Page:Appleton's Guide to Mexico.djvu/313

Rh

The Cathedral, or parochial church, stands on the plaza. It is built of cut stone of a very light color, and has two towers and a dome. The exterior is very imposing. The church cost $800,000. It was erected from a fund raised by levying a tax of one real on every mark of silver obtained from the mines of Santa Eulalia, fifteen miles distant.

Fruit, vegetables, and the cereals grow in the environs of the city. There is fine grazing-land in Chihuahua. In 1871 the American consul reported that there were 800,000 sheep and 250,000 cattle in the State.

The climate is salubrious, the temperature ranging from 16° to 94° Fahr. May, June, and July are the warmest months, but the nights are always cool and pleasant during this season. The rains begin about the 25th of June, and last till the middle of October.

On June 1, 1883, this section of the road was finished, and trains began to run about August 1st.

Leaving Chihuahua, we pass through a grazing country for about 50 miles, when the valley of the San Pedro River is reached. Maize, wheat, and cotton are grown here. Proceeding southward, we enter the valley of the Conchos River, near the station of Santa Rosalia.

Much wheat and Indian corn are produced in this vicinity, the chief part of which is consumed in the State of Chihuahua among the various mining towns. Fifty miles south of Santa Rosalia we reach the valley of the