The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1893-07-28
Is THIS AN EXTINCT CITY.

Pillars of Scuptured Granite Buried In the
Hand.-Th,y Appear TO Have Formed the
| Entrance u Ancient Buildings Buin by
Unknown Hands-The Sculpture Marvel
lOus and Unique
A patty Of prospectors, consisting Of
'Hank" Ferguson, Theodore Price, Gus
Atherton and John Cline, left Yuma, COL,
three weeks ago In search ofa mysterious
mine In the Colorado desert. After leaving
the Colorado River bottoms they started to-
wards the Cocopas Mountains, on the Next
can boundary.
They prespected for some time without sue.
cess, aud faalIy came Into region where
rocky hills gave good indications OF goll.
Ia one spot. some distance from where The
party camped they found some peculiar crop
pings of granite. examining the outcror-
pings more closely they were amszed 10 dis
cover signs OF what appeared to he great
stone building or series of buildings. The
granite outcroppirgs they had seen from The
camp proved to be pillars Of quaint design,
and seemed to have been the entrance to some
huge structure.
Ferguson and bis associates then began a
closer inspection Of their queer ind, which,
from their story, seems likely TO prove the
most important arctp ,ogcal discovery In
years.
TIE walls OF once great buildings had either
been torn down, or perhaps shaken to the
ground by those tremendous earthquakes that
even to this day visit this desert region. the
ruins covered space 400 feet long by 260
wide. Portions OF the north, east and south
walls were still standing.
nj wa oil
the north side. ard were curiously formed to
represent rattlesnakes. They were slightly
curved at the bottom and the tail ends made
to resemble rattles. Upon their heads rested
immense slabs of granite. weighing many
tons. In all forty,ight pillars, some fairly
well preserved, were found. All were beau.
tifully proportioned. At their tops, above
heads, the freiz, ornamentation resembled
Egyptian sculpture and exhibited much more
skill IN its workmanship than is possessed by
Indians of the present day.
The Enclosure between the walls was hled
with debris, ard no satisfactory examination
of the Interior can be made. However,
fragments of pottery were found near the
surface, which. with piece of the frieze or
namentation. were carried away by prospec'
tors.
No cement or similar material appeared TO
have been used In the construction of the
buildings, big slabs Of granite having appar.
emily been laid one directly upon the other.
On the exposed parts of the walls the same
class of ornementstlon was found that APP
peared upon the pillars. In one place, at the
foot of the pillars, stone steps were found,
excellently hewn out of granite.
Mr.. Ferguson and one Of the party came at
once to San Francisco. The others returned |
10 Yuma. whence another party has already |
started to see the ruins.
Mr.. Ferguson while here interested two
capitalists, who attempted to visit the ruins,
out were deferred by a tremendous sand.
storm on the desert, in which two Indian
'unners. sent ahead to locate water holes
Yearly perished. The heat was intense. and
he water giving out, the party was COMPEL
ID 10 return. They will make another at
empt as soon as the weather moderates. Tie
pottery and piece of sculptured rock exhibit
ed by Mr.. Ferguson have been examined by
ocal scientists, who say they have never seen
ny thing like them and pronounce them to be
he work Of an unknown people. 1