The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1874-05-23
Ancient Rims in AriZOna.

A letter to the st: botis Republican
gives the following interesting account
o. some ruins recently discovered in
Arizona:
GA careful examination of some
ruins, found some miles east of Flor
ence, on CHA river, has been made.
Lieutenant Ward was the first explorer
who came Upon Che desolate remains of
d once imposing architectural pile. 1t
has been deserted perhaps for more than
a thousand years; and has been crum-
bling away Lii the wilderness. The APP
ache even never pitched bis tent UPON
the spot So thickR strewh With rag
,,,erit5 Of tie work of persisted race.
Inc principal ruin is a parallelogram
Notification, six hundred feet in width
by sixteen hundred feet in length. The
walls, which wefe built OF stone. have
long been overtbrowa end ate over
grown by trees and wild vines. III
many places mere ridge indicates the
line OF the wall, the st6nS vail having
disappeared beneath the surface.
Within the enclosed area are the re-
mains OF greater structure 200 by go
feet, constructed of roughly hewn stone
In some places the walls remain almost
perfect TO the height Of some twelve
feet above the surface. On the east
side or the 9rafda casa there are two
openings of an oval shape which doubt
less served the purpose of windows
th the inner sides of the walls of the
palace, for such it doubtless was, there
are yet perfectly distinct trecihGs
of the image cf lie sun. There are
two towers, at the southeast and south
west corners OF the great enclosures,
still standing, one of which is twenty
SIX, and the other thirty-one feet high.
These have evidently been much high
er, az The broken tops and the anolint
of debris near their base ihdi cate. A
few copper implements, some small
golden Ornanents-one being an image
of the sun with a perforation ~ tic
mlddle-and some stone utensils. and
two rndelyyGrved stone vases, much
like those found at Zupetaro and Copan,
III Central America, are all the works of
art yet discovered. No excavations
have been made as yet to determine
fully the extent and character of these
ruins.
'till, clC SIJudtbu III Il small
plain, elevated nearly two hundred feet
above the bed of the ella. Just west
OF the walls OF the fortification there is
beautiful stream of water having itp
source In the mountains, which crosses
the plain, and by a series of cataracts
Ialls into the dila about two miles he
low. The fragments Of pottery and
| Ioi,shed stone reveal a condition OF
civilization among the builders of these
runs analogous to that of the ancient
Peruvian, Central American and Mexi.
can nations. The country in the yioin-
lty of this buried palace is particularly
wild, and unusually desolate. No clue
to the builder Of this great fortified
/ palace, with it's towers and ,aoat, has
been or is lihsly ever to be discov-
cred. Che thing, however, is appa-
rent, that this whole country was once
peopled by a race having a higher grade
of civilization than is found among any
of the native tribes of the later ages.
But whether this race were The ances-
| tors OF Pimos, o. some extinct people.
IS net, and cannot certainly be known,
The ruins on the ella are another I'M
covered Palenque, another Copan, an
Allan exposed at last to bewilder and
confound. 1t IS understood that these
extensive ruins will be thoroughly ex-
p1ored during the present year