The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-28
THE ENCHANTED MESA
RESULT OF THE EXPEDITION SENT
OUT BY THE GOVERNMENT.
Professor Hodges Investigations Re-
veal the Truth of the Legend of
the AcOma Keresans.
AInS9uquerque IN. NJ Letter in Chicago


Albuquerque IN. No Letter in Chicago
Times-Herald.
| That people once lived on the Enchanted
Mesa and the probable truth of the Indian
! legend connected with the famous rock has
been proved by the result of the expedition
| made under the direction of the bureau of
ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution.
| The Indian traditions alleged that at the
summit of the great rock, seven hundred
feet above the valley below, a great tribe
once dwelt. The fact that ascent was al
most impossible and that it had not been
successfully made until this year served to
discredit the tales of the Indians.
| Whether or not the legends could be be-
lieved has always been subject of discus
| sion among American ethnologists and this
year to solve the problem Major Powell has
detailed F. w. Hodge of his bureau to go to
New Mexico and make the perilous ascent
after he had examined an interesting series
of ruins in western New Mexico and had
witnessed the famous snake dance of the
| Moqui Indians.
The Enchanted Mesa stands on a sand
stone rock seven hundred feet above the viii
| lage of Acoma, and its steep, precipitous
sides have successfully defied many explor-
Ing parties. Acoma, the nearest town, is
| ffty-five miles from Albuquerque, in Va
lencia county, and disputes with Zuni the
claim of being the Oldest inhabited town in
North America. 1t is an isolated rock mesa,
itself fully five hundred feet ABOVE the sur
rounding plain, on which live five hundred
! Indians, whose rich stores of folklore have
been the delight of all students of the North
American Indians.
| These Indians are themselves full of in
terest. They belong to the Keresan family
of the Pueblo Indians, the rule among
which family is that each tribe shall be
called after the pueblo which they inhabit
Most of the Keresans are a small people,
smaller even than the mesa-dwellng Tu-
sayan Indians. The men are generally spare
and dark, the women thick-set and COM
paratively fair All have broad, round faces.
| small eyes, gross prognathous jaws and
mouths, and usually fiat noses, feshy and
broad at the nostrils. The Acomas resemble
the other tribes but are rather larger ow-
! ing TO their intermarriage with the Zunans
Inc mixture OF the two races was blend
d dlas 4l the OLDEST representatives of the
ueSert or original Aridian Indian stock.
HOMES OF THE KERESANS.
In the Zuni creation legends which have
been extensively investigated bv Frank
Hamilton Cushing, the Keresan Indians are
| extensively referred to as the drinkers of
dew" because their small houses were
scattered about on hills remote from per-
| manent water. Their own and other tradi-
| tlons relate how, for centuries, they inhabi-
ted cave dwellings in the deep canyons west
| or the Rio Grande. AT the present time all
Oh their villages are either situated on the
great level plains of the Rio Grande where
| they form irregular squares made I'D of
! smooth adobe houses arranged in longer or
shorter rows rising in terraces like horse
! blocks from the inner courts one, two. and
| rarely three stories in height or else they
| are laid out, as is the village of Acoma. in
Two or three uniform and unbroken parallel
rows or chambers, terraced from one side
stories " - 'iies
| The Acoma Indians claim kinship with
those who according to their legends dwelt
upon the Enchanted Mesa. The story thew
tell is that one hunared years ago a large
| and prosperous Indian village was located
| on the top of the great mass of sandstone
which is mile and a half from the Acoma
village The inhabitants were said to de-
| pend upon agricultural pursuits for a liveli-
| mood, and, as do the Acoma Indians of to-
DAY, they left their homes to cultivate fer
| tile fields in the valleys below them and
several miles distant. The story runs that
the top of the Enchanted Mesa was access
| sible by only one trail, which had been cut
| IN the stem side of a detached pillar of
| stone which had fallen over against the
| main rock.
leo TO the Abandonment of the village One
! day as the rainy season came on all of the
aDle-bodied men who lived on the mesa
went down as usual to labor in the fields
and left behind them only the aged and in
| llrm with their caretakers upon the rocky
| heights. great rainstorm arose, accom-
panied by frequent cloudbursts and as
many or the houses on the mesa were
washed down by the raging waters
| one of the caretakerS was sent down
| to the fields below to summon assist
ance. He had hardly reached the bottom of
the great rock ladder. over which the water
rushed in foaming torrents. when it fell.
The treacherous sands at the bottom had
| been washed away and the mighty column
! which, for centuries. had served as the only
path from their lofty dwelling to the scene
| OF their labors lay shattered at the base of
! the now inaccessible mesa.
| PROF. LIBBEY'S EXPLORATION.
| Professor Libbey succeeded in scaling the
height He procured several miles of rope
and a 213-bore brass cannon. He
loaded the cannon with a twen-
| ty-five-p pound shot, to which was attached
line of rope The first shot failed to reach
the top, falling one hundred feet short of
the mark. The second shot reached the top
of the mesa, but the cord was not strong
enough. Three days were spent in pulling up
/ large ropes in gradual sizes. 1t was a tedi-
GUS task, for every time a splice caught
the rope had to be pulled back and the task
begun again. Fifteen hundred feet of thick
rope were finally fixed, running from the
bottom to the top and to the bottom again,
and two and a half miles of rope had to be
handled during the three days, which task
required the exertions of dozen of men.
| Finally a travelling block was attached to
| the pulley which had been pulled over the
| overhanging ledge. Then rock, weighing
| as much as the professor was placed in
| ''boatswains chair and sent a dummy
on the journey. The trial trip proved sue
cesSful and the professor himself took his
place in the chair" He reached the top.
but no one else was willing to follow him,
with the exception of the reporter.
Professor Libbey and the reporter thor
oughly investigated the top of the mesa,
and the professors conclusions were that
no inhabitants had ever existed there. He
found a monument of rocks. piled up In
dian fashion. His Investigations. however,
did not prove to be thorough. Indeed, his
chief object in making the trip was to as
cend a rock which no one else had scaled.
The news of his trip excited much interest
among ethnologists and geographers. Its
success led to the determination of Major
Powell director Of the bureau of ethnology.
that a thorough investigation should be
made With this end in view he detailed
Prof f. W Hodge of the bureau to make
the ascent and carefully make an examina-
tion for any traces OF life.
Professor Hodge accomplished the task
with greater ease than had been done by