The New Student's Reference Work/Santa Fé, N. M.

Santa Fé (săn' ta-fā), N. M., the capital of New Mexico, is among the Rocky Mountains, 6,840 feet above the sea and 1,327 miles southwest of Chicago. The site is a mountain-walled basin, 20 miles from the Rio Grande. Half the people are Mexicans, dwelling in low adobe houses on narrow streets. The plaza has shops on three sides, and on the other the old governor's palace, a long, low, adobe building. The climate is so dry that irrigation is necessary for gardening or farming. When first seen by the Spaniards about 1542, the town was a well-peopled Indian pueblo. It was founded in 1605, and has been the capital since 1640. The Indians captured it, burned the main buildings, and drove out the whites in 1680. The Indians again made an attack in 1837, but were driven off by the Mexican governor, Manuel Armijo. General Kearny occupied it with United States troops in 1846. During the Civil War the Confederates held Santa Fé for a few weeks in the spring of 1862. Santa Fe has three public-school buildings, fine churches, a U. S. Indian school, a deaf and dumb school and the penitentiary. The city has a fine waterworks and electric light system. Its points of interest are many and historical, as the church of San Miguel, the oldest church in the United States, and the governor's palace built in 1598. Population 5,072.