Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-03-16
BY NJ. Il. FOX.


Following the banquet Of the
Chamber OF Commerce Tuesday
night, I want to call the attention
of albuquerque people to the OPP
portunities we have for attracting
summer tourists here, as well as
healthseekers.
Let the people of the eastern
states know that coming to New
Mexico is like a trip abroad With
Albuquerque as a itarting point,
they can visit, over good roads,
attractions impossible for them to
see the equal of without spending
months and thousands of dollars
travelling in foreign lands. Then
they would not be able to see the
sights of New Mexico.
tIom here the tourist may make
an easy trip to Santa Fe and Taos
and the Cliff dwellings. Santa E'e
is the oldest capital in the United
States, has in it the oldest church in
America, the palace of the Gov
errors" and great museum worth
crossing the continent to sec. The
Cliff-dwelling and Rito de los Fri
joles present a combination OF
magnificent natural scenery and
prehistoric civilization that has no
equal on the continent. Sixty
miles from Santa Fe lies the Taos
pueblo, huge communal buildings
inhabited by Indians who maintain
their costumes and customs of a
thousand years ago.
AcGma, the Majestic.
But the greater attraction--the
greatest attraction, in fact-lles to
the southwest of us, Acoma.
George Wharton James, traveller
lecturer and author Of information
al fame, calls Acoma zone of the
scenic wonders of the world" and
"the most fascinating city in Amer
lea"
Describing the scenery through
which one passes en- route from AL
huquerque to Acoma, DR.. James
says:
"The far-famed Garden of the
Gods in Colorado is n child's play
room,. compared with its grand
majesties. Gibraltar after Gibral-
tar arises, sheer and precipitous,
from the sand, with this difference,
that from whichever way you APP
preach them they are equally bold
and striking"
In the same article, DIR. James
speaks Of the mountains OF pink
ish sandstone and the thousands
of acres of lava which in ages long
past flowed from an adjacent vol
cano, now a snow-clad mountain
al thnt1ap,I
OF Acoma, itself, DR.. James
compares it with the greatest seem
ic effects to be found in Amer ca,
Europe, Africa. Asia and Mexico
Read this eloquent paragraph:
There are some scenes
looked upon for the first
time, and perhaps never seen
again, that yet fasten them
selves forever in ones menu
DRY. Such is the first sight Of
New York's gigantic
buildings and spider-web
like brodges from the
deck Of an incoming steamer;
st. Paurs towering over Lon
don; the Pyramids from
Cairo; the Grand Canyon; Fu-
jiyama above the clouds: or,
better still, Popecatepetl or Mt.
Everest. OF similar charac-
ter is Acoma; and IT is not a
view that grows less with tho
lapse of time. There IS
power, dignity, a majesty,
that ever remains, and the
oftener it is seen the more one
yields to it's lure"
What is Acoma and where Is It?
Acoma is about 20 miles to the
southwest of Albuquerque, and 16
miles from the Santa Fe station
at the Pueblo of Laguna. On the
top of the rock which rises, pre-
cipitous on all sides to a height of
nearly four hundred feet, live some
hundreds of Indians. 1t is de-
scribed in the March. 1922, issue
of the National Geographic Mag