Today in History:

685 Series I Volume XV- Serial 21 - Baton Rouge-Natchez

Page 685 Chapter XXVII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - UNION.

scarce, $9 per fanega (of 160 pounds); wheat, $12 per cargo of 300 pounds-usual price $2 to $2.50 per fanega of 150 pounds. Wheat promises well this year and is harvested in the beginning of May. Two trains loaded with grain and flour left Chihuahua for Monterey the week before I left, so that but little dependence can be placed upon a large supply from that point at reasonable figures. The mercantile house of Gustavo Mayoy Hermans offered to furnish such supplies as we require at market prices at any time, and they believe that large quantities of subsistence and grain is stored in Chihuahua.

To ascertain the condition of the market in Chihuahua is not easy for a stranger. There is only one flour-mill in Chihuahua City, and that will not grind over 300 pounds a day. The great grain-growing districts in the State are as follows:

Wheat: San Geronimo, San Miguel Dolores, San Pablo, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosalia.

Corn: Santa Ysabel, where leagues and leagues are planted, but corn grows also in the wheat districts.

At Guadalupe and San Ignacio, on the Rio Grande, I was assured that about 7,000 fanegas of grain can be bought, and at $3 per fanega for corn. Moye & Brother will furnish supplies, taking Treasury notes at their market value in New York. They can be relied upon as everything required in the way of respectability, credit, and capital.

There is much less grain grown for the last two or three years than usual in Chihuahua in the south on account of the demand for cotton, which is raised extensively at Santa Rosalia and manufactured in Manta at the factory at Talamantac.

Cotton grows from San Rosano to Parras, in Coahuila, and even at Presidio de Norte and along the Conchos River it is beginning to attract attention. It yields enormous profits to the farmer and manufacturer.

At El Paso there is some considerable grain, and at Carrizal there is also probably 500 fanegas. In the valley of the Carrizal 20,000 fanegas could be grown annually. The soil is fertile, extensive, and abundance of water of irrigation. Means of transportation can be hired in Chihuahua very readily. There is a distance of 70 leagues between Chihuahua City and Presidio del Norte, and freith costs 1 1/2 cents. The road is good as the average in the State, and this will give in idea of the freight to any part of the State.

There is a large tract of valuable fertile land at Presidio del Norte, and about 3,000 acres at Leaton's Fort, on the opposite side, all easily irrigated. General Merino owns a large tract of land above Presidio del Norte, extending 8 leagues from the Conchos to the Rio Grande.

The valley of Buenaventura, about 100 miles southwest of Carrizal, is extensive and fertile and yields large corps of grain. There is a population of about 3,000.

The distance from Mesilla via El Paso and El Medano is 259.82 miles, as measured by my odometer; but I fear that the instrument was not in good order en route to Chihuahua, and that this will all short of the real distance via Guadalupe and San Elizario. Returning, the distance measured 302.40 miles.

I may here state in conclusion that the entire distance from El Paso to Chihuahua, except the first 20 miles or so, the country is capable of supporting immense herds of cattle. The grass is excellent. The valley, extending from Samalayuca, is mostly owned by one man, Don Martinez del Rio, a resident of the city of Mexico. With the exception of a few head of stock owned at Carrized and about 2,000 head of cattle and


Page 685 Chapter XXVII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - UNION.