The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-07-16

usually three feet high. The first story
| consists of blank walls. There are nei-
Their doors nor windows, entrance being
effected from a trap door az the top,
which is reached by ladders from out
side. The second and third stories are
placed one above the other in pyramidal
fashion, each being smaller than the
| other. The material is stone and wood
the latter being transported from the
plain below on the backs Of the Indians.
large church and graveyard some
200 feet in diameter take up all the space
not filled by houses. The graveyard
is made round. A space between Two
rocks was filed up with earth. For CEN
turtles this has been the burial ground
for the tribe. The water used is care
fully gathered from the rainfalls in hol-
lows scooped out OF the solid rock with
an extensive watershed.
The Mesa Encantada is just mile and
half TO the northeast. 1t is rock OF
similarly abrupt and precipitous charac-
teristics, narrower in girth, but 200 feet
higher. The top appears to be level.
But authentic history mas no record that
it has ever been visited by either white
or red man.
Legend, however, supplies this de-
f1ciency. According TO that legend the
summit of the Mesa Encantada was the
original site Of the Acoma village The
tribe was then larger and more powerful
than it IS today. Their houses like the
Acoma houses Of the present, occupied
all the available space. Consequently,
tne Inhabitants had to support them
selves by agriculture in the plains below,
but some miles away from the base Of
the rock. During the planting and har-
vesting seasons all the able-bodied In
G,ans descended The precipitous Ladder
rock. which formed the only access to
the farms. leaving behind them the very
old, the very young. or the feeble in care
Dc the houses.
One harvest season. when the bulk Of
the tribe was away in the fields, ter
rible thunderstorm fell with utmost fu-
ry upon the defenceless village on tho
Mesa. The houses tottered and fell. A
young lad was despatched 70 the fields
% arprise the tribe Of the disaster. He
plunged through the pi:iless rainfall and
succeeded in making his way TO the bot
tom OF the ladder rock. Blu. ne was just
in time Hardly had he reached the
base when the ladder rock itself fell
with an awful crash in the opposite di-
rection from the res. Of the rock.
The alarm was given. The reapers
and cleaners returned in hot haste. But
they could no longer climb the rock.
They could see their women folk run
ming wildly to and fro in the cloudland
above them. They prayed and Offered
sacrifices. But all was in vain. The ag-
oniZed faces peering imploringly over
The awful abyss grew fewer and fewer
in numbers as the days went on. When
the Last enc had disappeared the Indian
tribe moved sorrowfuliy away and found
a new dwelling place on the neighbor-
ing Acona rock. Since that time the
summit of the Mesa has been abandoned
to the spirits of the dead, who will con-
tinue to infest until the return of life
OF Montezuma.
THE ROCK A SACRED SHRINE.
In this belief the rock has been jeal-
ously guarded for ages by the Acoma
tribe. They will suffer no violation of its
sancitty. Peaceable as they are under
ordinary circumstances the sleeping dew
il within them is aroused by the ap-
proach OF any would-be decorators.
A dozen years ago small party Of
whites. armed with spikes, which they
purposed to use in the scaling Of the
rock. appeared in the valley. The alarm
was sounded at once. The Acomas
threw down their agricultural nipple
they could find and appeared in force
at the base OF the Mesa. When the
whites approached they beat them off
before a single sacrilegious spike had
been applied TO the shrine.
Professor Libbey is forewarned. He
knows the dangers that face him. He
and his party are armed with the latest
appliances Of warfare. They do not in
tend TO yield without a struggle. And
they will probably prove more than
match for their opponents. IL they meet
with any opposition.
But the issue will be watched with in
terest by the whole civilized world. AZ
ter the Acomas have been subs,ded they
will have 70 meet the even more seri-
Gus problem as to how the seven hun
dred feet OF towering cliff may be seal
ed.
That developments Of the most import
ant character may meet them on the
summit is more than probable. II is
that the Acon,a legend Is all
a legend. Some residium Of fact may
remain after the sythic elements have !
been eliminated. If it is found that n |
the remote ages of the past a prehis- |!
toric tribe Of Indians occupied this now |
spot it is obvious that they |
must have left behind them remains Of |
the utmost archaeological value.
The Enchanted Mesa may prove to be |