Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-09-07
Climbing the
Enchanted Mesa
BY Frederic ]. IIaakin

| Washington. Sept. 6.--The Enchant-
ed Mesa, out In New Mexico. was re-
Gently climbed for the third time, so
far as the records show, and for the
first time without any other appa-
ratus than a rope.
The Enchanted Mesa In one of the
many mysteries of the Southwest. II
stands few miles from the pubelo of
Acome in q vast stretch of semi Laird
wilderness a country oS gently roll
ing hills, timhered with pinon and
| cerad. Many mesas-that is. pla-
| teaus rise above the level of this
country, but the Enchanted Mesa is
different from the others. II is. in
fact. thing unique. II rises 10 a
height of 430 feet above the aurrond-
ing country, and has a perfectly fiat
| 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 q
sheer cliff 40 feet high must be scaled.
This singular rock stands up out of
the desert like great ship from the
sea, outtopping everything for miles
around.
But the thing which awakens most
interest in it is the existence .of
traditions, supported by bits of pot
terry. ak heads and other remains
found on and about the mesa, that
many years ago, before white men
came TO America, there was a primi-
tive city of Pueblo Indians on the
top of il. 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 pres
ent Pueblos, defied the Navaios.
Apaches and other nomads. In the
primitive warfare of that day. the En-
chanted Mesa was probably a fort
which could never be taken except by
starving the inhabitants out.
A Laborious Life.
They paid heavy price in labor for
their safety, however. Every drop of
water used had to be carried up over
4o0 feet in jugs on the heads of wo
men. 1t is probable that wells or res
ervoirs were made on the crest, where
enough water could be stored to re-
sist a siege. All of the corn and
beans and other food of the Indians
was raised in little valleys 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
inhabitants safe in case of attack.
All of this is conjecture, OF course.
and the flaw in the whole theory lies
IN, fan that +baf-a fc AT M
trail TO the top of the mesa at all.
The Indian belief is that a trail once
existed, and that a landslide wiped it
out, making the abandonment of the
mesa necessary. The top of 1t has
been swept by wind and rain so long
and so thoroughly that it is now very
difficult TO find a vestige of the life
that once crowned the mesa; but
when it was fascended in 1897 by DIR.
w. + 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 inhabited.
The first ascent of which we can
find a record was made in 1896 by
Professor William Libbey of Prince
ton. Impressed by the steepness and
height of the mesa, this gentleman
provided himself with a life-saving
apparatus, including a mortar, with
which he shot rope clear over the
mesa and pulled himself and his party
to the top. DIR. Hodges did not believe
such elaborate apparatus was neces-
sary. 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 a rope
was used. and that the expedition was
initiated by women, three of whom
reached the top.