Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-30
GETTING NEAR THE SUN.
A Mound Of 1920 Feet High Built b,
Old SOILS Worshipers.

Chas. J. Wimple, one Of the wealthiest
miners OF Mexico, is q recent arrival in San
Francisco. To representative Of the Cal OF
that city he told the following wonderful story:
'You have asked me to give an account of the
interesting mountain my friend, Jesse D.
Grant, and myself saw during our trip through
Mexico en- route to this CITY, Well the noun
tain is at once one Of the most gigantic e1hibi-
tons Of mans handiwork, and something al
most beyond credence were we not already
familiar with the works Of the Aztecs. Just
imagine valley forty or fifty miles in area
and from its center rising q mound over 1000
feet In height Then you can realize the first
effect created upon our minds when we came
before the hill am to describe. Ny foreman
was with us and had partly prepared us for the
surprise, but we had treated his story with in
credulous remarks and had by no means sus-
pected he had but given a modest description
of the mound.
1--WE gazed to the top and allowed our eyes
to follow the windings Of a road down to the
base. We went around the base and coniec-
tured IL was about one and a half miles in
circumference. Then we started for the
summit. The roadway was build of solid rock
clear to the pinnacle and was from thirty to
forty feet in width. A wall of solid rock
formed foundation and an inside wall at the
same time. The outer edge of the road was
unguarded The stones weigh all the way up
to ton each and are not cemented The
roadway is as level floor and is covered
with broken pieces Of earthenware water ves-
sells.
"Half way up the mountain is an altar cut in
solid rock; IN the niche is boulder which must
weigh at least six tons. The boulder is of diff
ferent stone from that used in the wallis The
rocks in the walls are dressed by skilled work
men, but are not polished. We saw no in
scriptions; in fact, We had no time to spare in
making a searching investigation We did look
for arrow heads or other warlike implements
to satisfy ourselves that the mound had not
been used for defensive or offensive purposes
Nor was there any evidence to prove that the
roadway had been built for the purpose of wit
Messing bull fights and other sp orts IN the val
ley. could only conclude the Aztec sun wor-
shippers expended years of labor on the hill in
order that they might have an appropriate
place to celebrate their imposing festivals, in
asmuch as the roadway was strewn with broken
earthenware, and those scions of a bygone and
notable race were known to carry at sunrise
large quantities Of water in earthenware Jars
to an eminence and there pour out the liquid
and smash the vessels.
when we descended we brought with US a
number OF small sea shells which had petrfed,
and II you look at these on my table you will
see how they have been perforated by the In
dams. We again took long look at the noun
tam and saw 1t was oblong in shape and that
the upward road commenced on the eastern
oiHo' nave udNelcu Oh DOtu SUES Oh the
mountains from British Columbia to Central
America and on either side of the Sierra
Madres. where the cliff jewellers have left such
remarkable mementos Of their skill and Gus
toms, but have never witnessed anything SO
wonderful and magnificent as the mound which
/ have been telling You about.
THE valley is about 600 feet above the sea
level and Is about seventy miles from the coast
1t is situated in Sonora, between the cities of
Altar and Magdalena and near the NIagdalena
river. We called the curiosity Palisade noun
tain, and it is well named"