Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-03-27
SANTA FE.
The Oldest City In the unlteo
States.
A Town That Looks Like Great
Number of Unburnt Briek-Kilns
and Has Streets That are
PerpIsxingly Crooked.
THE PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN IT,

will celebrate its Tertlo- Mlllenial Inls sun-
mer-haying completed its first one'third
of a thousand years of its existence under
snanish. Mexican and American rule. But
il is an established fact that for generations
even ante-dating the discovery OF America
by Columbus there lived here race Of peo'
ple.yho resided in houses and who earned
their substance by the peaceful arts ot
agriculture. This people were probably OF
the Aztec race. They lived in villages
(called in Spanish Pueblos) and have be-
come known as Pueblo Indians. When the
Spanish Explorers
first visited this place in 1912, they found
the yallies fertile and under cultivation,
with irrigating bitches which conveyed
water from the mountain streams over tne
gardens and fields. Grain, vegetables ana
fruits were cultivated and horses, catue
and sheen were raised for domestic uses.
These Pueblos lived then, as now, in houses
bnilt of adobies-a rough sort OF brlck
sbont by is inches and 3 inches thick,
made of mud and dried in the sun. Ihe
houses were usually built from two TO three
stories high, without windows or doors,
the entrance being by ladder to the top and
| down through hole in the roof.
But when the Spaniards came to plant
religion and civilization among tnese Peo,
| nIe over three hundred years ago, they
Changed the architecture Of the new struc'
tures which they and their successors to
| this day occupy. How shall
| Describe Sante Fe'
so that the reader who has not seen the
| CITY can comprehend its appearance. 1t IS
| so unlike all other American cities. Leay-
| ing out few recently constructed build
| ines, viewed from an eminence, the city
presents the appearance OF an immense
| brick ward with hundreds of Kilns ready to
| be burned but go through the streets and
| it is not without its picturesques features.
| The old Spanish and Mexican residences
are built of this sun-dried mud, and coy
| cred with the same material, are usually
| one story high and built out on the street.
| The house is usually but one room deep,
| and each room has door out to the street
| and another back into court IN the rear,
| so that q person must always 60 out OF
| doors to get from one room to another.
| The walls are from two to three feet thick
and the roof, which is supported by logs
laid from wall to wall, is as thick. In
| time the roof becomes grassed over. Inside
there is no effort whatever at ornamental
ton. The ground is used for a floor and
the logs which support the roof are usu:
ally rough, updressed and project beyond
walls foot or two on the outside. There
is small fire place in which the wood is
| placed on end to burn, but no furniture is
| seen in many OF the houses.
The Lower Order Of Mexicaus
have no use for chairs tables or beds. They
habitually squat on the ground, and at
night skins OF wild animals are spread up.
on the ground upon which to lie. Their
| cooking utensils are few and simple, being
| made by Indians, of earth and burned.
The light is admitted through the chimney
| top and through an occasional opening
near the roof, like port hole. Houses OF
this character are strung together along the
narrow and rambling streets, often with a
! bread poarch overhead in the front, ex-
tending out over go much OF the alley-like
streets, In this manner the houses form a
Gordon around the irregular square or
| block-for no two blocks are OF a similar
size or shape-and thus will be formed in
side the block a court which is sometimes
used as garden. Other garden lots there
are IN the city inclosed with mud walls as
high as the ordinary house, which adds to
the raw-brick-kiln appearance OF the place.
In the houses described the food consists
of red peppers and coarse article
of bread, with occasionally onions
or other vegetables or mutton. But the
chief reliance is bread and red peppers.
The inhabitants are about as frugal in the
use OF wearing apparel.
There are other Spaniards here, persons
| OF culture and means, whose adobe houses
are whitewashed inside and out, and the
| iOists of whose rooms are covered with
| muslin. Sometimes the wash with which
| these houses are covered is made OF various
coOrs, adding picturesque feature to
this
Singularly Quaint Old Town.
Americans, Germans and Irishmen have
been coming in for the last two or three
years, or since railroad communication was
opened with the outside world, until
| probably between one-ftth and one.
fourth Of the inhabitants are now
Of these nationalties. There is now a
graz brick hotel, number Of pretty brick
residences, and the Catholics have recently
erected several handsome buildings for
schools and benevolent institutions.
There are also two or three Protestant
churches here. The Catholics are build
ing large cathedral of stone, but their
churches are, as yet, all OF the adobe ma
terial, and on a very ancient plan OF archi-
lecture. They are without seats, except a
few for the aristoCracy, and the Mexican
worshippers come in and squat upon the
| ground, the females on one side CT the
house and the men on the other, perform
their religious ceremonies and depart.
This is the seat OF the
ArchbisIh9Pric for GRHlorado, R m "A Ari, ri
section. Many of the Pueblo Indians have
been converted to the Christian faith
through the instrumentality of this church,
although a majority of this tribe-of whom
there are about 1000 still in the Territory
| continue to look forward with simple
faith 10 the return of their Montezuma. San
Miguel church, an old adobe building in
| which / attended religious service last
Sunday, is the
oldest Church In America.
having been built about the year 1910
Judge it TO be fully hundred feet long by
about sixty wide running up some forty feet
high-coming together at the top in a sort
of arch. There are q few benches in it, no
floor, a carved altar with the usual orna.
ments and a very old, dingy picture which
may or may not have artistic merit. The
old structure is falling into decay, but is
still used regularly for worship. Imme-
diately across the street is a queer old
house, which the Spaniards found standing
here on their first visit, 343 years ago, which
makes it the oldest house which still con-
tinues to be a residence, in the United
States, OF which authentic record exists,
| STOPPING 10 pass through ltS smail uooT' 1
stepped into a neatly white.washed little
room with the ground for q floor. The
little port-hole like windows admit few
faint struggling rays Of light. by which l
discern a ladder that reaches to the fioor
above-fer this is two story castle.
The Palace.
| where the rulers Of this province have sat
and ruled and reveled, and where the GOV
ernor of the Territory holds his Off ce and
the Legislature meets, is long, stringy,
one story adobe building, one room deep
ard The various rooms opening out on TO
the ground in front and into court in
| the rear. A porch extends the full length
of the building, which is several hundred
feet long, projecting about fifteen feet into
the street. Ii Is dismal old place, PROB
ably three hundred years old, aud has
| been the scene OF q vast amount OF cru
| eltv, torture and iInmo-ality. An exsmi-
nation of the old prison-like structure.
with an historical knowledge of the base
| uses TO which it has been put, Is rather
calculated TO confuse ones ideas Of q Pal
| ace.
| John Phoenix once said that Boston
! looked 10 him as II the odds aud eIds OF
I ,,.,r n,lar cities had heen put intn hav