Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/604

596 down from the North, across New Mexico and a most attractive country, from the Missouri River. Nearly all the progress of El Paso is recent, and is due to these railroads.

The valley in which El Paso is situated is from a mile to three miles wide, and nearly forty miles in length, possesses a soil which is extremely productive when well irrigated, yielding excellent crops of wheat in particular, and its climate is remarkably fine, equalling that of Santa Fé and Mexico City. Above the town is a small kiosk, perched on a spur of the hills, whence is obtained a delightful view, at the feet of the observer, over the town and down the Rio Grande valley; where the river runs is green, while all else is brown and bare, as far as the eye can reach, even to the distant mountains of Chihuahua. The banks of the Rio Grande—the Rio Bravo del Norte—here are low and easily approached, while at Eagle Pass and Laredo they are high; though the volume of water is not appreciably less and the current is rapid; this town also suffers from the terrific storms of sand that affect the settlements farther down the river.

Water-works now supply the city, and street-cars run from the principal depots through the town and over the river to the Mexican settlement. Two bridges here cross the Rio Grande, one belonging to the Central Railroad, and the other to the municipality.

Across the river from El Paso is Paso del Norte, the most northerly town of any size in Mexico, as well as the oldest in this region, having been founded, as a mission, at or near the close of the seventeenth century, probably in 1680. It is an unpretentious mud village, which is content to remain so, if those restless Americanos from over the Border will only allow it to. But they will not, and the Yankee "City of the Pass," like Laredo, is pushing its apathetic Mexican sister into prominence. About the only buildings not of adobe are those composing the offices of the Mexican Central, while the other conspicuous and native structures are the old church and the mud fort. Both are ancient, but the church is of great age, dating probably from that period when the Spaniards were driven south from Santa Fé by the Pueblo Indians. Amongst a heap of old church