Arizona weekly citizen., 1894-08-11
|. TURQUOISE. The Mines of New Mexico
 and Arizona.
 ANCIENT. GEMS From the Wonder Caves of Los
 Cerrillos.
ANCIENT. GEMS

f sotno remarkably tiUc turquoises who's f history is of special |. terest to Ameri cars. particularly W ose living in Csll forn'a and the West.
 Some time ago when passing through
 New Mexico, a few San Domingo rue bio Indians approx shsd u train anc held ny a handful of turqnoises. oft ring to se ! them by an unque measurement 9 cents for a mouth -ul. this being the
 rescepfacle ia wnich t.e gems were GET
 ried.
 Tn sse speciments of Turquoise are
 ot, as might be expectel l, remerk ably
 fine, but among them real gems are often
 found. The point of interest of that
 New Mexico is or has been valuable
 turq rquoise-producing district in the past, and Id all probability the gems of some of them, were collected by the ancestors of these Indians, who today haunt the the railway stations to eke out an exist ence by selling the cheapest grade of these stones from the ol1 1mines.
 | When the Spanish invadors tirst came to this country they found the turquoise favorite gem amor the natives, valued higher ever than god. When the em- bassedors form Montozuma brought | their treasure to San Juan de Ulloa they included four turqloisei' or chsl chlhultls, which We. 6 Valued at an enormous sum. Tor9uemada thought | the gems emeralds, and IS the authority for t 8 statement that the s5one was l offered in the temple o ths Goddess Matlalcueye. And to further illustrate its value 1t Is said that when Alvarado and Montezuma gsmbied ths former paid D turquoise when he lost and re- oeived gold if be won.
 Coro ado's visit 10 Cibola resulted in | the discovery Of certain turquoise mines mines which the natives had worked in all probability for years, and that these are the mines known today as the Fur quOise district, Cochise county, Arizona, and the mine at Los Cerrilloe, N. M., there can be but httle doubt. h both of these localities these are ancient mines, and the New Mexican district are the Wonder caves, worked by the ancieDts, which were sealed up and un- discovered. That the Spani8rds took possession of the mines and used the h. dians as miners there is good reason to believe. 1t is known that ID 1870 the mines caved ana entombled many h. diaus causing rise against the Span iards. The mountain which makes con- spIcuous the turquoise mine at Los CerrlllOs, N. M., is called ChalchihuIti. By the ordinary observor the mine would be taken for a gravel pit, into which pr; jsct jagged points of rock. Careful examination shows that work has been carried on for years, and s cavity 300 in depth and 400 feet in width has been worked out. Growing IS the heaps of debris are great pines and cedars, suggestive of the fact that the accumulation was made very many years ago. On many of the pieces that lie about stains of bluish green are found ID the rock, and careful search discloses fine veins of turquoise.
 In 1870 SD American company took hold of the old mine and tried to develop 1t bat the plan was soon abandoned. When the Pueblos found the Ameri- cans st work they protested, saying that 1t was sacred place. Finally, when their appeals were not noticed they of- fered to purchase all the turquoise taken out. The Americans pushed on the work and soon found unmiskalably evidence that this was the source of the old supply. Search in the old debris resulted in the discovery of various specimens, all pointing to great snti- quity.
 But the most interesting finds are the so-called Wonder caves, which are | really old tunnels made by the ancients and sealed up when deserted. They were in the east side of the mountain end were totally unsuspected, as. they had been hermetically closed and skill | fully concealed. The caves are down twenty or twenty-five feet below the surface. extending 1000 feet from the apex of the mountain. They are from thirty to thirty-fve feet in width, and l rise to heighs of six or eight feet. When standing on the top of the debris heaps in the bottom they appear to radiate from a common center. When the investigator crept into these mines there were great expectations. From the care with which they were conceal ed i: was supposed that some great treasure had been concealed, but the only treasure were implements of srche- ological va lue. The men found twenty. two feet of rubbish below their feet, and | from SIX to eight feet clear above, show ing that the original cleaning had been hallway nearly thirty feet in height. The wall of this hall were beautifully traced in places with goldbeariDe quartz and delicate lines of turquoise, so that
 the discoverers at first thought they had found cave of treasures instead of wonders. The roof was carefully sup ported by pillars from eight to twenty five feet thick. Down among the re- fuse they found bits of ancient Aztec pottery dotted with pieces of turquoise and spells, showing how they had been
 used to form the mosaic. The investi- gators supposed from the traces of gold that the mine could be worked for that alone, but the attempt was given up and it is now worked now only by the In dIans and a few whites, who produce
 only enough turquolse to sell al ng the
 railroad to curlosity-seekers.
 Some of the objects of ancient use found in these and other ancient mines
 are very curious. At Los CerrIllos the
 debrls covers several acres. Here have
 been found various objects, from idols
 to Aztec pottery. A hammer taken
 from the Mystery caves, which weighs
 thirteen and three-tenths pounds, shows
 how the rock was detached. An ex
 ample of how the turquoise was used Ii
 seen in prairie dog of clear white
 stone with turquoise eyes near Tempe
 Ariz. A Zuhijsr was found containing
 a shell obtained from some coast h. .{.a Ufs-s ko.
 and dotted with plates of turquoise anC garnets, so that it took the shape of ;
 Mosaic toad Among the humen re
 mains found was the skull evidently O
 some great chief, that was covered witt | inlayipUa If turuuOise tha aypa hajn(