NEWSPAPERS AND CHURCHES. 777 papers are published in Spanish, and several others in English and Spanish. In quality they will compare favorably with similar publications in other territories. A Press Association was organized at Las Vegas in 1880. The religion of the territory is naturally for the most part Roman Catholic. In 1870 that denomination had 152 of the 158 churches, with church property valued at $313,321. The census of 1880 contains no church statistics. In 1882 there were 72 priests, serving a catholic catholic population of 126,000. New Mexico, with Arizona and Colorado, forms an archbishopric under John B. Lamy since 1865. The Jesuits an act incorporating which society was annulled by congress in 1878--are active, especially in educational matters, as are the Christian Brothers and Sisters of Charity and Mercy. There has been some clashing between the old native priests and the new-comers introduced by Lamy, but under the bishop's energetic management there has been a notable improvement in the tone of ecclesiastical affairs, and an almost complete weeding-out of the old-time laxity of morals that was remarked by carly visitors. Here, as elsewhere, the church is slow to adopt sweeping reforms, and does not often favor educational advancement that it cannot entirely control; but a good work has been slowly accomplished, and there is a tolerably strong tendency to improvement, many of the catholic institutions of education and charity being consol. in 1875 with News and Press at Cimarron. Las Vegas, N. Mex. Advertiser, 1870-8, 1st paper in S. Miguel co. Cimarron, Press, 1870, absorbed the News in 1875. Las Vegas, Mail, 1870, changed to Gazette. Silver City, Mining Life, 1873; suspended 1875; later revived as Herald. Las Cruces, Eco del Rio Grande, 1874, transferred to Globe, Ariz. Las Vegas, Revista Católica, started in 1875; Revista Evangélica, 1876-9. Mesilla, Valley Independent, 1879-9. Santa Fé, Illust. Monthly, Jan. -May 1878. Laguna, La Solona, 1878. Taos, Espejo, 1878; trans. to Bernalillo, and to Alburquerque 1879; changed to Mirror; merged in Miner; suspended. Sta Fé, Rocky Mt Sentinel, 1878-9. Las Cruces, Thirty-four, 1878; Newman's Thirty-four, 1881. Silver City, Silver Record, 1879; suspended. Otero, Optic, 1879; trans. to Las Vegas. N. Mex. Herald, 1879; trans. to Sta Fé in 1880 as Era Southwestern; ch. to Democrat. Los Cerrillos Prospector, at Carbonateville, 1879. Alburquerque, Advance, 1880; trans to Socorro as Sun. Alb., Golden Gate, 1880; ch. to Republican. White Oaks, Golden Era, 1880. well managed and effective. The Mormons, respecting whose proselyting schemes there has been some excitement, especially in 1875-7, as shown by the newspapers, have a few churches on the eastern border, but I find no definite information or statistics. Of protestant denominations the episcopalians seem to have the lead, with six clergymen under George Kelly as primate in 1882, and three churches as early as 1870. The presbyterians and methodists are reported as having a dozen or more clergymen and 700 communicants; while the baptists, congregationalists, and southern methodists have each two or three clergymen. protestant influence is, however, weak, and is confined for the most part to the new and thriving towns, most of which have one or more church edifices. CHAPTER XXXI. COUNTIES AND TOWNS OF NEW MEXICO. 1886. COUNTY MAP-COLFAX-AREA AND ANNALS-STOCK-RAISING-RATON AND SPRINGER-DICTATIONS OF PROMINENT CITIZENS-MORA-FORT UNION -TAOS-A GARDEN-SPOT-OLD PUEBLO-SAN FERNANDO RIO ARRIBA-SAN JUAN INDIANS-COAL-TIERRA AMARILLA-ONATE'S CAPITAL-BERNALILLO A FLOURISHING COUNTY-TIGUEX PUEBLOS— ALBURQUERQUE-SANTA FÉ-ANTIQUITY AND MINES-THE CAPITALSTATEMENTS OF CITIZENS-SAN MIGUEL-FARMS AND RANCHOS--LAS VEGAS-TESTIMONY OF RESIDENTS-VALENCIA AND LAS LUNAS-LINCOLN AND WHITE OAKS-SOCORRO-MINING ACTIVITY-GRANT-SILVER CITY AND DEMING-DOÑA ANA-MESILLA VALLEY-LAS CRUCESSIERRA-HILLSBOROUGH AND LAKE VAlley. BOUNDARIES of the thirteen counties of New Mexico are shown on the appended map. Eight of them date back to Mexican times; one was added soon after the territorial organization;1 and four have since been created. Colfax county occupies an area of 7,000 square miles in the north-eastern corner of the territory, its altitude being from 5,500 to 8,000 feet, with some lofty peaks. It was created by act of 1869, its boundaries being modified in 1876 and in 1882. The county seat was first at Elizabethtown, which town was incorporated in 1870, but was moved to Cimarron in 1872, and finally to Springer in 1882. In 1876-8 the county was attached to Taos for judicial purposes. About half the area is mesa or prairie land, affording 1 For the counties and boundaries as organized by the legislature of 1852, see N. Mex., Compiled Laws, 252 et seq. The county areas as given by me are computed from the map. The authorities differ so greatly, and in some cases are so clearly wrong, that I have hesitated to give their figures, though not very confident that my own are always accurate. excellent grazing, and supporting in 1880 about 29,000 cattle and 65,000 sheep, the numbers having greatly increased since that date, 187,000 and 86,000 being the figures in 1883. Along the watercourses are numerous narrow tracts, successfully cultivated by irrigation. There are over half a million acres of coalfields, and the coal is somewhat extensively worked in the region of Raton. The mountains are covered with pine, affording lumber of fair quality in consider able quantities. Of gold from the Moreno placers and Ute Creek and other quartz mines several millions of dollars have been produced since 1868, and copper is also found. Over half the county is included in the famous Maxwell rancho, or land grant of Beaubien and Miranda, and here the Jicarilla Apaches and Ute bands had their homes for many years, as related in an earlier chapter. The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad, the first to enter the territory, crosses Colfax from north to south, and on its line are the leading towns. The population in 1880 was 3,398, and is now perhaps 5,000. The total assessed value of property in 1883 was $5,437,640, the largest item being that of livestock. Raton, with over 2,000 inhabitants, is the largest town, being of modern or railroad origin. Its prominence arises from the proximity of the coal mines, to which a branch road extends, and from the location of the railroad shops here. The town has good water-works, good schools, two newspapers-the Guard and News and Press-the only ones published in the county, and it aspires to future prominence as a manufacturing centre. Springer, the county seat, had but 34 inhabitants in 1880, but is now a thriving village, with a fine court-house and a cement factory, being also the shipping point for a large territory east and west. Elizabethtown and Cimarron, formerly honored as county seats, had respectively 175 and 290 inhabitants in 1880. The former is a mining town in the Moreno districts; and the latter, formerly known as Maxwell's rancho, may be considered the oldest settlement in the county. Colfax has a smaller proportion of native, or Mexican, population than most parts of the territory.2 2 Among the publications of recent years which contain more or less descriptive matter on the counties and towns are Ritch's Aztlan, his Illust. N. Mex., and the various other editions of the same work; the county reports of the N. Mex., Bureau of Immig.; N. Mex., Business Directory; McKenney's Business Directory; N. Mex., Pointers on the South-west: Rand, McNally, & Co., Overland Guide; Id., Guide to Col.: N. Mex., Real Estate, Sta Fé, 1883; Avery's Hand-Book and Travellers' Guide of N. Mex., Denver, 1881, 16mo; Berger's Tourists' Guide to N. Mex., Kansas City, 1883. This last book has |