Smyrna times., 1896-08-05
ADOBE BUILDINGS.
tIMPLE ARCHITECTURE OF MUD
HOUSES IN NEW MEXICO.

How the Bricks Are Made They Have
Straw In Them and Are Sun Dried.
Dwellings Made In This Way Are Very
DurabIe--A Favorable Climate.
Architectural engineering is branch |
Of the gentle art Of making mud pies in |
she land where the adobe houses grow. |
In the land of sunshine, where a rainy |
day is so rare that it is marked with a |
red cross, the native contractor and |
builder wastes no time figuring on the
strength of material, the crushing limit
of tubular columns and the wind pres
sure per square foot of elevation. He
does not pore over blue prints of plans,
cross sections and elevations, nor does
he whittle down his figures to the finest
point so as to come under some other
contractors bid He simply rolls his
trousers up above his knees, digs down
in a favored ditch or pond until he
strikes the ''dobe mud, " and in a short
time he is ready to begin constructive
operations.
Adobe houses are brick houses, but
the brick is sun dried and made with
straw. The clay or mud of which the
brick is made is a natural cement Pc
culiar to the arid plains of New Mexico,
Arizona, Nevada and that belt of states
and territories. It is turned out in the
most primitive manner, and the Blue
Island bricl1maler who might happen
upon a half breed or Mexican 'dObe
brickmaker would view the operation
with amusement or disgust Kiln burn
ed brick, made of blue clay, however,
would not meet the requirements i'm
posed by the climatic conditions of those
countries where adobe brick is used. .
In summer an adobe house is cool; in
winter it is warm. Its thick walls abb
sorb the occasional rain, and, although
the sun dried brick is soft compared to
the kiln dried article, it does not crum-
BILE, and it stands for ages.
A man who recently travelled through
New Mexico was much interested in the
'dobe houses. For weeks he inquired
and searched for 'dObe house in the
hands Of the builders. At length in
Santa Fe he stumbled upon a couple Of
men stamping with their bare feet upon
clay in a wooden frame He inquired
and found that he was looking upon two
Mexicans making adobe brick. In de-
scribing the process he said:
''The men actually dug up the 'dobe
mud from the bottom of the ditch which
skirted the road. They mixed it. or, as
we say, tempered it with water until
it was of a stiff, clayey consistency.
Then they chopped alfalfa hay into
short pieces and mixed it with the clay,
and their material was ready to make
into brick. A wood frame lay ON the
ground. This frame was filed with tn,
'dObe mud mixed with hay, and one O.
the men got into the frame and stamped
the mud down with his bare feet, a
the same time tamping it with a stick
After the frame was packed hard h
scraped the surplus mud off with
stick, so that the top surface was leve
with the upper edges Of the frame, ant
then lifting the frame from the clay h
carried the brick to one side of the rOal
and stood it on its edge. The next brio
he made he leaned against the first one
and soon he had dozen large bricks
each twice as wide and long and thic
as an ordinary brick-drying in tn
sun. One of the men told me that tn
bricks would be ready to lay in three q
four days, and that they used the mu
which the bricks are made Of for til
plaster.
, '"Fhe walls Of an adobe house are yer
, thick, sometimes two or three feet, an
: in the ordinary one story adobe houst
, which is characteristic of that region
they are built up perfectly plain unit
they reach the roof. The roof is supper
ed ON wooden beams, laid edgewise {
: the walls, and the bricks are built I
! level with the top of the beams betwee
r the timbers, leaving the edge of Il
a rafters exposed The roof has a shgl
4 slant, and is made Of adobe brick
4 When it rains, the water soaks into Il
. roof bricks, but does not begin to DIR
q down into the rooms below until Il
a rain is over. Then the family moves O.
3 until the water is through with
Il dripping. I saw an adobe house in San
q Fe which was built in the sixteen
% century, anu, 50 lar dS cOulu see U
n walls were as strong and good as al
% house around there.
% "Walls are built of stone, plaster
!. with adobe cement, if I may so call
aud such walls are strong and solid.
suppose if that country had half as mu,
rain as falls i'll Chicago the 'dobe hous
would after time crumble away, b
the average year in New Mexico
= made up of 1877 days of unclouded SIX
10 139 days when sunshine predominat
? and only 80 days Of cloud, so that t
rainfall does not amount to much mo
than a good sized fall of dew +"
. 1t is estimated that an adobe hou
u costs about 500 room, but there a
mansions built of this material whi
: cost not less than $50, 900 to constru,
When the American" settled in N,
py Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and t
y. lower part of California they accept
is the treeless condition of the count
til and built their houses Of 'dobe mud.
p: Chicago Record