Arizona citizen., 1877-12-07
THE CITIZEN.
AN INTERESTING LETTER ON
 ARIZONA.
Mining Developments by the Az tecs-Renewed Activity on Their old Stamping Grounds.

g The Alta of the 26th ultImO, again devotes a column and half to the past and present of Arizona. The
 greater part of the letter is devoted to
 historical sketches running away back
 10 the primitive races of ancient Mexi-
 co, with an account of their political and social institutions at the time of the discovery of the country, and also of the conquest at arms and the exten- sion of their domain during the if
 teenth century under Montezuma the First. The correspondent then con tinues with some very interesting notes on the Government, Aztec nobility, royal revenues, Aztec civilization, an- cient temples, and so on, until he reach es the subject of minerals" from which point we quote the letter to the end.
 The letter is dated Globe City, Ari- Zona, November b, 1877. The con- municaton entire would be of great | interest to our readers, but we cannot give it space. The following extract which we give, is more modern in its
 reference, and will be both pleasing and instructive. The Atlas cores pendent says;
 l Tho ,tooo 1rara oo x.-alI acouaintad with the mineral as with the vegetable treasures of their kingdom. Silver, lead, tn, they drew from the mines of TO>co, copper from the mountains of IZacotitlan. These were taken, not on l ly from the crude masses on the sur face, but from veins of solid rock, which opened into extensive galleries. | The traces of these labOrs furnished the best indications for the early Span ish miners. Unacqualnted with the use of iron and steel, they found a sub- stitute in the alloy of tin and copper, and with tools made of thIs bronze, could cut not only metals, but with the aid of a silicious dust, the hardest substances, as for instance, basalt, porphyry, amethysts and emeralds. They cast also vessels of gold and sill yer, carving them with thelr metallic chisels in a very delicate manner.
 GOLDEN AGE OF TEZCUCO.
 The burden of the Government was divided into a number of heads or de- partments, as the Council of War, the Council of Finance, the Council of Jus lae of a authority both in civil and criminal matters. The King or Emperor had erected a magnificent pile of buildings, which might serve both for royal residence and for public offices. It eX- tended from east to west 1884 yards, and from north to south 97S yards. It was encOmpassed by a wall of up burned bricks and cement six feet thick and nine feet high. Adjoining the palace were buildings for the Kings children, which, by various wives, numbered no less than sixty sons and fifty daughters. They were instructed in all exercises and accom- plishments suited to their section.
 EXPERIENCES.
 Those people, the Toltecs, eventual ly merged in the more powerful Aztec race, and giving the latter much of their knowledge of mining and Oth- 1 Ter arts, according to traditions, went down from the north into the warmer climate of Mexico. The ruins left | there have their counterpart in Arizo- ma and New Mexico, where similar relics of lost people abound. These | ruins in Arizona and New Mexico are | found in various sections of the cOun- | try, but always in the vicinity of min | ing regions. They bear evidence of an earlier time, as if they had been | erected before the migration toward | and into Mexico proper The similar ity of the structures in style of archi- | lecture, is a strong argument in favor I of the idea that the Toltecs erected f those in Arizona and New Mexico, r and subsequently,, driven from the country by famine consequent upon , long continued drought they sought a new country where drought did not threaten life, as in the lands they had left. All through the mining sections I of Arizona and New Mexico, ruins of ancient dwellings, Notifications, and other structures abound. What was there to induce such except mining Certainly it could not have been agri- | culture, for but little agricultural land is found there. My travels and obser vations in Arizona along the Salt river and on the Upper Gila, the evidences of the existence of a former mining people as seen in numberless ruins, of mines that were worked in ages far in the past, of old furnaces, slag, and | mines once worked and then filled up as if for the purpose of cOncealment, convince me that not only was this section once a very active and popu- lOus one, but that the same race which inhabited It, were here for mining purposes almost exclusively, and that they were forced away by famine to seek a more favorable climate, where they introduced their civilization and taught mining to the Aztec people. That there were inducements enough l. in thls section to cause a large pOpula- tion, as is evident, once dwelt here, there can be no doubt, becanse, enough yet exist to ere long again fill it up with the adventurous and scientific. k The possible causes that drove them away, drought and famine, would be still disastrous, were means oI obtain ing food from abroad as difficult or as then Droughts exist still, but famine is negatived by mod eTn means of supply from elsewhere.
 It may be remarked that wherever have been found these evidences of a