The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-10-09
FROM NEW MEXICO.
Special Correspondence.

the lhrtt OtutSt lpWHA III AihCi'S"s "a A"'
the very oldest. ST. Augustine, Florida,
was settled in 1865, hut il is now known
that the Spaniards found this populons
town in 1912. 1t was old when New
York was a swamp, and hoary when Co
hnnhus discovered America. Just how
old it is no one knows, for it Was the
home of the Aztec and his predecessors
before the new world was known It is
interesting to look upon crumbling wallis,
here within the borders of our supposed
new country, which were certainly old
when Columbus landed. and old when
Peter the Hermit reused the knightly men
of the middle ages to arm for the first
crusade The Spaniards who entered
America through Mexico, invaded New
Mexico at an early date and made Santa
Fe their capital, as it had been the capital
of the Montezumas before them. What
was Santa FEES Aztec name is unknown,
but it is supposed to have been Cicuye.
The inhabitants of the pre- Spanish towns
are called pueblo Indians, from the fact
that they lived in pueblos or towns, and
to distinguish them from the nomadiC
tribes which would not settle in villages
The pueblo Indians were peaceful, civ
ilized people, cuItivating fields, living in
homes loving their families and observing
the laws. The Spaniards reduced them
to servitude and treated them with the
utmost harshneSs, compelling them to
work the mines-whosc reported richness
had been the cause of Spanish invasion,
The story of Santa Fe from the time of
its settlement by the Spaniards until the
Yankee invasion is the uneventful story
OF people who could commonly get
enough to eat and drink without any
arduous exertion, and who troubled them
selves little about wherewithal they should
be clothed. or indeed anything else except
the day that is passing over them, IT
Montesqdieu was right in calling that
people happy whose annals were tire
some, the Santa Feans should have been
supremacy happy. According to all ac
counts, they do derive vegetable felicity
from sitting on their heels in a SHADY
place in hot weather, or sunny place IN
cold weather, with sufficient supply OF
tobacco. And i'm this manner they have
beguiled the time since the day of The
Spanish invasion, mixing themselves III
dreadfully in the meantime from al
of TOOL Of ,1I
has been very much like another. TIL
Spanish priesthood followed the CONQUER
Ors, of course, and there are more thai
churches enough in Santa Fe to do all thu
business, according to American notions
especially as all of them are OF one ecles-
iastical variety, with no distinction be
yond that of being placed the special pat
ronage of different saints One of these
the Chapel of San Miguel is ''the oldes
church in America, having been rebuilt
in 1910.
The city of Santa Fe is situated in q
vail ey among the mountains of the Sierr,
Madre, and nearly Z 900 feet above thu
level of the sea, looks down from it.
lofty perch upon a comparatively barreI
and desert country. 1t lies on both side
of a tiny stream that empties into the Ri
Grande to the westward, and is Gale
after the name of the city, which contains
probably between 1000 and 5000 inhab
itants. About three-fburths of these ar
Span ish or Mexican descent-many pos
sessi ng a strong mixture of Indian blood
Like all Mexican towns, its buildings ar,
mainly of Adobe or sun dried brick, tn,
mud, mixed with gravel and chopped
grass, being pressed into large cuOes
about twice the SIZE of our ordinary
bricks, and then lett to bake in the no
sun. In this dry climate, where so littl
rain falls throughout the year these adob
structures stand the weather excellent
for an indefinite period many of tn
buildings being. according To tradition
over 300 years old At short distance
from the city the majority of the house
and churches are neutrality-suspicious. i
color from the bare hillsides, causing on
to instinctively wonder where the plac
is until he is almost upon it,
Starting to make q tour around tn
main portion of this old historic city
which, owing to American Enterprise.
rapidly changing its appearance ever
year more and more, we soon come to tn
famous plaza, In which the heart of tn
business portion of the town, where tn
Indians in 1880, after obtaining pOssessio
of the place and destroying the churche
and other public buildings, as well as res
ldence OF their former conquerOrs, collect
ed the statues Of their saints and burne
them in grand auto de fe Here, thirt
seven years ago, Kearney, surrounded b
his pioneer army, proclaimed to the as
sembled inhabitants the establishment {
the authority of the American governmel
under which they were to live for the flu
tnre, On the north side OF the plaz
stands the Governors palace, so called.
long, low stone building, built original
about the year 1852 and of materials fro
the old Indian town. By reason of ii
constant necessary repairs it is fast losin
its antique appearance and internal al
rangement Here lived and ruled for
couple of hundred of years the SPANS
capital general, but so remote from Il
vice royalty at the City of Mexico Thu
they were practically irresponsible eth
to the viceroy of the people of the TER
tory Equally so were the Governor undo
Mexican rule. Within its walls, whi6
yet contain the Governors mansion, Il
Federal and Territorial court rooms, lie
islatiye chambers, attorney general
office and library, was imprisoned in 1SI
Zebulon NJ Pike, the American explor
and innumerable state prisoners before al
since that time while many sentence
death has been pronounced therefro
without any hope of appeal. But tn
description, like other stories, will ha'
to be continued in our next. PHoNo.
Vnv po,,uIs