Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-09-08

VIZ ASHINGTON, D. c., Sept. 3.-The
wv Enchanted Mesa, out in New Mexico,
" was recently climbed for the third
time, so far as the records show, and for the
first time without any other apparatus than
rope.
The Enchanted Mesa is one of the many
mysteries of the Southwest. It stands
few miles from the pueblo of Acoma in a
vast stretch of semi-arid wilderness-a cOun-
try of gently rolling hills timbered with pinon
and cedar. Many mesas-that is, plateaus-
rise above the level of this country, but the
Enchanted Mesa is different from the others.
1t is, in fact, thing unique. 1t rises to
a height of 430 feet above the surrounding
country, and has perfectly flat top about
the size of a large farm. The walls are so
steep that there is only one place where an
ascent has ever been attempted, and there
sheer cliff 40 feet high must be scaled
This singular rock stands up out of the des-
ert like great ship from the sea. out-topplng
everything for miles around
But the thing which awakens most interest
in it is the eXistense Of traditions, supported
by bits of pottery, ak heads and other remains
found on and about the mesa, that many
years ago, before white men same to Amer
ira, there was 4 primitive city of Pueblo In
dians on the top of it. This desolate rock
was once the Gibraltar Of the Southwest. 1t
was an impregnable stronghold from which
the sedentary Indians, who were on the way
to a civilization of their own, the ancestors
of the present Pueblos, defied the Navajos
Apaches and other nomads. In the prlm1-
tive warfare of that day, the Enchanted Mese
was probably fort which could never be
taken except by starving the inhabitants out
A Laborious Life
They paid a heavy price in labor for heir
safety, however. Every drop of water used
had to be carried up over 400 feet in jugs on
the heads of women. 1t is probable that wells
or reservoirs were made on the crest, where
enough water could be stored to resist a
siege beans other
food of the Indians was raised in little val
leys several miles away, and this, too, had
to be carried to the top of the mesa, and
enough of it stored there to make the inhab1-
tants safe IL case of attack.
All of this is conjecture, Of course, and the
flaw in the whole theory lies in the fact that
there is at present no trail to the top of the
mesa at all. The Indian belief is that trail
once existed, and that landslide wiped it
out, making the abandonment of the mesa
necessary. The top of it has been swept by
wind and rain so long and so thoroughly that
| it is now very difficult to find Vestige of the
life that once crowned the mesa; but when it
was assembled in 1897 by DR.. w. F. Hodges,
of the Bureau of Ethnology, he found bits of
pottery, ax-heads and other artifacts which
seemed to prove conclusively the truth of the
Indian belief that the mesa once was inhab-
tied.
The first ascent of which we can find a
record was made in 1896 by Professor Will
i
steepness and height of the mesay this gentle
man provided himself with life-saving ap-
paratus, including a mortar, with which he
shot a rope clear over the mesa and pulled
himself and his party to the top. DR.. Hodges
did not believe such elaborate apparatus was
necessary. He took to the ground a long
ladder in several sections and reached the top
without much trouble.
The ascent made last summer was unique
in that nothing but rope was used, and that
the expedition was initiated by women, three
of whom reached the top.
A Daring Climb
Misses Hicky and Ferguson are two young
women of Albuquerque, n. M, who make
profes ion of conducting parties about the
country, explaining to them it's historical and
one anywhere he wants to go, SO that when
someone suggested the top of the Enchanted
Mesa as a destination, they Immediately
agreed to make the attempt. They enlisted
the aid Of Richard P. Woodson, young AL
buquerque business man, who is addicted to
attempting ne unusual and has reputa-
ton for nerve and agility. He is the only
man who has ever navigated the Rio Grande
in a canoe, and now he adds to this the dis
tinction of being the only man who ever
climbed the Enchanted Mesa bare-handed. He
surveyed the face of the cliff for few min
utes, and then started up, climbing fissure
by cutting toe-holds as he went. There was
one point at which the spectators thought
fall was Inevitable, and Woodson says that
he, at the time, agreed with them, but he