Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1916-03-29

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| licalIy undeveloped resources are little
! short of phenomenal Hundreds of
| square miles OF virgin timber cloth the
| unpeopled slopes OF the mountains
/ gold silver and other minerals lie al
| most on the surface of the lau,i and the
broad prairie reaches, and the flower
| decked woodlands have been called the
greatest natural game preserves on the
| American continent. The climate is SO
| good That il is reported that the Tara
humore Indians. whose range is to the
west of this region. often live TO be
hundred years old. They are also cele-
brated for their feats of endurance.
The climate is especially adapted for
fruits; as there is no extreme of heat
nor cold here; the altitude is over five
thousand feet in many parts of this
great tract There are still traces of a
system OF irrig; ton in the ancient
ruins. 1t is curious 10 remember that
when Europe was cropping through
darkness of the Middle Ages, American
civilization on these mountain slopes
had mastered the trick of conducting
water TO the points where it was most
very prosperous up the Casas Granies
Valley. There are, in fact, four set
Elements called Las Colonias de Gale
ma. from the district in which they lie
This is really the official title insisted
upon by the government on all official
documents.
These colonies are said TO be the
best conducted and most prosperous in
the Republic. There were. at the be-
ginning of the Mexican trouble. six
thousand Mormons in these four set
Elements and they had erected a school
building at "a cost of $4,000 So it is
tragic to those who know what these
Industrious people have been doing for
the development of the country this
past score of years, to hear that they
are so within the danger zone, anti it
fair Indication of the fact that Villa
knows what he is about when he Sc
lects Tor his depredations the places
where the best stock of food stuffs and
wealth is stored
One of the three passes over the
Sierra Madces Mountains is between
Ciudad Jaurez and Casas Grandes,an
it is wen within the possibilities that
villa may double back to these old
aims behind the Mormon settlement.
ami give a lot Of trouble before he is
dislodged For the ancient ruins may
in the queer whirlygig of time, become
bandit refuge, not the Casas Grandes
proper for that is a little more than
pile of fallen walls of abode. but back
about fifteen miles near what is called
the "place of the dead the pueblo of
Chuhuiqua This is a huge cave for
nation. with a sort of ruined apart
ment house within its wide area The
cave is a conglomorate formation faces
east and lies about 215 feet above the
floor of the gorge in the northern slope
of the Garraba arroyo. The ascent is
difficult now as the erosion of time
has been great. At a little distance
the high regular walls of the houses,
with their many openings for doors
and windows, present striking con-
trast to the Jagged cliff behind and the
wilderness OF the woods that are en-
croaching upon the ruin.
Some parts of the walls have come
own. but the preservation of the an
cient settlement on the whole is re-
markable The space covered by the
| houses and the ruined walls is about
| 125 feet deep from side to side and So
feet deep at the central part of the
| building The roof of the cave, or
| rather the overhanging part of the cliff
against which the houses lean is so
/ feet above the floor of the cave at the
| highest point The houses are arrang-
| ed i'm semi-circle so large as hardly
| TO elevate from straight line. The
| front row is about one story high. but
| the line OF houses to the rear is two
| stories in height Each room, of
which there are about twenty-five, is
| about Il feet square and walls about
| Is inches thick at the base, and inch
| es ar the top. The surface of the walls
| are smooth, showing they carry about
| six coats OF plaster. and the floors are
cement, as hard as stone and perfectly
/ smooth A hall about 40 feet long and
| feet high traverses the building.
| Evidence that this hall was rooted
| in wood is given by sockets still TO be
| seen where Orders once rested At
| the end of this space in the upper story
| is room decorated in red while the
| space around the entrance is painted
a delicate shade of lavender a stone
axe was found in this ruin. which was
| discovered in 1892. At the ruins OF
| Casas Grandes there is a watch tower
| perched in a knoll and commanding
wide range of country. Perchance
sharp-eyed Indian sentinels kept watch
there before Columbus sailed west
ward The obi fortress is 40 feet in
diameter. round and defended on its
| most accessible side by a crumbling
wall several feet thick. and about 10
| fet high The outline OF four small
| rooms can he traced in the center OF
the structure All this region is per
fectly good hiding territory for villa 5
men. who are so well acquainted with
the country Of Chihuahua, and ii is
within the possibilities that these very
ancient homes may again ring to the
sound of battle.
| The Mormons are resolute men. They
will not easily abandon what their
| hard work has amassed, ami they are
| now entrenched in their villages. but
the opposing force OF Mexicans is willy
| ana the struggle may be protracted
one ranging back to the ruins of Casas