The herald., 1893-02-20
A COUNTRY OF CURIOS.
THE NATURAL WONDERS OF THE
sUPERsTITIOUs MOUNTAINS.
A Region Which the Indians Avoid
Through Fear of the Peculiar sy-
enite Figures Which Are
Found Theres

"Among the natural wonders of the
great southwest are the Superstitious
mountains, which loom up red and rose
ate from the arid desert to the east of
the Salt river valley" said Ben Rogers,
an old cattle-man of Tempe, last night
at the American Exchange, says the
San Francisco Examiner.
"These mountains are 80 curious that
as long as Arizona has been settled the
Indians would have nothing to do with
them. In consequence they are full of
deer, ibex, bear and other wild game.
1t is tough work getting up in them,
however, and because of this it is nat
ural fortress for wild game. They are as
safe in these mountains as were the cliff
dwellers of an age long past.
"Their dwellings may be seen far up
on the sides of the almost perpendicular
wallis to this day. How they got up and
down is mystery. Enough is known
of them, however, to show that they
were little men and women, and could
probably scale the surfaces of the rocks
like squirrels. They were pygmies,
there is no doubt about that.
"Rising out of the level surface of the
desert, like the pyramids of Egypt, are
the Superstitious mountains. They
reach a total height from the valley of
from 5000 to $500 feet, and probably
their height above the sea is from 1000
to 5000 feet. There are no foothills lead
ing up to them whatever. On one side
is valley as level as billiard table,
and on the other these lofty mountains
rise. There are many theories for this,
but no certain solution.
"On the crest of this unique range,
and in full view inathe rarefied atmos.
phere for an immense distance from the
plain, are hundreds of queer figures,
representing men in all attitudes. When
you look first you are sure they are
men, and when you turn your aston
ished gaze again to them you are as alb
solutely certain OF it as you can be of
anything.
"They represent ball-throwers, out
looks, mere,viewers of the country round
about, men recumbent and contemplat-
i've, others starting on foot race and in
every conceivable posture and position,
They are not real flesh and blood men,
| however-nothing but stone syenite-
and some white men that they are not
genuine. They say they are real mortals
turned to stone, petrified by the pecul-
lar condition of the air on the mountains.
"This belief has grown out of an
Apache legend, handed down for don't
know how many years. They have it
that an ancient chief, who had learned
of the curious character OF the Super
stitious mountains, forbade any of his
people to go there. A large band, how
ever, one day discovered way to get in
| by a precipitous route, and finally
reached the top. 1t resulted as the chief
had said, and they never got down alive.
"Now you can induce an Indian to
brave all the Gila monsters and rattle
snakes of the plain, and there are many
Of them in places, but you can't induce
him to try and scale that perpendicular
range. He is satisfied to let the ancient
abodes of the mysterious pygmies, and
the crests where the petrified men are,
alone, even though the mountains about
are full of ibex and other game.
"It is q fine field for the naturalist and
the antiquarian, for if they do not be
| lieve in the petrifed men, they will at
least learn much OF the pygmy cliff
wellers, and the game that roams un-
molested near at hand.
Talking of the syenite men and the
other strange features IN connection with
them mus not forget to mention the
curious slkali pots or geysers. These
are near STEMS pass, the birthplace of
the Apaches, and it is fitting place for
them, too. Whenever l have looked at
this grim and ghastly region have not
wondered that the Apaches are savage.
SIN the distance the country is as
white (but for some opal-like spots) as
though melted lard had been poured
over it, 1t is as white as snow and hard
as plaster. 1t is almost as slippery, too,
as glass. There are no tiour-like
splotches anywhere, and the wind does
not carry the curious whiteness into the
air. All that is to be seen is alkali and
| its effect. The reservoir-like places in
the dazzling white are actual reservoirs
of alkali water. Some OF them are but
as large as bucket in diameter, while
others are 80 or 40 feet across.
81 have strung 100 feet of riatas to-
gether and dropped it in and found no
bottom. Neither cattle nor horses nor
any living thing, 30 far as | know, will
ever touch this water. They dare not,
for mouthful of it would kill. About
the alkali pots and large reservoirs and
scattered over the lava rocks, hot in the
blazing sun, are the different forms of
the cactus, and among all at times may
be seen notified reptiles crawling lazily
in the heat. Nobody will forget it and
no one will wonder at the peculiar
character of the Apaches when this wild
and uncanny spot is seen."