Bravo 

 prehistoric ruins are very numerous ; here are found the Casas Grandes, " great 

 houses," of Chihuahua, the largest of the Nahua settlements whose remains still 

 survive in the northern part of Mexican territory. All that now remains of .the 

 ramparts are some grassy mounds dominated here and there by the fragments of 

 crumbling walls. On the highest mound stood the ancient temple, and here has 

 been discovered a block of meteoric iron still carefully wrapped in cloth ; it 

 was probably an object of worship, like the black stone at Mecca. 



In its general outlines the State of Durango, lying to the south of Chihuahua, 

 presents the same aspect and forms part of the same geographical region that was 

 formerly comprised under the designation of Nueva Vizcaya, or "New Biscay." 

 The settlers are to a large extent of Basque origin, fully as energetic and indus- 

 trious as their Iberian ancestors. In this part of the republic the purely European 

 element is more strongly represented than elsewhere in Mexico. Like Chihuahua, 

 Durango comprises on the west the parallel ranges of the Sierra Madre, and on 

 the east side vast arid and partly desert plains. Consequently here also the chief 

 towns are all situated in the western section along the foot of the mountains. 

 Durango, however, occupying a more elevated and less arid part of the plateau, is 

 also more fertile and relatively more densely peopled than Chihuahua; the latter 

 state has only two, the former from four to six, inhabitants to the square mile. 



Durango, the capital, is named from the Basque town of Durango, having been 

 founded in the year 1551 as a strategic post in the territory of the Chichimec 

 Indians. Standing on a plateau 6,350 feet high, it commands a superb prospect 

 of the most diversified character, the view in one direction sweeping over the 

 gloomy ravines and fantastic gulches of the Brefia, in another embracing the 

 highlands crossed by the highway to Mazatlan, the nearest port on the Pacific. 

 Durango is famous in geological records for its meteoric stones, which resemble 

 those found in many other parts of the Sierra Madre ; one block, mentioned by 

 Humboldt, is said to weigh from sixteen to twenty tons. But the great geological 

 curiosity of Durango is its huge rock of native iron, the Cerro de Mercado, so 

 named from a captain w^hom the hope of finding gold had attracted to these regions 

 in 1562, and who on his return from the vain quest perished in a conflict with 

 the Indians. This mass of iron, which lies over a mile to the north of Durango, 



