Show REGIONS OF essaw deseret newa from the solicitude felt by the lat ter day saints sainte of mexico in whatever concerns their co laborers in utah one may infer that a brief sketch of the surroundings and prospects of the people here will not be without interest to many of your readers though working here as there for the same end they are surrounded by circumstances as differ different eDt almost as night from day hardly a thing here reminds one ff ef his utah home except the faces of the friends of former days instead of the prevailing mountainous region indented with valleys we have here long stretches of level grassy plain over which one sees see scattered here and there a portion of a mountain chain or a string of straggling bills the soil is unusually deep and rich with occasionally stretches of sand the hills are mostly lava rock and limestone formation very appropriately pria tely named by the mexicans Imal malpais pals bad country beadi bearing little vegetation except where reinden indented vales are covered with grass though water is much needed at present the casas came grandes river on whose banks the latter day saints have in the main started their settlements will in a few years be controlled so as to furnish water for the irrigation of a vast area of country yet there are now at casas grandes and diaz never falling failing springs in which the people are already obtaining shares enough for a moderate water supply during the dry season the settlements of juarez at palomas and on the boca orande grande may be well supplied with water the year round but one of the most marked points of difference between utah and mexico is in climate instead of the regulation four seasons masons we have only two which may be appropriately called wet and dry when however we sit in the comfortable evening shade with the clear blue above without a fleck of snow in sight and read of the blizzards and driving snow with which our friends in the north are persecuted we are measurably resigned to the low loss or the poetical seasons the wet weather commences about the middle of july and lasts till the middle of october during this time each morning is usually clear while the afternoon brings on a drenching rainstorm occasionally however the sky is overcast for days at a time and the rain pours down in torrents in the rainy season the grass gram on the plains and wherever it can get a stand on the hills springs springe up in all its ite glory spreading a mantle of verdure the whole country over one or other of the five kinds of grass gram indigenous here is green the year through so that one does not need to keep cattle up at ony any time of the year from the middle of october there are infrequent rainstorms brainstorms rain storms till january when if there is any snow at all a slight fall relieves the monotony of warm weather and reminds the uton jan of a march bluster it is an exceptional season that any snow falls but we had a three days winter last january prom from february till the middle of july the old resident expects very little ra ral inand nand the hottest weather of the year one would think that with so little cold weather there must follow intense summer heat butruch but such is not the case for when the sun pours down its severest rays the atmosphere to is yet cool and the nights following are so much so as to require warm thick clothing for comfort the th latter day saints have a considerable sid erable foothold la in the northern part of the state of chihuahua pronounced pr and their their position is becoming stronger every day instead of planting in the regular line north as at first they have now taken to putting in their first crops in the early winter when the mexicans allow the water to go to waste then by the of june harvest is on and the soil is prepared for another crop commencing with the rainy season mason which Js is hardly over before the second crop can be harvested but the great signal of prosperity to the latter day saints in mexico at present sent is the fast that hon john V W young has in hand the building of a railroad through the heart of their country connecting them with the vast coal fields and the pacific coast on the west and with the mexican central railway system on the east it t may be well to give just here some idea of the relative positions of the settlements of the cormons mormons Mor mons I in this country and to sketch the route of mr youngs projected railway from doming deming new mexico the initial point of the road to the line between the U united cited states and mexico is thirty five miles and four and a half miles south of the line is las palomas the first station in mexico this settlement le ie in the mexican free zone and has the location and facilities for an important commercial and manufacturing fac turing town the custom house bouse having been ordered to this point from la ascension as soon as the railroad commences it is twelve miles directly south of palomas to the casas cam grandes river where the track takes a bend following up that stream through the boca grande brande tract of land forty miles in length belonging to hon john W young to diaz the most important settlement of the lat ter day d saints in mexico on the boca brande tract mr young intends to establish three or four settlements from palomas to diaz is a distance of sixty five miles almost directly south leaving diaz the railroad will continue south past la ascension five miles distant to janos twenty miles further on and thence through cor galitos to casas grandes corralitos Corra litos Is ie the centre of a mineral region of such extent sud and richness as almost aim oat to stag ger belief but owing to the lack of facilities for transportation a greater part of the new mining properties as well as the old mexican mines hereabout still hold bold their output of low grade ores on the dump and here scattered over the face of the country for miles may be found millions of tons in a place silver ore running from 16 15 to 58 and 86 ounces per tou this one valley in the transportation it will furnish the road in low grade pay ore alone to say nothing of the ore oreto to be taken from the mines at sabina sabinal Sa binal cor galitos ra litos bavispe and casas cam grandes would pay for its construction from diaz to colonia dublan near casas grandes where there is another prosperous settlement of saints to is sixty miles instead of pawing passing the mormon settlements of Juarez about twelve miles southwest of casas grandes grandee and pacheco Pac beco thirty five miles further into the sierra madre mountains the railroad continues on almost directly south from dublan the road leaves the valley of the cases grandes grandee climbing a slight swell to the east and enters that of the rio bio de desanta santa maria the entire way from here to guerrerro concepcion a distance of miles is lined with forests of pine oak sycamore ash and anci walnut galeana is the first settlement after casas cans grandes grandee twenty miles further up the santa maria Is the next station at el valle here too as at corralitos Corra litos aliton the road will tar tap inexhaustible mineral re sources at el valle the open valley ceases and the way proceeds up the river through a narrow ravine along along which the river pours through heavy havy forests of timber past los cruces Narni namiquipa quips where the valley widens again and the vast possibilities for water power in close proximity to the timber measurably ceases from san ban antonio the road takes to the open valley on the west passing santa ana and santa tomas on the way to guerrerro a distance of miles from doming deming where a spur of the road one hundred and fifty miles in length will connect that point with the mexican central railway at chihuahua the capital of the state the main line however will continue on south to a pass through the sierra madre mountains at Ba coyna on the western slope of the sierra madres the road enters a large aethra cite coal field equal in extent and in quality of its product to anything known from the course taken is in southwest pawing passing are 0 capachi na pachi la junta agua caliente el 21 puerto fuerte and thence continuing down the river of that name to the large kansas colony at topolobampo on the pacific coast traversing from the initial point at doming deming 1250 miles of as rich agricultural and mineral country as the earth affords the road will then parallel the pacific coast from topolobampo to guaymas Gua in the state of sonora making miles more or 1500 miles in all since the year 1885 a contract with the mexican government to build this railway has been in the hands of a number of capitalists here but the work has been attended with indifferent success one of the companies built some two years since fifty two miles of grade bought ties enough to cover about that distance and an en gine giveand and there the work stood when mr young made a proposition last fall to buy the contract his offer was accepted and the transfer made in february last but owing to the various complications in which the matter had been involved work has been considerably sider ably hampered now however earnest progress is being made and aad the contract is let for miles of grade to be completed by september 16 15 1891 about seventy miles of grade is now ready for the ties while a hundred men and teams b besides sides a large force of mexicans with the shovel are pushing the work with vigor As a promoter promoter of the enterprise bishop W wm derby johnson jr of diaz stands next to hon john W young and his object from the first has been to give employment and bring prosperity generally to the latter day saints to in mexico the track is to be of standard guage sixty pound steel rails and track jay ing will commence at doming deming not later than july 1 1891 As a voucher that everything about the road will be strictly first class clam it to is only necessary to state that your fellow townsman J fewson smith is the chief engineer of construction through his agent bishop william derby johnson jr mr young will have full control of this line of railway and besides this he be has an option from the same parties on acres of land extending from the boundary line between the united states and mexico to south of casas camas grandes a distance of about miles along with this tract of land mr young will obtain a colonization concession under which settlers on the lands mentioned will receive from the government privileges of considerable importance these sales bales to and contracts with mr young have received the sanction aed approval of the mexican government officers who have pledged edged themselves to confirm them to elm him or to ratify any transfer he roky may make of them taken all in all therefore the condition of the latter day saints sainta in mexico is one of peace contentment and prosperity L A WILSON LAs LAB PA momAs mex via deming N M may 20 29 1891 |