The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1873-03-28
Ruins of a Great City in Arizona.

| IurSfs, miners anu explorers, last sea
son, in the desert and unexpIored re-
gions of northeastern Arizona, south
eastern Utah, and southeastern CoIora-
do. For miles on miles, further than
| the eye can reach, barren wastes stretch
away in a continuous succession of des-
ert table-lands and yawning chasms. It
is a wild, dreary, inhospitabIe, bound
less waste, very embodiment of desc
lation. For Il days the party lost their
trail In the desert, and nearly persisted
with thirst and hunger, at one time go
ing 36 hours without water. One day,
while travelling in one of the impassa-
BILE gOrges seeking a place where they
could scale its craggy sides, Roberts
discovered what was once large and
popuIous city. Suddenly emerging on
the top of a mesa he was amazed at
finding himself among the ruins of a
great city, untrodden by foot of man
for centuries, and spreading out miles
before him. It covered an areaOf about
three square miles and was inelOsed by
wall of sandstone, neatly quarried
and dressed, 10 or II feet thick, and
which, Judging by the debris, was 10 or
20 feet before its fall. In most places
it had crumbled away and fallen, and
was covered with sand, bat 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 cover
cd with houses, built of solid sandstone,
which showed excellent masonry IN
their construction. This ancient city Is
situated in Arizona, about 80 miles
from the boundary line between Utah
and Arizona, and the same distance from
the western Colorado line. It has the
appearance of being an old Aztec city
that has been deserted for hundreds of
years and fallen to ruins. II is entire
ly 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 enable
him to Judge accurately of the style of
architecture adopted by the ancient
builders of this city. Col. Roberts es-
Inmates that there were at least 10000
houses in the city. It 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 chasm, 600 or 500 feet deep,
and 800 feet 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 Overhang-
ing the brink, and it is not reasonable
to suppose that city would have been
built on each side of such a chasm.
The walls still bear the traces of many
hieroglyphics, cut deep into them,
showing various Indian customs and
superstitions. There are also the ruins
of stately monuments, built of square
block sandstone, well quarried and
showing good masonry, which are work
ed with notches and crosses cut into
them at regular intervals. The ruins
are covered with sand, which Col. Rob
erts says he is confident has blown there
from the desert, a short distance to the
south, since the city was deserted. He
thinks that was fertile tract of country
when the city was built, and that the
inhabitants 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, receded. This sand has be-
come packed and solidifed by the rains,
and is almost as hard as the sandstone
There is a large ditch, now partly filled
up, running from the city away back in
the hills, 10 to Il 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 cen
places in the sandstone, even in the
walls overhanging the precipice. The
sandstone does not bear any marks of
fire, and Col. Roberts is confident that
the sand-storms which have nearly bu-
ried the city rendered it uninhabitable
and compelled its ancient inhabitants
to desert 1t. No bones, implements or
relics of any kind were found, with the
exception of some pieces of pottery Of
dark color. These were embellished
with paintings of flowers and ornament
al figures in blue colors. The coloring
matter is of a blue mineral substance
of some kind, which the chemist at
Santa Fe, to whom some of the pottery
was shown, could not clearly define.
It is perfectly indeible, and pieces Of
the pottery which have been exposed to
storms which have worn away the solid
masonry of the walls of the city show
the coIors fresh and bright TO all appear
ances as when new. The pottery itself
has been found to be perfectly fire-proof
upon trial in crucibles and furnaces,
and if the secret of its manufacture
could be discovered it would be worth
millions of dollars to the possessor, and
the material would be invaluable for the
lining of safes and similar purposes.
A SACRAMENTO congregation was
drawn from its worship TO the street
and kept in a state of mingled curiosity