Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1895-06-15
MOST WONDERFUL CITY.
Said 10 b ACOmi, Inhabited BY New
Mexican PasblOs.
Curious Features 81 ihsIr uabItations
Villages situai,d AZ tho Top OF
hiEh noeLs-Qn.sr Cusion,s OF the
Gun pw,Iisrs

The most wonderful city In the world
is In New Mexico, only few miles from
Cubeto. or Laguna, on the Atlantic and
Pacific railroad. It had been In exis.
tence hundreds Of years when Columbus
discovered America. Acoma. for such
is lis name. is perched upon the level
summit oi a great rock, whose perpen.
diculsr sides are nearly 400 feet above
the surrounding country, and reached
by some OF the most difficult paths ever
tTodden by man. The feet OF genera.
iions have worn these paths six inches
into the solid sandstone.
The Acomas now pumber GOO souls.
Upon their seventy acres Of rock they
have six communal houses, each three
stories high, besides a church Of cnor.
nous dimensions. The inhabitants have
carried up the toilsome trails every
particle OF the material from which the
buildings were constructed, and besides
this. the graveyard consumed forty years
in being completed, by reason OF the
necessity for bringing earth from the
plain below. Al supplies at the present
day, even to drinking water, are brought
In the same way.
The architecture OF Acoma Is rs
strange as is location. The houses are
all terraced. so that they resemble flights
OF stone steps OF Egyptian pyramids on
a small scale. In each house the second
story stands ten or dozen feet back on
the ia, root OF the first, thus leaving
broad, uncovered walk the whole length.
The third story Is similarly placed upon
the second. There are no doors on the
lower walls OF the houses, nor stairs in.
side. To get into the FIRST story one
must go up ladder to the first roof
enter the second's,ory rooms, lit a trap
door In is floor aud back down another
ladder.
All these houses are Of stone masonry,
In spite OF the tact that the builders had
no metal tools for dressing the material
Instead they chose rock which broke
naturally into the shape desired. and
laid II In very durable mortar made
from mud. So neatly was their work
done that the outer faces OF the build
ings are as smooth as a board
The raiters are straight pine sticks.
stripped OF their bark, aud above them
Is a roof OF smaller sticks, straw and
clay. The combination is perfectly
water tight. The windows are very
small, and until glass was introduced
the pancs were made OF translucent
gypsum. The finishing touch is to plls'
ter the walls, inside and out, with adobe
clay, and then whliewash them with |
preparation Of gypsum, THIS white
wash gives a Pueblo town at distance |
the appearance OF being built Of marble.
Acoma is simply type OF twenty six
inhabited Pueblo towns now existing IN
New Mexico and Arizona and containing |
a population OF 10000 souls. The nine |
teen pueblos OF New Mexico are scatter
ed up and down the Rio Grandc Valley
from Taos, the most northern, to lsleta,
which is Just south oil Albuquerque.
Thence they extend westward, along the |
line Of the Atlantic and Pacific railroad,
10 near the Arizona border, the last one
In this direction being the ilr'iamed
Zuni The seven pueblos IN Arizona |
are close together In the northern part,
the inhabitants being collectively called !
Muqul.
Tine origin OF the Pdeblos has never
been unveiled. a profound interest
centres in them. But one thing has been |
ssttled-lhcy and the cave or olili !
dwelleis are one and the same people. |
The latter nave not vanished, as was |
once supposed, Their descendants are
with us today.
The ancestors OF the Pueblos were
probably the arliest inhabitants Of this |
Continent. The remains OF their forts, |
towns and stupendous irrlgating canals