The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-05-14
THE ENCHANTED TOWNS.
Superstition and Tradition in the
Mexican Wilds.
The Beautiful Vermillion Sea-Searching
for Lost Cities ald Heavenly Scenes
An Old Indian Guide Revives a
Current Legend.
r~1 fOrlginal.l

>f lOFIRlnd.
No scenery in Southern or Central
Mexico exceeds in point of grandeur
and beauty the view from the heights
of the Sierra Madre. Standing on the
top of this range and looking to the
west one sees on the horizon a long
line of gold, which has been called the
Vermillion Sea. The panorama pre-
sentcd is such as Mexico only contains:
Peaks to their very SUBMITS covered
with verdure, canyons whose vast depths
the light of the sun never penetrates,
cliffs, springing from the regions of
perpetual summer, on whose brows the
clouds eternally rest. In the near dis
lance may be seen the foot hills, gradual
ly shading off into the vast plain bound
cd on the further side by the "Vermil-
lion Sea, " The hight of the sun shin
ing on the grand scenery or bursting
through some handicapped mountain
peak, gives the whole an air of grand
eur and beauty calculated to astound
ono even familiar with Alpine scenery.
In what is now the border between
the States of Durango and Sinaloa, this
region eliminates in mountains of rug
ged grandeur and canyons of dizzy
depths, remarkable even in Mexico.
Los Tres Frailes, FL Cerro Pelon and
Quaguento lift their rock-crowned
heads above the clouds into the glare
of eternal sun, and from their feet,
through canyons which only the Yose-
mite can rival, flow the rivers San
Lorenzo, Piastla and Presidio These
streams, almost dry in the dry seasons,
are swelled to roaring torrents by the
rains Surely nothing is more sublime
than the mad, dashing torrent thunder
ing down mountain cascades to the sea
of gold. Countless rainbows represent
ing every color of the prism, has crys-
tallzed the beauties of San Lorenzo
waterfalls for the world to admire.
Surely more fitting subject could not
tempt an artist, and in the near future
we may expect some ambitious student,
tired of copying the great masters, to
enter the study of Los Tres Frailes.
and bring back with him fame and
money. There he will find heights
sufficient for his imagination, rugged
grandeur, lights, shades and color that
would delight the heart of any painter.
1t is in these canyons that tradition
says the Reals Perdid0S 0 EncantadoS-
the lost or enchanted towns-are stu
ated. Often around the camp fire, or
on the deer trail, climbing those rugged
heights, or hiding from the fierce rays
OF the sun beneath some spreading
tepiguage, the traveller listens to some
gray-haired Aztec recounting the lost
gloues of FL Naranial and Juego de
Barras, which even the old Spanish
records mention, until fired by their
enthusiasm, he has almost resolved to
search for the orange groves, deserted
haciendaS and rich mines said to exist
IN some of these craggy canyons. The
outrageous peaks and deep, unfathom-
able canyons, are in places almost
without inhabitants. An occasional
prospector searching for the Reals Per-
didoj, or lost mining towns, fugitive
from justice or an occasional vaquero.
searching for lost stock, are all who
enter that trackless labyrinth of rocks,
forests and rivers. But the lower
country is not entirely populated with
enchanted towns. Los Realities are
hidden away in hooks and corners of
this world set on edge--Ventaur, Guam
samay, San Dumas, Fyoltita, San Vim
cente, Bacis, Hirahuapau and San Jose
de Guaguaias, all mining towns, some
scarcely worthy the name, struggle
Tor existence against the barren
rock, swollen torrents and ever
varying luck of the miner. How true
the adage of the Mexican miner: La
ESperonzG 0luere al Ultimo; (hope
dies last of ALLY and well he illus
trates 1t, pounding away at barren
VEINS hoping against hope. With
HdStG la muerte la Suerte; ("'til
death or luck as his motto,) he works
away, and the nuerte more often his
fate than the Suerte When lucky
miner has succeeded in making "a
raise, he is in constant danger of los
ing both his property and his life from
the bandittl which hover about as vult-
ureS about a dead carcass. That fab
ulous wealth lies concealed in the bow
els of those hills. there can be no ques-
ton; but it will require different class
of miners and a different state of society
thannow exists in Mexico to developit 1t.
The tull blood Aztec seems to delight
more in recounting the lost glories of
the MonteZumaS than to add to them.
That the MeXicans were aware of the
almost fabulous wealth contained in
these regions even before the appear.
ance of fernando Cortez, there can
be no doubt.
The many legends of the Reals
PerdjdoS 0 EtcdntGdoS date back
perhaps hundred years before the
conquest by the Spaniards. These le-
gends are beyond doubt founded on the
enormous wealth the mountain mines
were known TO contain. As stories
ever change to suit the age, constantly
magnifying, it is very easy to conceive
how these buried mines of gold and
silver peeping out from the mountain
sides could DC changed to cities and
haciendas of wealth untold awaiting
the discoverer. The more ignorant
miners of the present day still believe
these stories and legends to be true:
hence, with HqStd la 1nuerte la S7terte
firmly resolved in his heart, he works
away with zeal which could not be
otherwise inspired. If he would depend
more on pluck, ingenuity and modern
mining machinery he would succeed
better than to put his whole de-
pendence on luck and the delusive hope
of finding buried or enchanted cities
They reason thai these towns, like
Pompcii, have been buried in some
great Eruption OF earthquake, and that
treasures untold lie within them. The
more superStitious speak of them as
being enchanted. and the stories told