The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1874-06-13
Ruins Of u Palace IN .4ri20tu.

A careful examination of some extensive
ruins found some miles east of Florence, on the
Gila River, has been made. Lieutenant Ward
was the first explorer who came upon the des-
olate remains of q once imposing architectural
-p;,ss-A4t Las been 2oserted perhaps for more
than thousand years, and has been crumb-
ling away in the wilderness. The Apache even
never pitched his tent upon the spot 80 thickIy
strewn with fragments of the work Of a per-
ished race. The principal ruin is parallelo-
gram fortifcatioD, six hundred feet in width by
sixteen hundred feet in length. The walls
which were built of stone, have long been over
thrown, and are overgrown by trees and vines.
In many places a mere ridge indicates the lire
of the wall, the stones having disappeared un-
der the surface. Within the inclosed area are
the remains of greater structure, 200 by $50
feet, constructed of roughly hewn stones. In
some places the walls remain nearly perfect to
a height of some twelve feet above the surface.
On the east side of the "granda casa" there
are two openings OF an oval shape which doubt
less served the purpose of windows. On the
inner sides of the wall of the palace, for such
it doubtless was, there are yet perfectly distinct
tracngs of the image of the sun. There are
two towers, ,at the southeast and south west corn
ers Of the great Enclosures, still standing, one
of which is twenty six and the other thirty-one
feet high. These have evidently been much
higher, as the broken tops and the amount of
debris near their base indicate. A few copper
instruments, and some golden ornaments-one
being an image of the sun with peroration in
the middle-and some stone utensils, and two
rudely carved stone vases, much like those
found at zupetaro and Copan, in Central Amer
lea, are all the works of art yet discovered. =
No excavations have been made as yet to dis
cover the character of these ruins. The ruins
are situated in small plain, elevated nearly
two hundred feet above the bed of the Gila -
Just west of the walls of the fortifcation there
is beautiful stream of water, having its source
in the mountains, which crosses the plain, end
by series of cataracts falls into the 6 lila about
two miles below.
The fragments of pottery and polished stone
reveal a condition of civilization among the
builders of these ruins analogous to that of the
ancient Peruvians, Central American and Mex
lean nations. The country in the vicinity of
this buried palace is particularly wild, and un-
usually desolate. No clue to the builders of
this great fortified palace, with its towers and
moat, has been, or is likely ever to be discover
ed There is one thing, however, made appar-
ent, that is, that this whole country was once
peopled by race having higher grade of civ
ilization than is found among any Of the native
tribes of the later ages. But whether this race
were the ancestors of the Pimos, or some extinct
people, is not, and cannot certainly be known.
The ruins on the Gila are another uncovered
Palenque, another Copan, an Allan exposed, at
last to bewlder and confound. 1t is understood
that these extensive ruins will be thoro ughly
explored within the present year.