The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-07-30
The, Turquoise Miaes Il new lLsxies.

holy Gllc 1uOuut6iuS, well AoAuCu eAAO
Rocky. Their surface is strewn with
fragments, broken as If Clipped with
hammers "a ragged pavement, which
bruised our feet; tore our shoes and
wore out our patience; and when at
last we reached the first mine, we
thought it but q continuation of Los
CesiL0s. The most ancient is much the
largest, and to this we directed our
steps. Under the dizzy crags which
overhang it is sheltered recess, black
ened with smoke and bedded with
ashes made by camp-tres of Indians,
who still frequent the spot, in search
of the precious cbdlchuite. With diff
Guilty we reached this cave, and, lean
ing over the edge, looked down and
saw, not q narrow, black shaft, but half
a mountain cut away. Undoubtedly,
the mineral lay here which, through
countless generations, furnished the
Indian Kings with their most valued
ornaments. The yawning pit is two
hundred feet deep and more than three
hundred in diameter. Probably the
work of aborigines before De Soto's
requiem mingled with the voice of the
rushing waters, of his burial-place
when Columbus had seen the New
World only in that vision of the night,
where the unknown voice whispered:
"God will cause thy name to be won
derfully resounded through the earth,
and will give thee the keys of the gates
of the Ocean. which are closed with
strong chains" On the walls of the
great excavation Nature has gently,
patiently done what she could to
smooth the rugged crags, and has
thrown out of their assures scant
growth of shrubs and trailed scarlet
stem. At the bottom, on stones
crumbling with age, stained and wealth
er-worn, are dwarf pines. the growth
of centuries. In this close amphithea-
ter there is no breeze to stir their tops,
and their motionless foliage, with its
somber shadows, adds to the ever-pres-
ent mountain gloom. A
Thousands of tons of rock have been
crushed from the solid mass, and thrown
up in such high heap it seems another
mountain, overgrown with old pines
and dry, gray MOSES. On a few frag-
ments we noticed the turquoise stain -
s.indication'' of valuable mineral. When
we consider that all this digging, hew-
ing and hacking were done by hand
labor alone, without knowledge of do
nestle animals, iron or gunpowder, the
debris carried away in sacks of skins,
the enormity of the work is the
more impressive. The tradition is that
the ckakatmite mines, through immemo-
rial ages known to the primitive race,
were possessed BY the Spaniards in the
sixteenth century. Indian slaves
then worked them, under the lash of
the conqueror, until 1850. when, by ac-
cident, q portion of the rock from which
we had our first view fell, and killed
thirty Pueblos. The Spaniards imme-
diately made requisition on the town
of San Marcos for more natives to
take their places; when, with a general
uprising, they drove the hated Cypress
or from the country as far south as Ell
Paso del Norte. I give the tale for
what it is worth. Mining atmospheres
are the favorite haunts of fable, and a
spice of truth is enough to flavor
whole volumes of stories, charming but
1elusive. An airy legend hovers about
Santa Fe that two stones from IS La
Canada de las Minas''-s'G Glen of Mines
are still among the crown jewels of
Arragon. But cialchuites were value
less after being once submitted to the
jewellers of Spain; and the sparkling
story. like many another told by the
campfire, loses its original brightness
when removed to the searching light of
the students lamp.
Careful analysis shows the constitu-
ents of the chaIchuites are nearly the
same as those of the Persian turquoises,
and their formation the result of infl-
tration. Sometimes they are washed
up by heavy rains; but usually are dis
covered by digging in the sandstone or
are broken out from the body of the
rock. asAt8 1Sth ttAl h
Not being disposed to dig. we retraced
our path, and climbed around to the top
of the shelving crag above us. and look
ed over the plateau. Eastwardly it
stretches towards Santa Fe, beyond
which the stony mountains lift their high
heads. On the southwest it opens
toward the Rio Grande in a measureless
vista, where earth and sky appear to
meet. A plain, oppressive in its vast
ness, lying in the midst of q stone will
derness, its sameness relieved by the sol
itary peaks Sandia and Albuquerque.
In every direction mountains grim and
fixed as walls of adamant, apparently
immovable as the throne of God Low
in the horizon one feathery cloud hung
moveless in q sapphire sky. The world
seemed stricken dead. No verdure to
cool the parched grass; no water, 1.-THE
eye of the EARTH glancing up toward
heaven; no waving branches, reckoning
like friendly hands to cool shade and
shelter; no wagon-road or foot-path to
mark the track of men; not sound to
break stiffness which is not the hush