Ever wonder what New Mexico was like in the nineteenth century? In 1876, newspaperman William D. Dawson undertook a series of journeys that took him the entire length of the territory from the D&RG railhead near Fort Garland, Colorado, to the Mesilla Valley and west to the mines of Silver City and Pinos Altos, New Mexico. Here for the first time in print since they appeared in the pages of The Santa Fe Daily New Mexican nearly a century and a half ago, are descriptions of New Mexicos towns, its agriculture, wineries and mines; farmers, merchants, vintners, miners, soldiers, Indians, outlaws, and pretty girlsall the elements that we imagine constituted this great frontierdrew Dawsons attention and found their way into his reports, leaving us an extraordinary portrait of New Mexico as it was mas antes, in the old days. AUTHOR INFO: Robert J. Trrez was the State Historian at the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe from 1987 until his retirement in December 2000. Born and raised in the northern New Mexico community of Los Ojos, he has contributed to several books and published more than one hundred scholarly and popular articles on various aspects of New Mexico history and culture in New Mexico Historical Review, New Mexico Magazine, True West, Tradicin Revista and other regional and national publications. His monthly column, Voices From the Past, appears in Round the Roundhouse, the state government employees newspaper. His previous book, UFOs Over Galisteo and Other Stories of New Mexicos History, was published in 2004. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS BOOK: Just before the railroads came to New Mexico territory, the Santa Fe Daily New Mexican printed a runningaccount of their reporters travels up and down the Rio Grande from the San Luis Valley to Mesilla and west to Silver City and Tierra Amarilla. Lively sketches of the countryside, the towns, farms, wineries, army posts and even spas at the hot springs all found a place in his dispatches. Casual readers and historians alike are indebted to Robert Trrez for bringing these scenes of New Mexico some 130 years ago, not to be missed, to a modern audience. John P. Wilson, historian