Monterey, Mexico, Sep't. 5th

Dear Echols: Undoubtedly the companionship of memory is the sweetest boon to all mankind when in a lost and lonesome condition. A thousand miles from home, a week's travel from dear ones and five hundred years in the darkness of the past, all take together, forms a retrospection which possibly comes to all American's upon their first extended visit to the land of the ancient Aztec.

My last left us at Fort Worth on the evening of our first day out. We had just 35 minutes from the time we arrived at that point in which to pick our route, get prices, buy tickets and eat supper. It proved too big a job, however, in the time allowed and we had to change our route from the Katy to the Santa Fe, which left 30 minutes later. It was a serious mistake from the standpoint of good connections the remainder of the way. At San Antonio we were delayed nearly 24 hours, but fortunately for us it was at San Antonio.

Leaving Ft. Worth about 9 o'clock p.m., we traveled continuously south on the Santa Fe to junction with I. & G.N. upon which line we transferred at about day light Wednesday morning and ran straight to San Antonio, via. Austin, arriving at the Alamo city about 11 o'clock. Before the noon hour we had tread the sacred precincts of that historic place. There are instructions posted in various places about the premises which recite the principle features of the renowned three days siege. The place where Croket (sic) died, the room in which Bowie lay sick and the spot where Travis was mercilessly slain are each spoken of in these brief recounts.

The Alamo of today is in many respects the Alamo of two hundred years ago. Its walls have noticeably crumbled, its facades and ornaments have been defaced by the hands of man and time, but the visitor to the Alamo today need not expect to find, in name only, a relic of Spanish Jesuit life, but he can see the very architecture their hands laid. Volumns (sic) have been written about the Alamo and we believe that other untold volumns (sic)might be written and yet the reader would have only a feint conception of what his eyes would behold in only a few moments visit to its precincts.

And the Alamo is not the only object of interest to the uninitiated at San Antonio. Ranking very closely alongside this noted church and fortress is the San Pedro park. Here natural scenic beauty and human architecture and ingenuity have brought about one of the most pleasing and beautiful results. San Pedro spring, together with many smaller springs, pour from every rock and crevice and the water has been caused to flow in the most pleasing manner to the large lake that forms the center of the park. Here fish can be seen of all sizes and kinds. Some large swans swim majestically on the bosom of the water. Trees of many kinds have grown to such sizes as to afford abundant shade and the varied shrubbery has been so artistically arranged that, upon the whole, it is said the sight is one of the most beautiful of the kind in the United States. This park is beautifully and faultlessly kept

We left San Antonio early in the morning of Thursday, over the well known Southern Pacific sunset route. Certainly the veil should be drawn over this part of our trip. Mesquite brush, pickly (sic) pears and a grassless, rocky land lay on our every hand. It was indeed the most desolate country I ever saw. No houses were visible. No improvements would be observed, but from those with whom we were permitted to talk who lived in the country we found that they were satisfied and contented and seemed to think that they were living in a "plumb good" country. This condition prevailed until we reached Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande. Just across, on the Mexican side is Cuidad Dias (pronounced Quedad Dias.) Here the barren aspect which had become so monotonous to us was most gloriously changed into a town of trees, flowers and shrubs. For a few miles south of this Mexican town there is some evidence of agricultural activity, but it soon gives way to the same barren condition that we saw on the American side. However, where water can be had irrigation is used and it is indeed surprising how this barren waste can be make to blossom.

We are now at Monterey, one of the oldest as well as the most historic places in Mexico. Yesterday we obtained the services of a guide and were permitted to see many of the curious things of an old and curious civilization. Monterey is a city of 80,000 people of every creed (sic), kind and color. The "market place" is possibly the most interesting point. Here everything upon the want list of cosmopolitan humanity can be bought. The "place" itself belongs to the city and "stall" are rented by those occupying them. We went to the old Catholic monstery (sic) now known as "Bishops Palace" located 300 feet above the city upon the spur of a mountain which projects nearly to the city. This ancient structure suffered the storms of the old Mexican-French war around whose walls one of the fiercest battles of the war was fought. The marks are plain. From Monterey we go to Tampico. More anon.

G.B. Townsend