Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-08-17
An ADOBE HOUSE.

You would not like 10 live III Il mlld house,
reader. would You ? But let me tell you about
it, TO begin with. it is much cheaper than
wood. and. to say nothing about looks, 1t
is great deal better. C"mT"rtabr HOUSES
are made here by digging prairie sodS. piling
them up. one on top of the other. enclosing Il
surr,rc the Siz" wanted ac}oS> which is laid
poles. which are again covered with SodS. y
place is left in one side for Il door, and one or
two in the ether side for windows. his Is
the common Mexican 5 house. and until one
urtS close to it, it can't be distinguished from
Il lump of any other dirt. Unless Il Traveller
keeps up Il tolcrablr lookout ne is liable to pass
the mansion of some unplrtcl'ing native
without knowing it. If Il Mexican wants to
give his donkey shelter, hr can dig Il few turlS.
pile them five or six feet high around Il small
space. and turn the animal in. If he is par
ticularly tender of his beast. he will roof that
over also with straw or mud. But the Sid,
shelter is generally considered sufficient Tor
the purpose \ little regard for looks will
sonnet lines induce Il Mexican to dig up SOn'r
dirt, mix it with sand. and spread it on the
out side of the SodS with Il wooden trowrl.
This gives the outside Of the house a smooth
surface. which aIhcrcS well.
The adobe brick is prairie soil. water and
sand mixed together, moulded. and laid IN the
sun to dry. They are eight inches long. MN"
inches wide and four inches thick. ana when
done are not as hard rs burned brick. but SlliIl-
cientlv hard for building walls and are dura-
blr Men can he hired to furnish their own
material and make them for = Il thousand.
An Eastern builder can compare these with
the size of burned brick. and easily calculat"
| the comparative cost of brick houses in the
east and New Mexico. Men charge SO a
thousand for laying them III the wall. rev
houses are over one story high. though ocra-
sunalv au ambitious man will build two. and
once in Il great while three stories high. The
walls are usually eighteen inches thick, hut II
the house is two StulicS the first story wall Is
twcnty-Srvrn inches and the second eighteen
inches. Partition walls are eighteen inches
in the first story and nine in the second.
Partition oistS are sometime set up. III WlIlrh
case the brick are on edge between the joiStS,
making Il four inch wall. The bricks are
tack,d to the ioi>ts with halls. and the rlrtI-
tion is thus made perfectly firm. y Kind "1
mortar is made of oncthirl mud and two
thirds sand. which is spread on the partitions
with trowcS and is as firm as lime mortar.
The house is very warm IN winter ana cool III
summer. Elvrs,lropping through the rlrtI-
ton is out of the question. and III some East
rln communities they might not be popular ON
that account Many builders plaster the out
side of the house with mud and check 1t OF III
to S,ularrS. to resemble brick or square stones.
trL,. L-t .,Inhr ho,I,,s ar,. pu,,lrd and nicely
tnish,d inside with native pine. which costs
( srn , ,Lnus:nd 'il. rcnIlHr hul,Sr Of the na-
tive. has the HAT roof. but Americans 'lSalE
put on the pitch roof and SlingIr il. On" pc
culiarilv Of the HOUSES here is that most q! the
rooms have an outside door. and III corner
! rooms it is not uncommon to find lW"of them.
! # seems odd to step ont of ones sleeping
room directly into the open air. but that IS the
StyIr If yuu stop at one of the old mud no
/ tells and are ASSIGNED room No. II. yOu take
! fine KEY from the bar at night and prom, made
! mn and down the street till You reach that
! numlrr when Won unlock and take possession.
! Th, first Time | WAS escorted to Il room sup
/ nns.L fin. hutrI WAS full and that the landlord
! had f,rmrd me ont toa ncighbur But when
! I iuur,irrd who WAS 10 furnish the breakfast,
. he cnmprrhrndrd nv pclplrXity and explained
! thc situation. IM EHtDr% Ira IN "" lhT-
/ ay.
-.
Erorurr i;,rpNEE'S CONSERVATIVE
V1rwS If l,lyS to hc good. Don't hr too
.r,nd lint he lust good 'nult. Christopher
! Columbus ,liskivrrl America. bat has he rh'r
lin u,t in 4 chrome: He was too good Cap
t,iu Kidd de- pirate. never rhrn had his pho
tnrraph ON sale. Why: KaSr he WAS too
l,nL Nv advice to yoll is to hit Il" neutral
,rrn,,u. bet wrrn Columbus and Kidd. One
w,s too rood tu want to knock somebody's
l,ld off artrr stubbimg his toe on stone dc
u|,l,r WAS too bad to subscribe fur Il religious
plhlirat ion. As | tolc N"ll III Il former hrh-
turr. be- purity good on 'r nun. ah tr'h "''l