Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1885-05-28
SANTA FEE.
Tho strange Old City That was
Founded Long Before the Pilgrim

Tho Strange Old City That was
Founded Long BEFORE the Pilgrim
Fathers Game.
Southern Workman.
In the far west is section OF our
country just waking up from the sleep OF
centuries and taking its first steps IN the |
march of progress which is slowly but |
surely drawing all lands and all peoples |
to day of batter things. 1t is mostly |
desert VI. shifting sand but desert |
baptized may prove an Eden disguised"
and New Mexico is not. unlikely TO verify
the poets dream. Explorers tell MS that
is divided into Ave natural divisions.
The plains ON the eastern border; the
valley of the Rio Pecos; Sierra Blanca;
the valley of the Rio Grande; the Sierra
Mndrc, aud beyond this the plains bor-
dering on Arizona.
Historical dates are not to be thoroughly
rolled upon, but il is snid that the
Spaniards first found their way TO this
region about the year 1910, tempted on,
through much suffering and priyation,
by the stories of mineral wealth told by
the Indians. The limit of their endur-
ance seems to have been reached when
| they halted on the spot where the city of
/ Santa Fe now stands, known i'll Spanish
records as San Francisco de Asis de Santa
Fe, or the city of st. Francis of Assist of
holy faith. Here they established them
selves and in II measure realized their
dreams of acquiring wealth by working
the mines of gold, silver and turquoise.
| The Catholic fathers of the church built,
II few years after, the Pecos church near
m ancient Aztec pueblo, where ycstiges
of that almost prehistoric tribe of sun
II. 80
the village of Laos, where the waiting
Indians still keep their fires burning and
watch for Montezuma. Nearer to the
city is the church of San Miguel, said to
be the oldest church in America. The
walls are of immense thickness at the
bottom, and the small Sits of windows
ut the top let in ''dim Religions light"
Entering the city itself, place num-
bering about 5000 souls only n few OF
whom are whites, one finds n quaint,
lola podrida" of narrow, crooked streets
: md one stored abode houses, with
/, , several dismal looking Catholic churches
and IL few American houses; now and then
IL good school building. The walls OF the
adobe buildings are very thick; Windows
- | are scarce, with here and there small
door. A Mexican architects head evi
/ IDENTIFY was incapable of originating more
: than one idea, for they are I'LL of ON,
style, in the form of II hollow square
Various surprises meet the eye of an i'll
. uuisitivo visitor who ventures into TIT
= placita or open enclosure. Sometimes i
is transformed into ii corral of bufi0
u (donkeys) sometimes u store room fu
!. | wood and brush, sometimes IL burhI
II place and sometimes lovely ilowe
y garden. The public Ptasa or square, il
u cheerful spot in the summer time and
l. is pleasant to sit under the shade o
X cotton wood trees while one listens to tn
n musical performance of the United State
Y military band. Within stones throw ar
u two fine looking buildings; the college o
~ ~ the RomnniBt Brothers md the Sister
:, Hospital" On one side is the pnlnce 4
n the Spanish rulers, lurge one storie
W building of 500 feet or more, no'
!" occupied by government officials. No
=, many rods away is the cathedral, so oil
~ ms TO be unsafe and gradually being II
W built. About 200 years ngo, when til
:, Indians revolted against Spanish opprci
sion and suddenly appeared demandin
the surrender of the city, this old churc
was the scene of wild confusion M
~ dismay, ms men, women and children lie
~ within its massive wallis for lrotcctiu
-, | against lnuItn SlNhBefy. llrlr tfl'
W. and appeals were I'LL in vain. All we
VI cruelty massacred and the stones were /,
'n with the blood of both the young and IL
W old.
o. 10 II stranger this seems like u foreil
~ land. The narrow streets, the orient
VI looking houses and the humorous lit
u; donkeys driven by blanketod Indians
pa swnrthy Mexicans only needing turba
u to look like Arabs-rcmind one of seen
-, 10 i'll Cniro or Jerusalem. There is IL gencr
"a mir of thriftlessness and languor,
~, undeveloped condition of things poculi
~ to old Europe instead of new Americ
,uS The people wear adejected mir of hopelt
H. poverty and are ill fed evidently, thou
W. this dyspeptic look is probably owing
MA their excessive use of "chili colorado
w one of the slow poisons, also tobacco III
ho- bad liquor. But I'LL this will pilss nwa
With the coming in of n new tide
civilization from the east the comforts
life are being introduced. Steam II
electricity are doing their work here
ely elsewhere.