San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-06-29
Aztec and Pueblo Rui.s.

Too many of our readers are familiar
with the section Of the country in which
are found these ruined dwellings Of the
now almost extinct people who once in
habited them, to allow us to write an
article of interest, for the truth will
not DO very glowing. Perhaps the
strangest feature of these fallen abodes
is that il is not known where the stone
used was brought from, as none like
them are found in this section of coun-
try. The walls were we'll built, taking
into consideration the rude hammers of
stone that were used. Their dwellings
often cover several acres of ground and
are usually divided into small rooms,
not exceeding ten feet square, and Of
ten as small as six by eight feet. Rooms
have been found entirely empty with
no possible entrance, with walls of stone
two feet thick, laid in clay. The
ground story usually contains more
rooms than the above, and so on, until
three to five stories are built, gradually
tapering to the top, where the only en-
trance to their houses are made.
The ruins on the Animas and San
Juan are ruins indeed, there being but
little to Judge of what they once were.
The builders were no doubt as industri-
GUS as the ground ants, but it is our
opinion they were not as ingenious.
Every one has his own theory as to
who they were, and at what time they
lived. Some argue they became ex-
tinct through starvation; others think
they were destroyed by other tribes,
which seems most probable, as no relics
of any value are to be found among the
ruins. That they were agricultur-
ally inclined there can be no reasonable
doubt, as irrigating bitches can in many
instances be plainly tracked, and at the
time His Highness was taken from the
tomb, corn was found at his side. 1t
resembles the grain now raised by the
Navajo Indians.
An instance of the ungodliness of the
people that might inhabit this section
of the country is manifest in their dis
position to not allow the ancient noble
men to rest in peace. One Snyder, a
bold, bad man, sought to increase his
earthly goods by tearing down and
hauling away the stone, which were laid
one upon the other, that formed the
chamber which proved to contain one
Of these corpses. 1t was solid pyramid
of masonry, about nine feet square,
that he was tearing down, when all OF a
sudden an ordor, smell, very bad,
frightful smell, burst out upon him and
made his blood run cold and his legs
run away. He returned with several Of
his neighbors and clear ed away the
stone and dirt, and found the skeleton
of a medium sized being, in sitting
posture, robed in covering made OF
swamp grass and rushes. His feet were
placed on a mat. Around his body
we're several yards of coarsely woven
cloth. There were no weapons in the
tomb.
Strange to say, after laying there two
or three hundred years, the skin was in
a fair state of preservation. The dis
covery was made in the ruins on the
San uan, three and half miles below
Bloomfield. The Indians by tradition,
claim to be acquainted with this section
Of country, through the lives and recol-
lections of seven successive old men,
and they possessed no knowledge of
the time that they lived.
1t is the general belief that the old
Aztec Indians, now almost extinct,
built and occupied these now ancient
quarters. Others claim that they be-
longed to the old Pueblos. The Az.ecs,
however, occupy at the present time
buildings of a similar construction in
the southern portion of New Mexico,
and keep constantly burning a small
fire waiting the coming of Montezuma.
They climb from story to story on the
outside, on portable ladders, and at
night take them inside for safeguard.
This class of ruins can be found IN
the southeast and southwest of New
Mexico and Arizona. The conquest of
Cortez, or an invasion of Mexican sol
diers, was probably the cause of their
downfall.