Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-01-23
Wonders of Arizona.

| - oSteASh VI IlClI RUlu dIQ silver QoDOSlLS
which were discovered by an old pro
prletor and frontiersman, and were under
guidance of the informant. The follow
ing interesting account of their adven-
lures was learned from one of the ex-
plorers, Col. w. T. Roberts, and is
published in the San Francisco Chro,a-
icte: They proceeded without adven-
lures until they reached the Great
Desert, which the Chronicle saws is in
the northeastern corner of Arizona, near
the boundary of Utah and Colorado,
lying in tract of country marked on
the maps Unexplored Regions" It is
a misunderstanding, uninhabited region,
seldom trod by foot of civilized man
and stunned by the Indians.
For miles on miles, further than the
eye can reach, these barren wastes
stretch away in continuous succession
of desert table lands and yawning
chasms. It is wild, dreary, inhos-
pitable, boundless waste, a very en-
bodlment of desolation. For fourteen
days the party lost their trail in the
desert, and nearly persisted with thirst
and hunger, at one time going thirty-six
hours without water.
One day, while travelling in one of the
impossible gorges seeking place where
they could scale its craggy sides, Roberts
discovered the ruins of what was once a
large and populous city. He had gone
up the gorge about two miles above the
main party, when he saw some wild sheep
and followed them for some distance ::
they turned out of the canon. and he.
finding place where he could Chamber
up on foot, pursued them to the top.
Suddenly emerging on the top of a mesa.
he was amazed at finding himself among
the extended ruins of a great CITY. I'M
trodden by foot OF man for centuries,
and spreading out miles before him. 1t
covered an area of about three square
miles, and was inclosed by wall of
sandstone, neatly quarried and dressed,
ten or twelve feet thick, and which.
Judging by the debris, was fifteen OF
twenty feet high before it's fall. In most
places it had crumbled away and fallen.
and was covered with sand, but in many
/ places it was still standing six or eight
feet above the sand-banks which had
drifted around it. The entire area in
side of this had at one time been covered
with houses, built of solid sandstone
which showed excellent masonry in their
construction. This ancient city is stu
ated In Arizona, about ninety miles from
the boundary line between Utah and
Arizona, and the same distance from the
Western Colorado line It has the an
pearance of being an old Aztec city that
has been deserted for hundreds of years
and fallen to ruins. 1t is entirely of
stone, and not stick of worked timber
is to be seen among the ruins. Nothing
but the walls are standing, and none of
them are now left more than eight or ten
feet above the sand, which is eight or
ten feet deep. Col Roberts is confident
from the appearance of the walls that
many of the houses were two or
three stories high, but there was not
enough of them left standing to Judge
accurately or the style of architecture
adopted by the ancient builders of this
city. Col. Roberts estimates that there
were at least 10000 houses in this CITY.
1t was laid out in plazas, with paths
or small streets from one to the other.
There was evidently one main highway
extending through the center of the CITY.
This has been cut down by the winter
torrents into yawning chasrn 600 or 800
feet deep, and 800 wide. 1t is evident
that this chasm has been washed out
since the city was built, because the walls
of many of the houses are now over
hanging the brink, and it is not reason
able to suppose that city would have
been built on each side of such chasm.
The walls still bear the traces of many
hieroglyphics, cut deep into them, show
ing various Indian customs and super
stltlons. There are also the ruins of
stately monuments, built of square block
sandstone, well quarried and showing
good masonry, which are worked with
notches and crosses cut into them at
regular intervals. The ruins are covered
with sand, which Col. Roberts SAYS he
is confident has blown there from the
desert, short distance to the south,
since the city was deserted. He thinks
this was fertile tract of country when
the city was built, and that the inhabit-
ants were forced to desert it on account
of the high winds which blew the sand
In there after the waters with which it
is believed the desert was once covered
had receded This sand has become
packed and is solidiied by the rains,
and is almost as hard as the sandstone,
There Is large ditch, now partly filled
up, running from the city away back in
the hills ten to fourteen miles from the
city, and it is believed this was made
for the purpose of conveying water to
the city for irrigating the ground and
for other purposes The walls of the
houses are rough and worn by the
storms of centuries, which have worn
into the soft places in the sandstone,
even in the walls overhanging the preci-
pice. The sandstone does not bear any
marks of fire, and Col Roberts is con-
fident that the sand-storms which have
nearly buried the city rendered it unin-
habitable and compelled its ancient in
habitants to desert it. No bones, i'm
plements or relics of any kind were
found, with the exception of some pieces
of pottery of a dark color.