Evening star., 1896-03-21
MUD HOUSES IN THE sourHwEsr
The Making and Baking of the Adob
Brick Used I'm Building.

The Making and Baking of the Adobe
Brick Used in building.
From the Chicago Record.
Architectural engineering is a. branch of
the gentle art of making mud pies in the
land where the adobe houses grow, In the
land of sunshine, where a rainy day is so
rare that 1t is marked with a red cross.
the native contractor and builder wastes no
time hguring on the strength of the ma
terial, the crushing limit of tubular COL
ufnns and the wind pressure per square
foot of elevation. He does not pore over
blue prints of plans, cross sections and ele-
Vations, nor does he white down his fig
ures to the finest point so as to come un-
der some other contractors bid.
he S mpiy rolls his trousers up above his
Knees, digs down in favored ditch or
pond until he strikes the 'dobe mud and in
snort time he is ready to begin construc-
tive operations.
Adobe houses brick houses, but the
i, nrick Is sun-dred and is made with straw.
Inc clay or mud of which the brick is
made Is natural cement, peculiar to the
arid plains of New Mexico Arizona, Ne
vada, and that belt Of states and terri
tories. .- -
In summer an adobe house is cool: in
winter 1t Is warm. It's thick walls absorb
'he occasional rain. and although the sun
dried brick is soft compared to the kiln
dried article. it does not crumble and It
stands fGr ages. At /
A man who recently travelled through
New Mexico was much Interested in
the 'dobe houses. For weeks he inquired
and searched for &dabe house in the
hands of the buildasS
AT length, in Santa FA, he stumbled upon
couple of men stamping with their bare
quired, and found that ne was looking
upon two Mexicans making adobe brick
In describing the process he said:
from rhe IN men hatae actually a9g up the dobe mud
the road. They mixed it, or as we say.
tempered 1t, with water, until ii was of a
sun SUI, Giayey consistency. Then they chop
ped alfalfa hay into short pieces and mixed
it with the clay. and their material was
ready to make into brick
wooden frame lay on the rolnd
This frame was filled with the 'dobe mud
mixed with hay, and one Of the men got
into the frame and stamped the mud down
with his bare feet, at the same time tamp-
ing it with a stick.
After the frame was packed hard he
scraped the surplus mud off with a stick so
that the top surface was level with the up-
per edges of the frame, and then lifting the
frame from the clay, he carried the brick
edge.
The next brick he made he leaned
against the first one, and soon he had a
dozen large bricks-each twice as wide
long and thick as an ordinary brick-dryins z
In the sun. One of the men told me thai
the bricks would be ready to lay in three
or tour days, and that they use the mud of
which the bricks are made for the plaster
The walls Of an adobe house are very
thick, sometimes two or three feet. end in
the ordinary one-story adobe house which
Is characteristic of that region, they are
built up perfectly plain until they reach
the roof
The roof is supported on wooden beams
laid edgewise on the walls, and the bricks
are built up level with the top of the beams
between the timbers, leaving the edge of
the rafters exposed.
The roof has slight slant, and is made
OF adobe bricks. When it rains the water
soaks into the roof bricks. but does not be-
gin to drip down into the rooms below un-
til the rain is over. Then the family moves
out until the water is through with its
dripping. 10
Il sa': an adobe house in Santa Fe which
was built In the sixteenth century, and. so
far as could see, the walls were as strong
and good as any house around there
walls are built of stone, plastered with
adobe cement. If may so call it, and such
walls are strong and solid. 1 suppose if
that country had half as much rain as falls
in Chicago, the 'dobe houses would. after
tlme crumble away, but the average wear
IN New Mexico is made up of 1S7 days of
unclouded sky, 139 days when sunshine
predominates, and only 80 days of cloud. SO
mat rainfall does not amount to much
more than saod-sized fall of dew"
IL Is estimated that an adobe house costs
about 800 room. but there are mansions
built OF this material which cost not less
tnan $5O,OOO to construct. When the Amer
leans settled in New Mexico Utah, Ari-
zona, Nevada. and the lower part Of Cali
OF the country and built their houses of
'dobe mud, - ~