The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-05-06

of Laguna, which is on trans
continental line of railway, AGO.
ma is as remote from civilization as it
was when discovered 800 years ago.
Probably not over a dozen white men
call at Acoma in the course of year.
It is hard trip over there, across
the hot desert. and the Acomans, who
too hospitable to the stranger. I'm
less you have a pull with the gober-
nador. the Pooh Bah of the pueblo,
you might as well make up your mind
to say good-by just as soon as you
have said hello, because you'll be CIV
en- to understand very plainly that you
are not wanted. This isn't from any
special unfriendliness on the part of
the Acomans. but they simply prefer
to be left alone and figure that they
have worried along pretty well with
out white assistance for several hun
dred years and will be able to do so
for several hundred years more.
There's not much of anything of in
teyest before you reach Acoma. You
are beginning to nod in the wagon
when suddenly you are aware that
there has seemed to shoot up out OF
the plain a wonderful mesa, on the
top of which is a town, looking not I'M
like sprawly sort of castle. The
mesa is in the southwest corner Of
basin four miles wide and ten miles
long and open from the northeast
only. The general altitude Of the ba-
sin is about $500 feet and the mesa
shoots up from 200 to $50 feet right
out Of the desert, the sides being Ell
Their vertical or overhanging.
The top of the mesa consists of
about 300 acres of denuded rock and
what induced anyone to build a town
there is one of those little mysteries
that even the archaeologist will have
a hard time making clear to you. But
in all probability the pueblo was
built there for purposes Of defense.
AS you approach the mesa you under
stand how easy it would be for the
Acomans to defend themselves against
any attack that might be made upon
them
The main trail is plainly defined. 1t
winds across the desert and brings
you up against the base of the mesa
between a couple of big groups of
sandstone 200 feet high, guarding the
pass like giants. The trail slopes up
ward from these giants and mules and
horses can make the ascent to the
top There are two other trails, but
they are for foot purposes only and
unless the visitor has clear head
and is good climber he doesn't want
to tackle either one Of them, as the
paths are cut in solid rock and in
some places are merely footholes in
the side of the precipice.
Long files of Indian girls are pass
ing up and down these three trails all
day long. carrying water from the
springs on the plain below. There is
no water on top of the mesa except
that which is collected in the vast
communal basin scooped in the sand
stone. In time of drought this basin
is as dry as bone and all the water
that is used by the Acomans is
brought up from the plain below in
the gaily decorated water jars that are
balanced on the heads of the Acoma
maidens.
The town itself, when once you
have reached the top of the mesa, is
something never to be forgotten. 1t is
built after the style of most pueblo
villages, all the houses being of adobe.
Some Of them are three stories in
height, the upper floors being reached
by the ladders which are always
leaning against the walls and which
add a picturesque effect.
There are three long rows of build
ings, with ten large communal houses.
The streets and alleys are narrow.
and when looking down them one al
ways gets the wonderful effect of dis
lance, for the vision leaps right off
the edge of the mesa and out on the