Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-02-14
A TRIP 70 NEW MEXICO.
CHAPTER ".
A TEDIOUS JoURNEY-sYsTEM OF IN
DIAN GoyERNMENT-THE JEMEZ
HOT sPRIN1s-TfiE DEVILS
sPRINGs-CoNcLUsI

| Leaving Iue IdllIOdu dt DcIudiiiiO ID
an embryo stage line which extends
forty miles across the Mesa to the Jemez
hot springs. Over this it was my for
tune to pass. 1t was four a. m. when
we started. Our road lay over sandy
desert and up river-bed. The river
itself was not at home. 1t had stopped
somewhere in the upper regions and
forgotten to continue its course. There
were well defined banks and plenty of
good indications, but no water.
| Our noon lunch was eaten in the
shade of fruit tree near the pueblo of
Zia. An Indian family was dining at
the same place. The father, mother
and daughter, were eating doubtful
looking soup, prepared from green
watsrmelons and beans boiled with
some nondescript meat. The infant
heir was taking his dinner with free
dom from restraint, and a general aban-
don rarely seen in civilized lands. The
child was not warmly clothed; in fact,
its glossy brown epidermis seemed its
only protection from the inclemencies
of the weather.
The whole afternoon we plodded on,
seeing no water, the wheels sinking
half way to the axles in sand. and the
whole party cross and dispirited. AT
/ 81 hoI lint
eight miles, and were just leaving the
Jemez pueblo when our carriage broke
down, and we were stranded for the
night in an Indian village.
Jemez (hay-mez, it is pronounced is
one of the best of the pueblos. The
houses are of rough stone, rudely
plastered with mud. are built close to-
gether on the sides Of narrow crooked
streets. They have windows glazed
with thin sheets of mica; some have
doors, but by far the greater number
are entered through a square hole in the
flat roof. Access to the roof is gained
by means of rude ladder, which can
be drawn upon the housetop in case of
emergency. A second tier of houses is
often built upon the first, the roof of one
forming the floor of another. They use
stone implements and their rude mills
for grinding grain are often seen with
out the entrance.
These Indians are American citizens,
and are u peaceable, intelligent and
eminently agricultural race, as much
superior to their wandering prototypes
of other parts of the United States as
we are to them. Each year they elect
governor, who has power absolute for
that length of time. In him are EN-
bodied the three branches of govern
ment. Every night at sunset he marches
through the village, calling each Indian
by name and assigning TO him his work
for the morrow. All work is done in
common, no lands even are held in
severalty, and SO provident is this
primitive commerce that whole years
provision is always kept ahead in case
of famine. Their fields of corn, wheat
and other grains, extend for two miles
above and below the town, and are all
carefully irrigated by bitches, which
bring the water six or eight miles.
They raise excellent grapes and large
numbers of superior watermelons.
Very soon after leaving Jemez the
road changed and we entered the canon
of San Antonio creek. This is veri-
table creek that dashes along with a
vigor worthy of a better fate, for the
hungry sands devour it before it has
gone ten miles from the mouth of the
canon. The scenery is at once grand
and picturesque. The gorge is narrow,
less than quarter of mile wide, with
walls more than q third of mile in
height. In some places they may be
scaled by a strong climber, but for the
most part are wholly inaccessible. The
plainly visible strata of the cliffs are so
tlexed and bent that combined with
their brilliant coloring, they give most
grotesque appearance. More than a
passing word about this coloring is
necessary. 1t is of all shades of red,
yellow, brown, and gray, placed in great
curved lines and broad stripes zig-a-zag
along the sides. Contrasted against the
green of the pines which here grow
luxurantly, it makes two gorgeous
autographs twelve mites long and two
thousand feet broad From the summit
of the walls the mesa, heavily tImbered
~ inhabited only b. wild animals,
-. - away ndt tintely in both direc-
tons
The Jemez thermal springs, ten miles
up tnis alley, have been slightly i'm
proved. A rade hotel and bath house
are located there and afford some in
ducement to enterprising travellers. The
springs themselves are six in number,
the chief of which is geyser, with an
aperture of one square foot. The tenn
perature is 1862 Fahrenheit. Large guam
titles of escaping carbonic acid gas
keep up aviolent agitation of the waters,
and thick white deposits of carbonate
of lime are formed.
About a mile above these is the second
or upper group of springs. Here the
river rattles along the base of the verti-
cal cliffs, on the right, while its left
bank has been formed in past ages by
the gentle deposit of lime and other
minerals from the little springs, which
still bubble over their craters and trickle
down into the river. Beyond this few
steps, at right angles to it and extend
ing clear across the canon, is second
mound, thirty feet high, formed in the
same slow manner. The river has
worn slight depression in the ridge
through which it falls in beautiful cas-
cade. In the eastern end close by the
river is cave with snow white walls
and two columns. 1t is large enough
to accommodate several people with per-
feet ease. One little geyser which has
raised its cone of rock in the center of
the rapids below the falls, spurts at in