Deming graphic. (Deming, N.M.) 1903-1948, 1920-12-07

The soft summer sun once smiled
down ON n land OF cornfields that GOV
cred the broad sweep of the Mimbres
Valley. This was tradition among
The Apaches when the white men first
came TO the southwest. OF course, the
adventurous pioneers looked abroad ON
the desert waste and pronounced the lie.
gend u fiction. a primitive tale invented
10y some crude Homer TO amuse his peo-
pie. Early accounts of the country Inn
me,lintely west Of the Rio Grande river
tell graphically of n rainless region,
devoid of rivers or springs, supporting
n sparse growth OF mesquite and sage
brush and called blythe Mexicans
Tornado del Muerto." Journey OF
Death. name now applied to river
less valley 10 the east. II was depict
cd as burning Sahara, trackless, ex-
oept for few trails that were marked
bur family with the scattered bones OF
men and beasts that had ventured into
land accursed of God and inhabited
by evil spirits And 50 II seemed
Even when the overland stages first
bravcd the desert and the Indians to
=. establish communication between the
Mississippi river region and the settle
ments In California they detoured 10
the north Ia insure u water supply
drawn from living springs In the hills.
This was the Buttcrflcld trail. Then
came the Southern Pacific railroad
- builders hauling their water with them
that they might not thirst as they toll
eel 10 bridge the Great American Des-
ert." as IL Is deignated on the maps our
grandparents studied at school. This
was In the early eighties and there are
those among ils who remember when
red lldu0r was far more plentiful than
purc water. That II was possibly a
more popular beverage does not con-
eern this tale.
So Il is that the southwest was little
known until quite recently and even
now historians and archaeologists have
done little In the Mimbres Valley to
learn and record the story of Its his
toricnl episodes and tn lift the veil
from its prehistoric past Over the
antelope plains was PLAYED out that last
net In the drama of aboriginal tragedy
the destruction Of Indian independ-
ence: and the ruins of many half-hnr-
led cities bear evidence that here flour
ished numerous people that probably
li,hpeared before Pericles brought
Atheninn culture TO the dazzling eli
max of glorious accomplishment. From
whence did they come? Whittier did
they go and why? The bare, towering
mountains that surround the valley
maintain their Sphinx-like silence and
the vagrant breeze from the blue hills
moans over the desert whispering
mockingly. There Is no answer. Yet
man of science are looking this way.
They dig and they study and they have
made start toward the interpreta-
lion of the story that nature mas record.
cd and preserved for the one VINO VIII
bring hither the key To the enigma
Within "A radius Of twenty miles oil
Deming may he found the sites OF q
dozon ancient cities and villages Brok'
- en- bits of pottery, metnte stones ar
row heads and other evidences OF Tor
NOR urban settlement are profusely
strewn over the mounds that marx the
sitcs A few feet under the ground are
fine foundations of dwellings beneath
whose floors are graves containing IN,
skelptal remains of those VINO llVeo
and loved and died before columbus
discovered America. They were mei
of the polishpl stone age well-sklllcd II
tIe primitive arts of hoe culture, pot
tory making gnd decoration. weaving
hunting. tribal government and com
munol architecture they had taken tl'
first faltering step In the arr OF win
mg--that mother of all hter prosresS
Buried with these bodies were po"'S
arms. ornaments and other persona
nossesslons that might he needed III I'M
land of shadows through when thei'
immortal spirits might pass over ehci
bcnd was usually set bowl WIN !
inv hole i'm the center through wh'i
tho released spirit might pass. IheS'
relies fell rs o little OF the story
those forgotten peonlc. That they wer'
v,olt advanced In the useful arts goc
without saving.
Frequently bowls Of corn. carbohl]e'
Inv hovinp, been burned under grouh'
bv fires that seem tn have sweep wv
nnoblos Of the plains, are found
was good variety Of maize that tnke
,ho storv of prehistoric corn flelu
from the REIN Of fnnciful legend I
Mo- relm of established fact. The M
mcrous dwellings point uhques'lo'' .u
10 the fact tnal loou mus
plentiful, for food then. a. now ue.'.
mines the density Of population Nhe
the white settlers first began To eoi IDl
izc the Minhrcs Valley they fouhu lhl
il TOOK from twenty to thirty acres
tho arid land to maintain one GOV
Evcn now the ranches are miles apal
usually and losses due to drought III
still among the hazards OF the nus'I n,.
As much as eighteen months have EN-
cd without drop Of rain failing Iro
the cloudless turquoise sky-thls wi.
In the knowledge Of those now iivlm
and the ANIMAL rainfall scientiilcal
measured is less than ten mcheS I"
mially ON the average.
How did these people more n"' s,.
Than the Toltecs or the Az'ecS III
sustinence? That they irrigated .he
lands extensively and cultivated 'he
intensively Is certain, because the
mains Of prehistoric canals are !e'
bc traced where the sands nave u
drifted over them. But from whem
A