AQUEDUCT NEAR QUERETARO, MEXICO - A little distance from the pretty ciy of Queretaro in Mexico, the Mexican Central Railroad passes beneath a fine stone aqueduct which was built in 1738 by the Spaniards at a cost of $125,000. Of this sum, about $82,000 was contributed by one individual! It conveys to the ciy clear spring water, the source of which is in the mountains five miles away. The water is at first brought through a tunnel, and finally makes its triumphal entry into Queretaro over seventy-four of these arches, the highest of which is ninety-two feet above the ground. The water supply of the city is thereby rendered ample and wholesome, and there are more than twenty fountains within its limits. Queretaro itself is one of the prettiest of Mexican towns, containing nearly 50,000 inhabitants, and situated about 6,000 feet above the level of the sea. it was here that the short-lived Emperor, Maximilian, was betrayed and arrested in 1867, and on a little eminence near the town, on the 19th of June that same year, he was shot by order of the Government, together with his two leading generals, Miramon and Mehia. Upon that hill are now three columns marking the places where the unfortunate trio fell. Maximilian's body was subsequently sent back to Europe in the same ship which, only three years before, had brought him and his beautiful young wife "Poor Carlota" out to Mexico, in perfect health and with high hopes of founding here a new and glorious dynasty. Here also in 1848 the treaty of peace between Mexico and the United States was ratified. |
