Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-05-05

a ns,rr,c,, Co,onv Something About
These People as P1oneers-A br1ef Stop
at CorraIitos-The Influx Of American
Capital Into Northern MEXICO Some
Ancient Ruins Along tho Iapasita-
Relics of the CIi6-DweIlers-A Toltee
Babylon.
Copyrighted 1881
OK THE P1EDRAs VERDEs,
C91HuAgrA. MEX, MARCH 16, 1859.
The Casas Grandes CThe Big Houses)
valIey and river, through and along which
we have been travelling for some time as
described in nv previous articles, is
formed by the junction Of two rivers, the
San MIGUEL and Piedras Verdes. The for
mer. the San Miguel, is the stIaight-line
nrolon cation of the Casas Ora, des and
seepoiu civ the true stream, but he Piedras
Verdes is the more important as tts waters
are perennially replenished with branches
which head In the never-failing springs Of
the Sierras to the west. On It's picturesque
banks we now find ourselves.
Just before reaching La Ascension, We
came to the Mormon colony Of Diaz naned
by them in honor Of the present President
of the Mexican Republic), numbering about
thirty families. A discussion Of their re-
Iigious tenet. is clearly-and fortunately
out of my province, not only from the heavy,
drearv character Of it, but for the reason
that every thing. wise aud otherwise, about
Mormonism has already been put before
those who cared to read it. But entirely
outside of the subject of polygamy, which
has so completely obscured every other
point about these people, they have one
characteristic which is seldom heard of in
connection with them and their w2nderings
in the western wilderness. / refer to their
pioneering efforts, or the building up OF
new countries. They have no peer in
pioneering among the Caucasian races.
They are 80 far ahead of the Gentiies in
organized and discriminating, business-hke
colonization that the latter are not close
enough to them to make clear comparison
and see their inferiority. OF course they,
the Mormons, see In their belief an ample
explanation for this excellence, but it Is far
more probable, as look at it from my Gen
tile standpoint, that it is due to the peculiar
organization of their church which 80 hts
them for the work OF making tne WIDER
ness blossom as the rose.
No other Christian church exercises so
much authority over the temporal affairs OF
It's members as the Mormon, and however
debatable this exercise Of authority may be
pie of the same kind, there is no doubt In
my mind as to its effect upon pioneer asso-
Citations surrounded by enemies in man and
nature. Whoever has grown up on the
Gentle frontier and seen the innumerable
chickering's between adjacent towns and the
internal dissensions in the towns them
selves, the rivalry for "booms," the shot-
gun contests for county-seats, the thousands
of eKaggerations about their own interests
and the millions of depreciations about that
of others adjoining, needs no second argu-
ment to convince them how much more pow
erful and effective Is much smaller but
more binding Capitalization that judicially
settles all such questions for the general
good, that determines where colonies shall
be from the character Of the soil and the
natural routes of travel, where only the
good of the people is considered as against
nature, and last, but not least, the propa-
cation of the faith. 1t Is not at all wonder
full, to one amidst the scenes, that an or
ganized faith of almost any character should
have hourished surrounded by so much dis
organization. In my last article said that
two to four years of quiet was needed after
an Indian war to restore confidence among
the whites so they would settle the troubled
district in a bona fide way. l should have
excepted the Mormons, but to have done 8.
then without an explanation would have
made the exception look somewhat absurd.
Their long frontier experience has taught
them how to weigh Indian matters correct
ly, as well as others pertaining to the ragged
edge of civilization. Although the Apaches
have been subdued dozen times by the
Mexican and American governments alter
nately, they knew when the subduing meant
subjugation. and before Geronimo and his
Cabinet were half way to the orange groves
of Florida, Mormon wagon poles were point
ed to the rich valleys Of Northwestern Chi
huahua
They number here about seventy five
families, a mere fraction compared with all
the available land of the magnificent valleys
of the Casas Grandes, Boca Grande, Santa
Maria and others, and they never will pre-
dominate politically or in numbers over
the others, counting the Mexican population