Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1901-190?, 1901-11-08
An AZTEC MOUNTAIN.

a woH,tcrfui Mound 10 lie -S-en IN NcSico.
4 correspondent has recently made
the ascent of an interesting mountain
ia Mexico, which he calls one of the
most gigantic exhibitions of msus
handiwork ard something almost be
yond credence were we not already ia
miliar with the works OF the
A2tecs. He writes about IL as follows
just imagine valley forty by thirty
miles in area, and from it' center ris-
ing n mound over l,2OO feet in heigth,
then you can realize the first effect
created upon our minds when we came
before the hill / am to dec cribe NY
foreman was with us, and had partly
prepared Us for the surprise, but we had
treated his story with incrcdulous re
marks. and had by no means sus-
pected he had but given Il, modest de
scriution of the nound.
We gazed te the top and allowed our
eyes to follow the windings of a road
down to 'ur base. We went around
the base ahJ conjecturcd it was about
one and q half miles in circumference
Then we started for the SnBmit. The
roadway was built of solid rock clear to
the pinacle, and was from thirty TO
forty feet in width. A wall of solid
rack formed foundation aud an inside
Nail ut the same time The outer edge
OF the road was unguarded Thee
stones weigh all the way up to a ton
each, and are not cemented. The road
way is AS level a. floor. and is covered
with broken pieces OF fearthenware water
! vessels.
Half way up the mountain is an altar
cut in solid rock; in the niche is a
bowlder which must weigh at least
six tons. The bowlder is of different
stone from that used in the walls. The
rocks in the walls are dressed by skilled
workmen, but are not polished. We
saw no inscriptions, but we had no time
to spare in making a searching investi-
CATION. We did look for arrowhead> or
other warlike implements, TO satisfy
ourselves that the mound had not been
used for defensive or offensive purposes.
Nor was there any evidence to prove
that the roadway had been built for
the purpose of witnessing bull-fghts on
other sports in the. valley | could
only conclude that the. Aztec survivor.
shippers expended years oi labor on the
hill in order that they might have ar
appropriate place to, celebrate their im
posing festivals, inasmuch as the road
way was strewn with broken earthen
ware, and those scions of bygone ent
notable race were known to carry a
sunrise large quantities Of water il
earthenware jars to an eminence, an,
there pour out tho liquid aud smasl
the vessels.
When we descended we brought will
us a number of small sea shells whicl
had petrifed. We again took Ions
look at the mountain and saw it wa,
oblong IN shape, and that the upwar'
road commenced on the eastern side
| have travelled on both sides of tn
!, mountains from British Columbia t
l Central America, and on either side q
: the Sierra Madres where the Gilt
dwellers have left such remarkable me
mentos of their skill and customs, bu
. have never witne ,sed anything s.
wonderful and magnificent as tn
. mound which have been telling yo
about. The valley is about 600 fee
above the sea level and is ibou
seventy miles from the coast. 1t is sit
J uated in Sonora, between the cities G
: Altar and Magdelena, and near th
!. Magdelena River We call the curio,
: ity Palisade Mountain, aud it is We
l. named.