Las Cruces Blog – News, Photos, History

Saturday, December 3rd, 2011

Organ Mountains – Early December Snow

Snow on the Organ mountains this morning.

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Sunday, November 13th, 2011

The Electric Light

Every day some new suggestion is made as to the probable use of electricity. A San Francisco professor thinks the time is coming when swamps and sewers will be deprived of their unwholesomeness by strokes of lightning, or, in other words, by electric currents that will kill the germs and spores that communicate disease to the human system. This is based upon the germ theory of disease, which is to the effect that malarial and other foul air contagions are due to animalcule, or infusoria, which multiply in the victim’s body after inoculation. But would it not be a miracle if all atmospheres were rendered wholesome by electrical discharges? The electric light has made one change in cities which may lead to important results. It has enabled buildings and other public works to be constructed at night as well as day. Laborers are employed in eight and twelve hour shifts, and edifices are completed in less than half the time required when only day work could be employed. In summer laborers prefer to work at night. Scientists tell us, as yet we only dimly appreciate the marvelous changes that will be wrought by electricity in human conditions.

Rio Grande Republican, February 18, 1882 (Newspaper)

Rio Grande – 3 Photos

“The Rio Grande is the only river I ever saw that needed irrigation.” — Will Rogers

“I never realized what beauty water added to a river until I saw the Rio Grande.” – Mark Twain

Photos taken October 13, 2011 at Las Cruces.

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Saturday, August 13th, 2011

First Electric Light in New Mexico

The following advertisement from the June 23rd, 1881 Las Vegas Optic newspaper probably documents the VERY FIRST appearance of electric light in New Mexico.

Regarding the electric light shown in the illustration, the advertisement says:

“All under the most perfect sun-eclipsing ELECTRIC LIGHTS, which are exclusively used to illuminate the VAST METROPOLIS OF EXHIBITION TENTS.”

William Washington Cole, who began his circus in 1871, promoted new technology — “marvels” — in his expositions along with traditional circus acts. The electric light advertised here would have been a Brush Arc Light, which American inventor Charles F. Brush began selling commercially in 1879. Brush had invented the first modern electric dynamo in 1876. One or more of Brush’s dynamos, powered by a steam engine, would have powered Cole’s electric arc lights.

Electric arc lights were quickly shown to be much cheaper than gas, the prevailing technology, and to provide more light. By 1881, Brush had sold over 6,000 arc lights, including the following:

800 lights in rolling mills, steel works, shops, etc.
1,240 lights in woolen, cotton, linen, silk, and other factories
425 lights in large stores, hotels, churches, etc.
250 lights in parks, docks, and summer resorts
275 lights in railroad depots and shops
130 lights in mines, smelting works, etc.
380 lights in factories and establishments of various kinds
1,500 lights in lighting stations, for city lighting, etc.
1,200 lights in England and other foreign countries.

Thomas Edison invented his incandescent light bulb in 1879 which would replace fairly quickly the arc light.

Note that the word “electric” in the advertisement is written with “lightning” characters, a typographic convention evidently already established in 1881.

Robledos and Dona Anas

Every visitor to Las Cruces is struck by the beauty of the Organ Mountains, east of town. But there are numerous other mountain ranges in the area, including the Robledos and the Dona Anas, both north of Las Cruces. The Robledos are on the east side of the Mesilla Valley, the Dona Anas west of the valley.

Neither range are as spectacular as the Organs, and it’s hard to capture their beauty.

Here are two photos of Robledo Mountain taken after a light snow, yesterday. Robledo Mountain is the highest peak in the range, 5890 feet. The mountain was named for Pedro Robledo, who was killed May 21, 1598 and was buried nearby. Pedro Robledo was a lieutenant in Don Juan de Oñate’s colonizing expedition to New Mexico. Pedro Robledo was survived by a wife and five children, and his descendents still live in New Mexico. (Details here.)

If you look east from the Robledos, you can see the Dona Anas. The highest peak in the range is 5835 feet. (Photo taken December 29, 2009.)

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