Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-03-21
NEW MEXICO.
How 1t Came to be Annexed to
the United States.
It's Mixed Population of Spanish
and Indians.


a little more than three centuries ago.
No portion of our country bears so re-
markably the stamp of antiquity as
does Now Mexico. It's chief city, San
ia Fe, is said to be the oldest in the
United States.
After the war with Mexico, its Gov
eminent ced,d to us in 1S46 tract of
country which orig inally comprised
Arizona and Southern Colorado. The
present area of New Mexico is 122, 460
square miles. The whole number of
New Mexicans in the United States is
estimated at 800, 900.
Two entirely distinct races inhabit
the Territory, aud these people have an
interesting history. The original pos
SCISSORS of the land were Indians, sup
posed to be descended from the Aztecs,
or cliff. dwellers.
.'1he Spanish took possession of
their country one hundred years before
the Pilgrim Fathers set their feet on
the shores of New England. The Puri-
tans and Pilgri inns, the Dutch and the
Quakcrs did not come for conquest;
they came seeking freedom to worship
God.
''Thc Spaniards came for conquest
and gold; and the old fortress of San
Marco, at St. Augustine, built entirely
by the labor of India slaves, makes,
strong contrast with the work of all
the other colonists just named, who set
tied along the Atlantic coast"
The present population of New Mexi-
co consists of few families of pure
Spanish blood, and the Pueblo Indians,
but the largest portion is of mixed
Spanish and Indian blood.
These Indians were tillers of the soil,
and not nomadic. The Spaniards, hav-
ing learned that their lands were fer
tile, and that mineral deposits of gold
and silver had been found, determined
to seize this wealth and enslave the In
dams. Having succeeded in this, they
subjected the people to abjoct slavery,
and treated them with such cruelty that
bloody revolts were the conse qucnce.
This wronged people partially regained
their freedom, but were reduced in con-
sequence to the deepest poverty and
degradation.
In the mountains near Santa Fc there
were gold, silver and copper mines, and
as the Spaniards, who ruled the coun-
natives, they forced them to dig and
mine and smelt metals with the crudcst
appliances. When, after years of toll,
the foreign yoke became unbcarablc,
'tccrctly, and with the utmost caution,
the overthrow of the oppressors was
planned. Swift runners Travelled by
hidden paths, in the depths of night,
from town to town, laid the case of
their people before their coun Gil of war
riors and wise men, and each Pueblo
that joined the conspiracy added a
knot to string the messengers car
ried.
cat last all was ready, a great blow
wa, to be struck for liberty, and ono
that would drive the hated Spaniards
from the home of the Pueblo. One
night during August, 1880, the signal
fires sent their message across the land
from lofty mountain-tops and the hour
had struck. The strangers rule received
its DEATH blow on that night, and the
lifc- blood of many valiant Spaniard
dripped from dozens of wounds inflicted
by their former slaves. The padres,
too, became martyrs to their calling,
and fell before their affairs, to which
they fled for safety" The Indians
effectually closed the openings to the
mines that they had worked, and oblit-
Grated all traces of shafts and tunnels.
But their Independence was of short
duration. DON Diego de Vargas Sapa-
tahiyan soon appeared before Santa Fe
and once more subjugated the town,
the Pueblos seeking shelter in the
mountains and in the ruins left by the
cliff builders; but they were pursued,
and again compelled to labor as poems
(scrfs). But although prior to 1850,
the mine near San Lazaro had yielded
good riches, only fourteen years later
several expeditions failed to discover an
entrance to il, and today its site is un-
known. About 1900 A. D., Santa Fe
being settled by Spaniards became the
great trading city Of the Southwest. 1t
is described as an antiquated place, .'a
delightful place in which to rest and
grow old without knowing it."