Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1910-10-21

Orizaba is a sacred mountain in Aztec myth
ology. The legend runs that Quetzalcoatl, God
of the Air" and indeed the great prophet and
most important figure of the TOltec religion, cor
responding to C~onfucius in China, Mahomet in
India, and Of whom the Messiah myth was also
current, died at Coatzacoalcos and his body was
brought to Orizaba. His royal remains were con-
sumed by a divine fire and his spirit few heaven
ward under the form Of a beautiful peacock.
Ixtaccihuatl, the ruin of a volcano, might be
known as the despair Of the American school
teacher, because OF it's seemingly unpronounce-
able name. However, white woman" for that
is what the word means in the Aztec tongue, is
simple of saying, and if one pronounces Ixtacci-
huatl as If it were written Is-tac-see-watl. it will
be close enough in view of our meager knowledge
of this ancient idiom.
This mountain is 1920 feet high with a snow
line at 14,300 feet. and Cortez was the first Euro
pean to cross it when he passed to the valley
of Mexico on his campaign Of conquest. A Ger
man named Sonneschmidt dominated 1t in 1872,
while almost a century later, in 1853, a party Of
French engineers scaled its sloping sides.
And now we come to that Vesuvius Of Amer
lea, Popocatapetl, "the mountain Of smoke" for
such is the significance of the word in the Ian
guage of the Aztecs. 1t rises in glorious eleva-
ton 1874 feet above the sea, and although some
so miles from the City of Mexico seems to stand
a sentinel at it's very gates. Indian tradition has
it that both Popocatapetl and Ixtaccihuatl were
thrown up from the plain after a violent earth
quake and have. attained their present heights
by the gradual piling up of lava and rocks after
various eruptions. The last OF these disturbances
occurred in 1902.
To whom the honor Of first surmcunting Pc
pocatapetl belongs is difficult to determine, but
a distinguished congressman Of the United States,
Hon. William Sulzer, recently conquered the
mountain of smoke"
South of the isthmus are situated the noun
tain monarchs of the western world, and it is
only within forty years that these geological prob
lens have received the attention of adventurous
scientists, although Humboldt made explorations
and ascents in South America as early as 1902.
He it was who attempted to scale Chimborazo,
"the white watcher of the western seas" but
failed to get beyond 10000 feet, a most notable
achievement, however, under the circumstances.
The glory of it's conquest belongs to that mas
ter of the Matterhorn, Edward Whymper, who
fought his way up the rugged, snow-clad sides to
the top, 20,498 feet above the broad Pacific.
The great mountains Antisana and Cayamba,
both over 10000 feet elevation, also succumbed
to the ~untiring Whymper, and the record of his
deeds Of danger climbing in the equatorial Andes
is a classic OF the annals of geological explora-
ton. After these colossi of the Cordilleras had
been conquered, the eyes of the alpinists turned
southwark, where still more lofty peaks of unde-
termiued heights were known to exist. In the
great tableland of Chile stood cloud-crested Acan-
easua, rising grandiy to the skies, while Tupun-
cato, Illimani. and Sorata still defed the most
determined to surmount their topmost heights.
Acancagua, the highest of the Andean peaks
(23,0S0 feet), was the first to fall as a prize to
daring climbers, for Mr.. e. A. Fitzgerald. the
English geologist, fitted out an expedition In
1897. and although personally compelled by sick
ness to abandon his attempt to reach the summit
when within a short distance of realizing his
ambition, one OF his companions, Burbriggen, the
~.1IA uvnw 49, ---- 49, - ~ ~
Vines and santi Nicola, members Of the Fitzger-
aid expedition. also arrived at the top. Later, In
1898. Sir Martin Conway, another intrepid Eng
lish %alpinist. made the ascent Of Mount Acanca-
qua and placed the peak Ilimani to his credit.
Conway was not. however. content with this vic.
tory, but pushed on to place Mount Sorato on
his roll Of first ascents.