The number of manufacturing establishments of all kinds throughout the territory in 1870 was 182, which were chiefly flouring and grist mills and saw mills and invested mills. They employed about 400 hands, and the estimated amount of capital Invested was $1,450,695; amount of raw material used, $880,957; and the value of the annual prod uct, $1,489,868. With the completion of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad to Santa Fe and the Texas and Pacific railroad, which is expected to traverse the terri• tory from e. to w., it is probable that every industry will greatly increase; and the manufactures will undoubtedly prosper better than they have in the past. Coy. Axtell in his message submitted to the legislature in January, 1878, believed that the general condition of the territory was far more prosperous and promising than it had ever been before. At that period the territory was nearly free of debt and the taxation was about one per cent. The total expenses the past two years had been $12,656.72; the total amount paid into the treasury from November 1875 to November 1877 was $118,038.36. Of thisamount $33,395.05 was received for licenses and fines, and $84,643.31 for properly
taxes. This message also directed the attention of parents to the educational condition of the territory, which is low. A few schools were established as far back as 1822 by the Mexican authorities, but the system was never effective; and after the conquest by the United States no public schools were again established until 1872. Two years later 128 schools were reported in operation with 5,420 pupils enrolled. Only a few of these schools, however, are above the grade of primary schools. The number of church organizations is about 158, possessing property valued at $322,621. The denominations represented are Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Protestant Episcopal, and Roman Catholic.
Of important events in the recent history of the territory, mention should be made of the completion in 1875 of the United States military telegraph from Santa Fe to Mesilla, and in 1876 from Mesilla to Tucson, Arizona. During the same year the Denver and Rio Grande railroad also was completed nearly to the territorial line at Trinidad, and direct telegraphic communication was extended to San Diego, Cal., and to El Paso, Mexico.