Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-04-28
ANCIENT WORKS
And Natural CuTiosities About se.-
 Miles southeast of Magdnlena. >o,,.--


 ED CITIZEN: According to prom,.. hand you few hasty words about ,b. Indian ruins spoken of ip vo.. paper some time ago. Beiu- iu Na,l, lena a few weeks ago, secured tbss.- vice of an old resident as guide .-l started on horseback in soutb-s.. direction, following the road for aho,. twelve or thirteen miles, then tasip, trail leading south about one and a hal, miles, to wide valley, in wbicb small stream IS to1nd and utilized ,.. cattle. In the valley three gr,ur.., trachyte, forming a cliff from j0 tn l, feet nigh, are found. all being lem, s.s narrow, and parallel, distant from as.- other about a quarter of mile. Tb-s. masses are remnants of an 0verHl lv f5.. once probably covered the valley .-t are found tO cover an immense l-1.s,. of cougl0merate and pOrpnyry.
 These groups of trachyte r1css s-. about one-quarte- of mile loug aa.r and quite marrow, having very pIee1-,, ous sides, dug out m many fautssr, shapes by the action of the winds. TIs upper surface of these rock masses \. unite hard for SIX inches m deuth a-5 the remainder of the Toe. 5--r, nearly as soft as pumIce stone and e,- taining many charty particles atfu-iu, one of the most curious specimens i wind carving that has ever come uni.. my observation. In many place. .,s rocks are hOllowed out from eight ,1t.- feet, leaving the top rock pr1Jsc,ir, like an umbrella Or roof, and In slm5 cases a distance of 20. 3O or 5U t-a, Taking advantage of this cOnform,tr, Mexican nerders nave built wal, lri-. the outer edge of the p-li-e-., SO as to form quite comfortable roo-. which have the merit Of che.p1-.. and being provided with a good -5t In many places the hollpwIng out l.. been done on both sides of a ,a.- ridge, SO that thin partition only s-..- rates the work, and this partition W.-r through ID places, making holes turo-s- which a man could easily crawl [I-.. caves of all sizes and shapes are i...f m the face of the ciItfs, and mauy. g-- over the other. out all the w1rk uf r.. elements. In some the walls OF Iutr-I.- is composed of trachyte, c1utal1- streaks Of hard substance, winch. srs. standing the attriti h, became pru.s. l tiOns, and forming ID some cases -.,.- l attractive carving Ill relief, resemb.us punches of grapes. h other p.a--. hard nOdules of grey porphyry, ID ..z- | and shape like marbles and smai. g-a1a | shot, are found projecting. Wti ..- | softer rock wears away, letting them | fall to the ground. where they eau b. picked up in large numbers. Some t ! the isolated cliffs take very fantss-. | shapes. One looks like an Imn-a,4 camel lying down, with head erect asi fine expression, but thirty feet iu t-s
 air.
 In one case the rock, some forty i--, l high, Is carved on one sIde or end utls resemblance of the stern Of a steamboat
 the projecting rock being ruuudrdtgru. l ing half circle, twenty feet n dIau--
 ter. standing out over eight feet from the perpendicular support, when, benz | smoothly carved to al almOs- pertst; columnar form, and white as snow, p-a.
 sents a unique and be utIful object h
 none did 1 find any indian carving, but !
 found several figures Of men, and uls
 animal; several hands, two of them having SIX fingers, but very rudrly done.
 and slmIlar tO the many other sprcimeus
 of Indian work common ID the country. On the top of the sOuthr-nmosj and
 smallest group of rocks was found quite
 different kind of markings and rvid-
 ence of ancient and laboriuua w.rk.
 These consisted of deprrssions %
 trenches dug iu the rock, there 4ut-
 hard) to the depth of four or hve luclrs
 and of about the same width. These trenches were generally round or ura.y
 round, making rings of perhaps jtas
 feet Iu diameter, sometimes double,
 the outer ring eight inches from tEe ll-
 ner one; and m some cases Tow t
 holes ten or twelve inches apart eXirll- iug clear around between the 1I-,. these holes f inches deep and about rl-
 same in diameter. In the majority Ji Cases the ring was not complete, tlt ended leaving an opening F. Inches
 more or less closed however by le-
 uression of the same character as tt5
 ring of about fourteen inches Iu ieugtl,
 rked out ID front of the opening and
 just about It's own width distant. In some places the fol ms of Che rings
 would approach square, and Iu others
 the ring consisted of a TOW ut holes
 alone, sometimes SIX feet in diameter.
 Only a few Of the h les We're large
 enough to be considered muri6re igr
 corn grinding Some of them were ul-
 dOubtedly for that purpose, and Trre
 sy metrIcally made of the usual ia--luu
 as seen Tn large uumurrs
 ID the Sierrita mountains and
 near the Pima Mine, few ot these holes were quite large, over F. inches u
 diameter and fifteen deep. In ule | place where the cliff formed a wiie sl..f
 below the general level of the top of the hill, large round nois was found ll feet in diameter some fuur feet dtri,
 shaped like bowl. This evidently Was
 used tO contain water Hs lt has small : outlet cut in the rock SO that when , filled it would run over 70 only nut . point. Below this and leading from Ii .o
 a lower wlde shelf were steps cut m -le
 rocks, making 1t easy of access. What
 the holes, found by thousands i
 rings by hundreds We're for, ] can only conjecture. It has been suggested that this was fsvorite lookout and prrhar s a stronghold as the perpendicular sids- of these cliffs were from forty tC ni'y
 feet in night, and these holes were for the fort of poles joined st the top
 making a skeleton of a WIgWam.
 The trenches however, mus oe Hc-
 counted fer in some oths- manner
 The fortified mountain described In
 the sketch referred to I ascertaIuei vas
 at Santa Anna some 20 miles scutiV Vr-i
 of Magdalena, and at some future tlne