April 1, 1891
A staff correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle, writing to that paper from this city, has this to say of El Paso:
With the following morning comes El Paso, the terminus of the Pacific system of the Southern Pacific railroad, as well as several other lines leading through all sections of the great southwest, making El Paso a railroad center and decidedly the liveliest town in Texas. There is a day to spend here, the trains for Mexico not leaving till 6 p.m., and it may be a valuable one. The great American boomer has been here, and although the winds at some seasons do not leave much real estate permanently located, yet titles have nearly all passed out of their original Mexican or Texan hand and very substantial improvements have been made in the way of public buildings and commercial blocks. There still remains a large contingent of Mexican population, and the “panaderia” and the “French bakery” flourish side by side.
Horse cars – no, street cars – connect El Paso with the Mexican town on the opposite side of the Rio Grande, formerly called El Paso del Norte, but to avoid confusion the name of the Mexican town has been changed to Juarez City. Passengers enter the cars at El Paso and are trundled along by mule power along the Rio Grande over the bridge without any aid or interference from a conductor, but as the car reaches the Mexican side it is boarded by a brigand in appearance, and there is an involuntary movement anticipating the cry of “Hands up!” But notwithstanding his grizzled visage, the huge sombrero, his rich lined cloak and exposed revolver, this person is not a brigand, he is only a collector after the 10 cents for your passage, and that accrued he leaves the car, which then pursued its way to Juarez without further attention.
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