The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1913-02-15

OF all Is Ranches de Taos q prosperous agricultural
community where ones interest is equally divided
between the typical old Mission church and the
merous dark-eyed senoritas.
iears ago the Taos valley known as the gran
airy OF the southwest: and in the days before bull
team trafdc ended this important mart and
distributing point But when the railroads were
QUILT the change in the course of travel and COM
merce left Taos hopelessly isolated Progress has
PASSED II BY and life moves on in the dreamy fash
ION OF the old land Of POGO Tempo that this hus-
uing age has almost obterated The old land
marks are still undisturbed the vanda passion for
cnange and improvement is still unknown and the
TAOS or today is much the same as the Taos of so
or 100 years ago. with the element of danger from
nomadic savages eliminated But those who desire
20 see Taos as II is and as II has been must needs
make haste- The railroad builders are headed that
way; and when the shrek of the first locomotive
uspels the ghosts of the past and awakens the
valley ON its age-long sumber 1t may be far more
oustiing and prosperous, but it will never again be
half interesting
Taos was the farthest outpost OF Spanish civiliza
tion and continued until In very recent years to
De frontier settlement. the debatable border be
tween civilization and the savage wilderness The
oio Pueblo communal buildings famous as being
the most perfect remaining specimens of aboriginal
American architecture. Close by is the tall tower
OF the ruined adobe church. in which the last stand
OF the Pueblo Indian race for freedom was made in
1887. few miles away is one of the most puzzling
archaeological riddles of the southwest
This consists of long lines of cobblestones
mostly arranged in rectangles with here and
there circle. When first reaches the area
thus distinguished he Gill hardly recognize any
thing unusual; but after he has driven for miles
and miles, seeing the cobbIestone squares OBJ
longs and circles In unbroken series II begins to
dawn upon him that here is something remark
able. 1t is evident that these cobblestones were
the foundation stones of adobe buildings and
that the lapse of ages has resulted in the wear
ing away of the sun-dried bricks until the ancient
walls of some prehistoric city have been incor-
porated with the soil of the level plain, leaving
not trace behind. but the rounded stones
brought from the distant river The foundation
stones OF this prehistoric and unnamed city cover
an area of more than twenty-five square miles,
The pueblo of Taos has existed upon its present
site for at least 500 years. Yet the Taos Indians
I've no legend purporting to account for this
= <eQmmunity.
beautiful Taos valley. Spaniard named
Fernandez who drifted north from Santa Fe
two hundred years or more ago, and built for
himself an adobe hut in bunch of cottonwoods
three miles from the Indian village Hence he
was called Fernandez de Taos" or Fernandez
Of the Cottonwoods, and by and by the name was
applied to the locality. well as to the man.
Before long other squatters began to follow his
lead settling in the same neighborhood The
land belonged to the Indians but they were quite
willing to give liberal allowance to all white
Corners In this they displayed craft euriously
analogous to modern European statesmanshp,
which seeks to prevent a clash between two rival
powers by the creation of buffer state" to keep
them apart
The Taos Indians had suffered for centuries
from the incursions Of the Apaches. They
shrewdly reasoned that by creating fringe Of
spanish rancherias along the borders of their
own cultivated lands. they would shift the bur-
den of defense from their own shoulders to those
Of the newcomers. She scheme really worked
very we'll; and white settlers in the Taos valley
carried their guns with them to their grain fields
less than third of century ago in order to be
prepared to defend themselves against sudden
attack of the Apaches. while the crafty inhab-
itants Of Taos titled their fields in comparative
security and peace of mind
In case of attack by large party the
Taos Indians made common cause with the white
settlers, SO that the proximity of the community
was not without IT'S advantages to the Spaniards
Owing to the abundance of fur-bearing animals
and other wild game In the adjacent mountains
the fertility of the soil. the convenience of the
place as a general distributing point and the fact
that II was situated of the laterals of
the Santa Fe trail, Taos became the home or at
least the place Of rendezvous of the soldiers of
fortune who made the southwest the theater of
their exploits. Kit Carson Don Jesus Abreu
Charles Maxwell Charles Bent Ceran ST. vrain
Charles Beaubien and many other makers of his
tory once made this little village their home so
that Il is crowded with memorials of heroic DAYS
within stones throw of the plaza is the house
IN which Kit Carson lived now prostituted to the
base uses of hay and feed warehouse Less
than a quarter Of mile distant is the grave in
which his dust lies Close to this is the red
seal OF the Apaches-the graves of thirty Amer
team soldiers with laconic Inscription recording
the fact that they were slain by Apaches In the
Eu.tudo carr an March g. 1884,