Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-16
Washington. D. c.. Dec. 13.-An

Washington, D. c., Dec. 13.-An
apple orchard that is more than a
century old. that has flourished under
three governments and fed men OF
three races and still bears apples. Is
one Of the latest discoveries on the
Southwest, made recently by Officers
of the United States forest service
That is. the orchard has been
known for a long time, but the age
of the trees was only scientifically de-
termined last summer Until experts
had cut down one of the trees and
counted the rings, no one knew any
thing about apple trees would believe
that the orchard had stood for a CEN
fury. Now they know that some of
the| smallest trees have lived that long,.
and it seems logically certain that
some of the larger ones must have
lived q great e. longer. Further
more, many Of the trees now stand
ing in this venerables orchard look as
though they had grown from the
stumps or roots Of a former genera
ton Of apple trees which had fallen
or been cut down.. The natives living
whereabouts say that tradition gives
the age of the orchard at from ESQ to
400 years. 1t seems possible that in
a sense they are right. There is rea-
son to believe that the ancestors, at
IlcdSLy VI lAC P1CoSlS AAAA
ed in the seventeenth century.
This historic orchard is located
near the little town Of Manzano on
the eastern slope of the ManZano
mountains in central New Mexico.
Manzano is the Spanish word for ap-
pie. Both the mountain range and
town have taken their names from
the ancient trees. The priest in the
church at Manzano, who is a sort of
900. TO- 80 Ah~ owl ri fa1oc irnfyir-
ers that the trees have been growing
there for $50 years, according to the
tradition which has been handed
down from padre to padre through
the generations. The oldest native
inhabitants of the little town relieve
that the orchard< has been there for
400 years. That date is improbable,
for the Spanish exploration of the
Southwest had scarcely begun SO long
ago, and apple trees were certainly
brought to America by the Europeans.
Relics Of Heroic Age.
! But the priest, when he claims that
les old, has strong historical evidence
on his side. For these trees almost
certainly are relics of that heroic age
in the history of the Southwest when
Spanish priests and soldiers were
There engaged in subduing a great
wild of savages for the king OF
Spain and the church of Rome. Al
every one of the pueblo villages which
dot this region the Spaniards built
great churches of stone and left a few
!: priests to teach those savages the feal
of Cod and also the culture of crOpf
and herds. The Pueblos were already
farmers, raising corn and cotton and
melons, but they had 10 domestic ami.
mails except thu turkey and no frui'
. trees. q m. &
The padres, armed with nothing bu'
the cross, took their stand in a hos
tile wilderness as he prophets of re
!, ligion and civilization. In some in
stances they IWeres murdered by tn.
Indians OF. their own, flocks. Nor,
: often they succeeded in winning TIL,
, friendship Of The Pueblos. only to b,
Overwhelmed by the wild tribes of tn,
, Navajos and Apaches which waget
: an incessant warfare upon both thu
Pueblo Indians and the Spaniards. j
some instances these brave franciscan
: friars triumphed over all difficultie
! and dangers. Some OF the ancien
mission churches still stand and ar
E stlll IN s Many OF the creates
ones are) in ruins. Z
Now One OF these ancient RUNE,
! churches stands not far from the an
t cient Manzano orchard, and a.. goo
!, deal is known Of its history. In TIL
seventeenth century q large Indial
! Pueblo, known as Quarai, stood 9
this spot, and Il. ID recorded that tn
FRANCISCAN fathers built this mission
church at Quarai in the year 1929. n
: Il also known that In 1875 1t VA
! abandoned forl the reason that I'll
tNavajoe had repeatedly raided ~
4 Killed priests ana friendly indian
ana Destroyed crops. It was IN ont