$5 to $15 a month; houses such as business and professional men require, rent for $25, $30, $40 and $50 per month; the best houses for rent being $75 to $100.

Among various recent movements looking to the improvement of the city are the securing of an additional water supply, the construction of new reservoirs, and the initiation of sewerage, the organization of two or three building associations, of a Chamber of Commerce, of a Produce Exchange, of a Real Estate Exchange; the bonding of the Territory to the extent of $150,000 in aid of several needed public institutions; making the old Agricultural Society a Territorial concern, and putting it in the way to own grounds, and an exposition building; fixing the Capitol at the head of East Temple Street, on the elbow of City Creek Mountain. Additions to the city are numerous; Garden City, Eldorado, Buena Vista, over Jordan, Terrace Heights, Popperton, Capitol Hill, North Salt Lake, and a score of sub-divisions. On some of these new applicants for public favor improvements are being made with great energy, and regardless of cost.

The supply of labor in the city and territory, and the demand for labor, seem to run together neck-and-neck. Troubles between employers and employed seldom occur. Wages for skilled labor are rather high; for ordinary labor about the same as elsewhere in the West. The same may be said of the cost of living.

The municipal government is vested in a Council, composed of mayor, five aldermen and nine councilmen. Elections are held biennially, the second Monday in February for these officers, and for recorder, treasurer, marshal, assessor and collector. All other city officers are appointed by the council and hold office during the pleasure of that body. The division in elections is between Mormon and Gentile, and their strength at the polls in February, 1888, for mayor was 1,726 and 946.

All that may be truthfully said of the business opportunities of the place, and of the resources of the country tributary to it, the fact remains that the charm of the city and valley lies mainly in their setting in the heart of a vast desert. Come in from whatever direction, by rail or by wagon, or afoot, and one must pass over dry and dusty ways for hundreds of miles veritable jornadas. The rich green valley, drawn out like a ribbon under the shadow of the mighty mountains and plateaus, quenching its undying thirst at a thousand clear streams and cool springs, highly cultivated and dotted with towns, seem and is an earthly paradise. The surrounding region will always be sparsely populated, comparatively speaking. The city will grow, not so much because its merchants and bankers will count their gains by the thousands, or its manufacturers have a large and insatiable market, as because of the agreeableness and healthfulness of its seasons, and the fact that it offers a residence where the powers of most diseases which afflict mankind are reduced to the minimum.

So far it has been the city of the poor. It will become the city of the rich. Every man carrying on any business of importance within 500 miles will make it his home. Men with fixed incomes will learn that it is pleasanter than San Francisco, Chicago, or new York, as a residence. Men and women suffering from loss of health will learn that it is in fact pre-eminent as a sanitarium. It must become a religious, a political, an educational center; a place where art shall be fostered, where the best brains and the best spirits shall gather. It must become all that a city can be, in business, in health, in power, in leadership, in beauty and adornment. In short, man must do his part as intelligently and faithfully as nature has done hers. This done, Salt Lake City will be all that a city can be.

THE

CHAPTER XVI.

NEW MEXICO-1540 TO 1889.

HE territory of New Mexico was constructed in the year 1850 from the southeast third of the first cession from Mexico, containing all of that area now embraced within the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico, which lies north of the Gila, and west of the Rio Grande rivers. In 1853 a second cession was made by Mexico to the United States, known as the Gadsden Purchase, which, in 1854, was annexed to the Territory of New Mexico, extending the southern boundary line of that territory to its present limit, some 50 to 100 miles farther south; at the same time the eastern limits were extended across the Rio Grande river, and took in that unauthorized territory known as the Texas cession of 1850. Seven years later, Colorado Territory was organized and took quite a large portion from New Mexico's north

east corner.

In 1863, the Territory of Arizona was organized, and reduced the territory still further, leaving it, however, with its magnificent dimensions, with an area of 122,580 square miles. The only rivers of note to which New Mexico is entitled are the Rio Grande, which rises iu Colorado, flows south through the territory, dividing it nearly equally into east and west divisions. This river is not navigable within the territory, is valuable for stock and agricultural purposes mainly; and the Pecos river, a branch of the Rio Grande, which rises a little north of the center of the territory, flows southeast into Texas, and finally to a junction with the Rio Grande about latitude 30 N., and logitude 25 W. A branch of the Colorado rises in the extreme northwest corner, and the Gila has its source in the southwestern part of the territory. Much of the territory is well adapted to agriculture, by means of irrigation, which system has been in vogue since the first discovery of the territory and settlement in 1540 and 1582, and had been practiced by the aborigines for all time as far as we are able to learn from the Pueblo Indians who were found there, and whose decendants are yet to be found within the confines of New Mexico.

About the time that De Soto was coasting along Florida, looking for the mouth of the Mississippi River, Don Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy in Mexico under the King of Spain, fired with a desire to gain favor with his sovereign, and add territory to the crown, conceived the idea of fitting out an expedition to push northward and explore, hoping thereby to discover rich gold fields which were reputed in that

direction, the reports having been brought in by two or three survivors of Narvaez' expedition into Florida in the year 1528, who, in a wonderful manner, had made their way overland, from Florida to Mexico, having traversed almost the width of the continent, and wandered through a portion of this coveted territory to the north. Chief of these survivors was one Alvan Nunez, who had been treasurer to the expedition. In relating their experiences, he told the Viceroy, Mendoza, that great riches must abound in the mountains to the north, as the natives were a very rich people, living in large cities, and having an abundance of gold and silver. This information was corroborated by Indians that Mendoza had captured and made slaves of.

Notwithstanding Mendoza's desire to obtain this rich country for his sovereign, he hesitated attempting a conquest of such a rich and no doubt powerful people, his armed force being too small to cope with the foe he expected to meet; he, therefore, wisely concluded to send out a scouting or exploring party in the simplest possible garb, accompanied by a man of peace. The Viceroy took a poor bare-footed friar from his cell, by name, Marco de Niza, of the Franciscan Order of Priests; gave him Alva Nunez as a guide, and with a few natives, sent him out to explore the great unknown region beyond the northern mountains.

After reaching the most northerly point explored by the Spaniards, Culiacan, the wise friar, sent ahead the captive Indians, with messages of peace and goodwill to the distrustful natives. These promises of peace were received in good faith by a great many of the natives, who came down from their mountain hiding places to meet the good friar, who, with kind words and small presents and with promises to not capture and enslave them, as the Spaniards had done before them, he succeeded in gaining their favor, and, in return, they told the Spaniards to come and go as they chose. These natives returned totheir homes and spread the news of the treaty of peace among their brethren. The friar and his small party then continued their journey northward and, it is believed, reached the Cibola (the name applied to the unknown region), or Zuni (as known to-day). The friar brought back information which to-day reads like a fairy story, and we

omit it.

The next attempt to explore this territory was not until 1581, at which time the Church took the responsibility of fitting out an expedition to explore the country and convert the natives, believing conversion to be the most successful method of conquering the country and solving the secrets of this mysterious land. Two Franciscan friars were consequently started out from the Spanish settlement of New Biscay; they proceeded northward by the Rio Grande valley. For more than a year nothing was heard of them, and a rescuing party was dispatched; traces were found of the two pious men, but they failed to find them. This party, however, accomplished that which