El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-12
Came to the American Con
tinent and Established
Themselves.
By W. f. Barnes, Tucson, ArIz.


By W. f. Barnes, Tucson, Ariz.
world wrongly called the new, This
CLINE was OLD
When first the Spaniards came in
search of gold
Age after age its shadowY wings had
and man was born. and gathered to
Cities arose, ruled. dwind1ed to de-
cay,
Empires were formed, then darkly
swept away;
Race followed race, like clOud-shades
DER the field,
The stranger stin to strangers doomed
to yield"
A RIZONA, tArizonac-conceaIed or
n hidden water, once was a seq
ment of a great and powerful
empire Southern Arizona was inhab-
tied from prehistoric times, and pre-
sents a wonderful field for arcnaeoIOg-
ical research. In its valleys goOdly
cities with temples and palaces, built
by a numerous and civilized people
fOurished ages before the fleet Of the
far sighted GenOese spread its white
wings upon the tempestuous bosom OF
the Atlantic.
The human race had its birth on
the high table lands of Central Asia,
south and east of the Caspian sea
The first emigratiOns were made by
the Tauranian CTauranian-Outslde,
or barbarOus') nations which scat
tered widely, the first settled gov
ernments developed in fertile river
valleys, where cultivation of the soil
arrested desultOry habits and often
formed the nucleus of an empire
Change of place, intercourse, conflict
and conquest were the chief early ed
ucatOrs. Man at first had no insti-
tutions- lie existed in the simplest
and most spontaneous way, finding
shelter in caves and clefts of the rocks
and beneath the primeva1 forests, Z
cropping his way. guided by strong in
stinct divinelV implanted in his soul,
that instinct which ever impels men
and nations TO contamination OF
their destiny
EmigrantS From Asia.
America was settled by emigrants
from Asia arriving by the way of the
Behring strait, and at q later period
followed by others landing upon the
west coast in vessels direct from the
orient
The early inhabitants of North and
Central America were divided into
two linguistic groups, Manhattan and
Athapascan- To the first named group
belonged the Maya, TOltec and the
Aztec, who were a superior race, de- {
VelOping a high state of civilization
great writer has truly said: I
Civilization is an unfolding, and de /
TelopS from its own germ It is not !
a superficial acquisition. but an in
WI u grow III even II NOuElSneQ DV eX- ]
traneous food" The Athapasean peo-
pies did not possess the germ of |
civilization, and remained stationary.
And we find their descendants today, /
what few remain, utterly deficient in /
those characteristics which mark the /
FlTile, progressive races, and they ap-
pear incapable of any very great in /
tellectual development such as was /
maintained by Aztec people in general /
General Error.
The assumption that the Casas I
Grances were built by the ancestors 4
of the indian tribes found occupvine- /
the country at the time of the arrival 4
of the Spanish missionaries in the /
18th century will not bear examination
Everything beyond their cOmprehen- /
sion was the work of their ancestors.
and while vaguely claiming kinship to 1
the builders Of the Casas Grandes. they
also claimed close relationship to the /
mountains, and to the invisible forces /
Of nature Tradition among some of (
the tribes ascribed all the old remains
including the unexplOred mounds of /
The region, to Montezuma. IN Chi /
huahua. the mounds are called Monte
zumas. and even the Zuni called an
cient ruins of that section Monte (
zunas' temples" The utter absurd 4
lty Of the Pima legends is best IL
Iustrated by paragraph from the
report of Lieut. AIichler in charge of
the United States boundary survey at
Casa Grande in 1854. He says:
The Pimas consider themselves
N0steA4alLS OF the AZteCS. and claim
Montezuma to have been of their tribe
and that one day Montezuma left them
on horse back on his pilgrimage to
found new country, overlooking the
fact that the horse was introduced
by the Spaniards"
The True Story.
From the evidence at hand, the true I
story of the Casas Grandes reads as
follows: -
About the middle of the eighth cen
fury, A D., a considerable grouD Of Z
Nahuas migrating from the north en-
tered the ella valley in southern Ari- I
iona at point near what is now the 1
casa Grande station on the Southern I
Paclfic railway, they were doubtless
attracted by the fertile soil, and the
ample supply of water near at hand /
tnese early immigrants founded what /
was afterwards called the city or
country OF Ch1comOztec, they brought (
with them to the ella valley A polity.
a religion, knowledge of the me-
chanic arts, geometry and astronomy.
The city flOurished. other towns were
planted, and their sway extended over
a considerable territory. In the
course Of time the pressure of the bar
Darous hordes from the north became
oppressive As a result Of climatic
changes, the water supply greatly
diminished. the crops became uncer-
tain, explorers sent south made glow
ing reports of that wonderful coun-