The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-02-11
HON. MOSES THATCHER.
HE IS INTERVIEWED BY AN Ex-
ANIINER REPORTER.
An Interesting Talk About Mexico
John w. YOung's Road-The Nor
mon COIony-A Dead Metropolis.

Hon. Moses Thatcher is in San
Francisco, on his return from Mexico,
and the Examiner of Thursday morn
ing contains the following interesting
account of his trip:
Moses Thatcher, the millionaire apos-
tie and financier of the Mormon
church, whose home is in Logan, Utah,
is residing for time at 220 Van Ness
avenue.
Mr.. Thatcher has been an apostle of
the Mormon church since 1879, and his
life work has been devoted to the
building up of the kingdom of the
latterdays He has spent many years
IN exploring the wildB and beauty
lands of Mexico.
Sierra Madre mountains. Mr.. Thatcher
states, held for him the greatest at
fractions. West of the Casas Grandes
valley, through which flows the Pied
raS Nerdes, a lovely river which con-
meets with the San Miguel in the upper
part OF the valley and forms the
Casas Grandes river, there is an ex-
eeedlngly beautiful eXpanse of country.
1t is lntersperSed with mountains Of
moderate size, a branch of the Sierra
Madre range, and not far from where
the celebrated Sabinal mines are To-
Gated on the COrralitos ranch, one of
the richest regionss pregnant with
gold and silver ore, awaiting the adj
vent OF the prospector and the iron
horse.
A NEW Ell DORADO.
MANY places I passed through"
said the apostle. strongly reminded
me of the placer ground in the Sierra
Nevada mountains, at the head of the
American river. The great similarity
Of the soil is most pronounced, and
all the indications are almost Identical.
If the road John W. Young had
Mexican concessions for had been built
from Deming to Polomas, over the
Mexican line, thence up the Casas
Grandes valley, through to Chihuahua
City, over the divide to the Pacific
coast, and thence to Sineloa and Son
ora and Guaymas, where connections
with the Atchison, Topeka. & Santa
Fe road could have been made, it
would have given the transportation
needed and opened up a perfect Ell
Dorado.
The Mormon colony was the first
TO settle in the Sierra Madre range in
this region. They camped right on
the trail of the dreaded Apaches, and
named one of their settlements Pach-
eco, after the noted general, who was
secretary of war. The MeXicans were
pioneers, and considered annihiliation
inevitable
A DEAD METROPOLIS.
'In a radius of 100 miles there is
enough masonry to build two cities the
size of San Francisco, and this tells
the tale of great civilization that
once flourished there. I purchased a
sitio or a little over 1000 acres of land
some time ago, and subsequently
hn1r cr11f 80.
acres. On part of this land I diScov-
cred about half dozen caves. The
entrances were walled up with cement
two and one-half feet thick with only
post-holes, and a, narrow aperture left
sufficiently wide to allow one person
TO enter. These caves were provided
with ollas, in which water and pro-
visions were stored, and were formed
of long sacaton grass, mixed with ce-
ment, and We're usually about twelve
feet high and eight or nine feet in
width. One was in a perfect state of
preservation.
1.-THE caves were divided into apart
ments, and one of them contained
seventeen rooms. Upon the walls are
ancient inhabitants, of the same class
as described in the Mexican Antique
ties by Lord Kingsbury.
THE caves on the land referred to
will accommodate fully 1000 persons,
and a celebrated Belgian scientist not
long ago found more relics and num-
mics in them than he had in search
of $50 miles elsewhere"
Apostle Thatcher states that the
Mormon colony in the district above
described is meeting with splendid
success, and the government officials
of Mexico have expressed themselves
as of the opinion that this colony is
III
ever located IL the republic.
On being asked if the main body of
Saints were likely to make Mexico
their permanent home, the apostle
said that wherever the Mormon peo-
pie settled they were most likely to
stay. Utah and the Mormons will
never be divorced.