Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico; Report on the Ruins o | Page 8

in 1872 of the base line of the public surveys in New Mexico by United States Deputy Surveyor Willison, taken from the original notes on file at the United States Surveyor General's office at Santa Fé:--
"The Gran Quivira, about which so much has been written and so many attempts made to reconcile with the city of that name spoken of by the early Spanish explorers, and which was said by them to be the seat of immense wealth, is passed through by the line in Sec. 34, range 8 East. The most prominent building is the church, which, as well as all the other buildings, is of limestone laid in mortar. The ground plan presents the form of a cross. The dimensions of the buildings are as follows:--
"Width of short arm of cross, 33 feet; width of long arm of cross, 42 feet. Their axes are respectively 48 feet long and 140.5 feet long, and their intersection 35 feet from the head of the cross. The walls have a thickness of 6 feet, and a height of about 30 feet. The main entrance has a height of 11 feet, an outside width of 11 feet, and an inside width of 16.5 feet. The church is situated due east and west, having its front to the east.
"Extending south from the church a distance of 160 feet, and connected with it by a door in the short arm of the cross, is a building containing a number of apartments. On the window-frames of this building the mark of the carpenter's scribe is still plainly visible, though doubtless exposed to the action of the atmosphere for nearly two centuries. The carved timbers in the church are still in a good state of preservation; a portion of the roof still remains; some of the timbers must have weighed 3,000 pounds at the time they were brought to this place, and they could not have been procured within a less distance than sixteen miles.
"The site of the ruins is elevated about one hundred feet above the surrounding country, and embraces an area of about eighteen acres. The town has been well and compactly built, and probably contained a population approaching five thousand souls. Numerous excavations have been made by the Mexicans in search of the treasures said to have been left by the Jesuits when they were expelled by the Indians. In one of these excavations I found a large quantity of human bones, including a skull. From the formation of the latter, and its thickness, it was undoubtedly that of an Indian.
"The questions that arise in contemplating these ruins are, how was it possible for such a number of people not only to exist, but to build a town of such superior construction at a point which is now entirely destitute of water, and to which water cannot be brought from any present source, the nearest water being fifteen miles distant? what was their occupation? and what has become of them?
"That this town was the abode of Jesuit [Franciscan?] priests, and a tribe of Indians under their control, the architecture of the buildings conclusively shows.
"That they were there for agricultural and pastoral purposes I consider certain, from the fact that there are no evidences of mines, or any mineral indications of any kind in the surrounding country, and that the country, with the single exception of the absence of water, is well adapted to the mode of cultivation pursued and crops raised by the Indians.
"That water was brought there from some distant point--and distant it would have been--cannot be the case, as the face of the country would have required the construction of numerous aqueducts for its conveyance, remains of which would be found at the present time; and why would a people bring water a long distance for the purpose of working lands no more valuable than such as could have been had at the water?
"Where, then, did the inhabitants get the water necessary for their subsistence? There are two arroyos between the ruins and the Mesa Jumanes, within a mile of the town, having well-defined watercourses, which might have contained permanent water at the time that the town was inhabited. Even at the present time, the drainage from these arroyos furnishes water for a laguna some five miles below that lasts during about one half the year. Again, springs may have existed around the rise upon which the town is situated that, from natural causes, have become dry.
"The phenomenon of the failures of water is no uncommon one in this region, as is evidenced by the numerous vents where the surrounding rocks show the action of running water.
"A case directly supporting the assumption of the failure of the water is furnished at a place about thirty-five miles northerly from the Gran Quivira,