Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1904-07-11
THE PUEBLO OF PEC0s.
Captain George n. Pettis Takes Issue
With Ex-Governor Prince as to
Its History and Location.
Providence, r. l., July 4, 1904


Editor New Mexican.
l have read with a great deal of in
| terest the two column article in tn
Weekly New Mexican Review of Ma,
26, 1904. by Hon. l.. Bradford Prince
on the pueblo of Pecos.' The name
"Pecos" is an Indian word, as are Je
meZ, Zuni, Cochiti Ka-tis.cha. Ki.wo
mi, Pojoaque, and many others. There
is no doubt in my mind but that thu
Ex-Governor has linked UP affair
somewhat because there has been bu
the one word for the Pueblo of Pecos
Notwithstanding the authorities he
quotes to substantiate his assertions
He very properly says:
'At the time of the expedition of
Coronado, this was altogether the most
important Of the Pueblo Indian villa
ges, and certainly exceeded in it's pop.
ulation and the character of its build.
ings, any other town in the new world
north of the City of Mexico. 1t seems
strange to think that the largest and
most important permanent seat of pop
ulation, in what is now the United
States, at the time of the discovery OF
America, was situated in the noun
tains of New Mexico, but such is the
fact; and it's ruins should be an object
of highest interest to all who pass
within plain sight Of them, when trav-
cling with all the swiftness and con-
venience of modern invention, on the
Santa Fe line"
All of the article that refers to the
words "Cicuic," "Cicuique," "Cicuyc,"
certainly belongs to some other local
ity which shows that the authorities
which the Governor claims were mixed,
which is further proven conclusively
by the following quotation from the
article:
eve have no information on this
point from subsequent travellers, for it
is a singular fact that the names Of
places reported by one expedition
seem entirely to have disappeared be-
fore it's successor. Thus, neither
"Tihuex" nor "Cicuic" is mentioned by
Espejo, who came forty years later,
nor by Onate, a quarter of century
after; though the former word is cas-
lily identified as the province of the
"Tihuas," whose name is used even
until now: but no mention of any
name even approaching that of
"Cicuic" is ever afterwards heard"
The reference in the article to the
river "Puerco," which was always the
name of the stream, was on the west
side of the Rio Grande, and this is the
proper locality to look for the ancient
Pueblos: "Cicuic," "Cicuique" and
"Cicuyc" This fact is further proven
by the account of the journey of Gas.
par Castano de Sosa, who in July, 1890
"set out from Almacen in Nuevo Leon,
with an expedition for discovery and
he concluded to follow the
same course, and march up the valley
of the Pecos. He crossed the Rio
Grande on September 8, and proceed
ed by easy marches, as his party in
cluded women and children among
the prospective settlers, until the very
last day of the year, he reached the
Pueblo, and speaks with admiration
of it's size and the height of it's build
ings of four and five stories. In this
narrative it is always called the "Rio
de los Vacas," or Cow Creek, in less
elegant American"
This quotation proves fully that this
great city of "Cicuic," or "Cicuque'
was on the western side of the Rio
Grande. This fact is further empha-
sized in the following paragraph in
the Governors article:
"The final colonization under the
the leadership of Onate, was in the
valley of the Rio Grande. and it was
not until the settlement and capital
were established at San Gabriel, at the
mouth of the Chama. that the con.
queror and Coronado marched east
ward to the most important town in
the new kingdom of which he was the
governor and captain general. He
arrived at the Pueblo on July "a, 1898;
and now the name in the history is
"Pecos," and this without any eX-
planation, and as if it were the only
name which the place had ever had"
Why, certainly it was "Pecos" for
it never had been anything else, and
this talk about the different names for
the grand old Pueblo of Pecos has no
foundation in fact. At the commence
ment of it's history it was "Pecos," and
ever afterwards it was "Pecos," and
he different towns and rivers men,
ioned by the Governor were on the
vest side of the Rio Grande
cEn