Note 85 — COMMENCEMENT OF THE EXPEDITION (continued 3)

Chihuahua, the capital of the state of that name, is attractively situated in a valley of the Sierra Madre Mountains, about a hundred miles west of the Rio Grande River. It was settled about 1691, the population being considerably greater in Spanish than in Mexican times. The most noteworthy building is the cathedral, perhaps the richest and most beautiful in Mexico. A second large church was begun by the Jesuits, but never completed; it served as a prison for the patriot Hidalgo before his execution. See Wislizenus, op. cit., pp. 60-63.—Ed.