The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-06-27
QUAINT SANTA FE.
OBJECTS OF INTEREST IN AN
OLD MEXICAN TOWN.
Old Adobe Structures Erected Be.
fore Americas Discovery-The
Remark able Santa Fe Trail
Spanish Chiefly Spoken.

spanish Ch1ehy Spoken.
An Atlanta Constitution correspondent
sends the following graphic pen picture
of Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico
When old st. Augustine, down IN
Florida, was but q barren stretch of
sand and Maendez was a child, Santa
Fe was town of considerable import
ance, although the face of white man
had never been seen by any of the in
habitants. There are now standing
some of the adobe structu. es. that were
erected here long before Christopher
Columbus was born, and, if the stories
Of the old priests are to be believed, the
church of San Miguel was built before
Ferdinand and Isabella assembled the
Spanish throne. When the Spaniards
came here, in 1882, they found town
of four or five hundred inhabitants, which
was then, to all appearances, several
centuries old. Its altitude e-Gs62 feet
assured an equable climate the year
through, and the Indians who built the
town had cultivated the plateau on
which the city now ands, and
made it fertile as well as beauti-
full. As rule, the North
American Indians were nomads, but the
Zuni, Moqui and Pueblo tribes were
more domestic in their habits, and they
built the first villages on the NorthAmeri-
can continent. It is supposed that the
Zunis built Santa Fe and gave 1t the
name Pueblo, meaning "a settlement"
From this the residents were called
Pueblos, after a while taking this name
to distinguish themselves from the main
body of Zunis, who had moved north
ward and founded the towns of Moqui,
Trinidad and Pueblo-the two latter In
Colorado. Between these Indian villages
were we'll beaten bride paths, the un-
erring instinct of the Indians having led
them to find the shortest and easiest
route through the Rocky Mountains, be-
tween Ration and Trinidad. When the
Spaniards came here, in 1852, they were
greatly astonished to find large adobe
structure-used by the Zunis for a coun-
Gil chamber-and they straightway pro-
ceeded to turn it into church, calling it
San Miguel. This is the building which
still stands, and which is believed to be
the oldest structure in the United States.
In 1880 the Indians came to the con-
clusion that the Spaniards, who had
changed the name of their city and had
seized their council chamber and turned
it into church, were sort of nuisance,
and they rose in rebellion against further
innovations. Finally, they masacred
every Spaniard whom they could lay
hands upon, burned the church saints in
the plaza, forbade the use of the Spanish
language, put aside the wives to whom
they had been married by Catholic rites
and washed themselves in the river to
purify themselves from the baptism of
the church. In 1892 the Spaniards re-
captured the town, and since that time
they have had things pretty much their
OWE way. To-day the city has popula-
ton of $500, Of whom $500 are Mexicans,
many of whom do not understand word
of English. It is the only city of it's
size in this country without steam en-
CINE in its limits. There are but few
frame buildings-everything is adobe.
The adobe house, or "doby," as it is
called, is familiar to all Western tourists,
but it is seen at its very best here. The
wealthiest people live in structures
which, from the outside, seem scarcely
habitable, but within are cosy and, in
many instances, luxurious. Judge
Thornton, a wealthy mine owner, has
'doby" house near the plaza, or public
square. In the center of the building is
a square court yard, filled with magnif.
cen. flowers, with fountain in the
center. The doors of each apartment in
the house open on the wide veranda
which runs around the courtyard, and
the effect is very charming. The walls
of the building are nearly three feet in
thickness, giving opportunity for deep,
cushioned window seats. These thick
walls keep out cold in winter and heat
In the summer, and there are, therefore,
but two fre-places in the whole house
for use in the event of extraordinary
severe weather. The decorations of the
dwelling are such as one finds In At
lanta's Peachtree street homes-beauti-
full pictures and statuary, imported car
pets and rugs, rare bric-a-brac and pot.
taries-everything that money can buy.
Of course, all this makes the change
from the outside atmosphere of squalor
the more marked. Judge Thornton's
home is but the type Of hundreds of
others owned by wealthy spaniards,
Mexicans or Americans, who have settled
here because of this Incompatible
climate.
Reference has been made to the old
church of San Miguel. Here is to be
seen the bell cast in 1856, brought to
Mexico by Cortez and transported hither
by Indian slaves from the City of Mexico
after Montezuma's power was no more.
Three of the altar pieces are over seven
hundred years old and were painted in
Barcelona and sent hither through the
officers of the church in Mexico. From
the door of San Miguel starts the path to
Trinidad, hundreds of miles away; the
trail which 30 astonished the Spaniards,
away back in 1852 and which, as. late as
1s4S, astounded the civil engineers who
surveyed it and gave it the name it has
since borne-the Santa Fe trail.
Antiquarians tell US that the Santa Fe
trail is one of the most remarkable pieces
of engineering of primeval origin. 1t
runs in the most direct possible line to
Trinidad and thence to Pueblo, near Den
yer. Through the mountains the grades
have been chosen with such skill that,
notwithstanding the fact that more than
two hundred surveys have been made by
competent engineers to find better route,
no one has yet been able to find an easier
grade through the Rocky Mountains than
was located by these nomads hundreds
and hundreds of years ago. The line is
so direct that sthe old Santa Fe trail''
has been followed closely in the build.