The Charles Mix new era. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1???-1911, 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 Confucius in China, Mahomet in
India, and of ewhom 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 flew 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 16, 200 feet high With a snow
line at 1890 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 1772,
while almost a century later, in 1858, a party OF
French engineers scaled it's 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 II, 794 feet above the sea, and although some
so miles from the City of Mexico seems to stand
a sentinel at its very gates. Indian tradition has
it that beth 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.
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
- .4l f1c%r xhof fhoco OoOlnoioq1 nrnh.
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 $4,000 feet, a most notable
achievement, however, under the circumstances.
The glory of its conquest belongs to that mas
ter of the Matterhorn, Edward Whymper, who
fought his way up the rugged, snow-clad sides TO
the top, 20,49S 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-
termined heights were known to exist. In the
great tableland of Chile stood cloud-crested Acan-
cagua, rising grandly to the skies, while Tupun-
cato. ulimani, and Sorata still defied the most
determined to surmount their topmost heights.
Acancagua,. the highest of the Andean peaks
fo3 08O 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 q short distance of realizing his
ambition, one of hts companions, Burbriggen. the
guide. went to the very apex. and later Mr.. s.
Vines and Santi Nicola, members of the Fftzger-
aid expedition, also arrived at the top. Later, In
1898. Sir Martin Conway, another intrepid Eng
fish alpinist, made the ascent of Mount Acanca-
qua and placed the peak Illimani 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.