Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-09-29
OLD NEW MEXICO.
PeopIed 1000 Years Before the Pilgrim
Fathers.

Fathers.
Col. Ralph E. Twitchell, formerly oi
Kansas city, but for twenty five years
one of the leading lawyers OF New
Mexico, has written a sketch of the
old city Of Santa Fe which will both
please and surprise every reader. Mr.
Twitchell has been a deep student OF
New Mexico history and speaks by
the card in whatever he says. He has
been a pupil of Bandelier, the great
archaeologist, and Is prepared to de-
fend all his statements.
Mr.. Twitchell says that Santa Fe
was an old place when the Pilgrims
landed at Plymouth. The FTanciscans
founded a mission there in two small
Indian pueblos which were then more
than 1000 years old, one on Fort Mar
cy, the other on the site Of San Miguel
church, the oldest house Of worship ir
the United States. In this church Is
an old bell cast in Spain more than
century before the discovery Of Amer
lea, The altar paintings lay claim to
even greater age and are by the ear
liest Spanish masters.
But far older than the old church, tc
quote Twitchell at length, Ia the civil
ization that has scattered Its monu-
ments all around Santa Fe with 6
prodicality that astonishes even the
archaeologist. On the Arroyo Hondc
are the ruins of communal village
that has been partly excavated and has
furnished part Of the treasures found
in the Cole collection Of the New Mex
leo Historical Museum and elsewhere
The village stood on the brink Of g
cliff. Today on this very spot con-
crete dam is being built to reclaim g.
900 acres Of pinon covered, fertile land
and make 1t blossom as 1t undoubtedly
did 1000 years ago when men and
women lived their simple lives in this
remote locality.
Similarly, five miles to the south
west. at Agua Fria, a curious and
sprawling Mexican settlement on the
Santa Fe river, 10 a mound covered
with thousands of pieces Of ornament
ed pottery. A partial excavation
shows 1t to be large communal dwell
ing that yet may yield rich archaeolog-
ical treasures. Six miles to the north
on the Tesuque river, are similar
ruins. The road thence, known as the
Circle or Sena drive, runs over a di-
vide noted for scenic views of weird
beauty.
But all this Is as nothing compared
with the 10000 communal and cliff
dwellings in Pajarito Park, just across
the Rio Grande river to the west. Pa
jarito plateau embraces the region be-
tween the Jemez mountains and the
Rio Grande, extending from Chama
valley to Canada de Cochitl. Pajarito
park Is In the centre of this plateau
1t runs from Santa Clara Canon on the
north to Capulin Canon on the south
thirty-five miles long and fifteen miles
wide. The first cliff ruins in this park
are twenty-five miles from Santa Fe,
Here, as DR.. Edgar L. Hewett says
is the most interesting archaeological
region in the United States. Carloads
of pottery and utensils have been
carted away to enrich museums and
private collections, and the surface is
scarcely scratched, for communal ruins
thus far unmapped still are being dis
covered, and but two or three have
been excavated to any extent. More
than $4,000 of these ruined buildings
and caves remain to tempt the pick
and shovel of the trained arohaeolp=
gist. This scenery is grand, no matter
which way one turns-whether to the
top of the tufa mesas or to the bottom
Of the precipitous canons in which
ruins of villages lie so close together
that even the casual observer wonders
how 50 great population found a
living in this arid country.
On the Puye to the north commu-
nal building Of 1900 rooms has been
excavated. 1t took several seasons to
do the work and 1t is the only ruin of
the many that has been at all ade-
quately studied. 1t has yielded speci-
mems that may be found scattered in
museums from the national capital to
the Pacific coast.
Several hundred rooms of the
Tshrege have been excavated and ex-
plored To the south in the Rito de
los Frijoles, where Bandelier lays the
scene of his "Delightmakers," circular
ruin has been opened up. From the
top Of the dizzy train that leads down
into the canon in foaming waterfalls
it looks like the familiar Roman am
phitheatre. All agree that the civiliza-
ton of the communal dwellings pre-
ceded the thousand-year-o culture
of the Pueblos and that the caves in
the cliffs beneath the communal dwell
ings have yielded evidence Of accppa-
ton in days that date back to the era
of the mammoth and the great lava
flow,
II the old city were near the great
centres Of population 10000 people
would visit her for every one who
goes there now.-Kansas City Journal.