[1]In 1883 New Mexico enterprisingly celebrated a so-called 300th anniversary of the founding of Santa Fe, basing that function on the assumption that Antonio de Espejo, who made an extended exploration of the province in 1582-3, had planted a colony there. But there is no evidence whatever that he did.
[2]The name commemorates the first Catholic Archbishop of Santa Fe, John B. Lamy (1850-1885), an apostolic man much beloved by the New Mexicans, to whom he appears to have been a true spiritual father.
[3]General Lew Wallace, while governor of New Mexico, wrote the last three books of “Ben Hur” in the old Palace. “When in the city,” he informed a correspondent, as quoted in Twitchell’s “Leading Facts of New Mexico History,” “my habit was to shut myself night after night in the bedroom back of the executive office proper, and write there till after twelve o’clock.... The retirement, impenetrable to incoming sound, was as profound as a cavern’s.”
[4]An establishment of the Archaeological Institute of America, which maintains schools also at Athens, Rome and Jerusalem. The Santa Fe school has for years conducted research work among the ancient remains in the Southwest, Guatemala, and other parts of the American continent. In connection with this, it holds annually a field summer school open to visitors.
[5]The climate is part of Santa Fe’s cherished assets, the atmosphere being characterized by great dryness. In summer the heat is rarely oppressive, and the nights are normally cool and refreshing. During July and August frequent thunder showers, usually occurring in the afternoon, are to be expected. In winter the mercury occasionally touches zero, and there is more or less of wind and snow interfering temporarily with the tourist’s outings; but the sunshine is warm and the snow melts quickly. Autumn is ideal with snappy nights and mornings and warm, brilliantly sunny mid-days.
[6]The traveler should be warned that Indians as a rule object to being photographed. Originally they had an idea that ill fortune attended the operation, but the objection nowadays is usually grounded on a natural distaste to being made a show of, or the desire to make a little money. In the latter case, they may succumb to the offer of a dime if they cannot get 25 cents. It is only just and courteous to ask permission of the subject (putting yourself in his place). This is particularly needful at dances. Sometimes photographing these is not tolerated; in other cases, a fee paid to the governor secures a license for the day.
[7]About 10 miles beyond Tesuque is the pueblo of NambÉ, prettily situated under the shoulder of the fine, snowy peak, Santa Fe Baldy, with the lovely NambÉ Falls not far away. The Indian population is barely 100 and the village is becoming Mexicanized. Its saint’s day is October 4, when the annual fiesta occurs.
[8]Population about 275. Its public fiesta is held August 12.
[9]James Mooney, “The Ghost-Dance Religion.”
[10]You may, if you choose, do Taos from Santa Fe in your own or a hired automobile via Tesuque and San Juan pueblos, giving a day each way to the journey. NambÉ, San Ildefonso and Santa Clara may be included by slight detours, but the time in that case must be stretched.
[11]Col. R. E. Twitchell quotes a tradition of the Taos people to the effect that they came to their present home under divine guidance, the site being indicated to them by the drop of an eagle’s feather from the sky.
[12]The skulls of the Cliff Dwellers indicate them to have been a “long-headed” race, while the modern Pueblos are so only in part. It is likely, therefore, that the latter Indians are of mixed stocks. There is, however, abundant traditionary evidence that certain clans of the present-day Pueblos are of Cliff descent.
[13]Pronounced Pah´ha-ree-to, and meaning little bird.
[14]Recto day loce Free-ho´les, i. e., brook of the beans.
[15]From Santa Fe to the Tyuonyi and return may be made by automobile in one strenuous day, including 2 or 3 hours at the ruins. It is better, if possible, to board at the ranch in the caÑon for a few days, both for the purpose of examining the ruins at leisure and making some of the interesting side trips from that point; notably to the Stone Lions of CochitÍ, unique examples of aboriginal carving on stone, and to La Cueva Pintada (the Painted Cave) where are some remarkable symbolic pictographs. Arrangements should be made with the ranch in advance by telephone.
[16]An ecclesiastical order existent in rural New Mexico, probably deriving from the Third Order of Saint Francis, and distinguished by practices of self-flagellation for the remission of sins. They are particularly active during Lent, when they form processions, beat themselves with knotted whips, strap bundles of cactus to their backs, and walk barefoot or on their knees over flint-strewn ground, bearing heavy crosses. Some of their exercises are held at the crosses on these hill-top calvarios (calvaries). The Catholic Church discourages their practices; but they possess considerable political power in New Mexico and of recent years the order has become regularly incorporated as a secret fraternity under the State law.
[17]L. Bradford Prince, “Spanish Mission Churches of New Mexico.”
[18]The original form of the name is Alburquerque, given in honor of a Duke of Alburquerque, who was viceroy of New Spain at the time the place was founded as a villa in 1706.
[19]The name Isleta means “islet,” given, according to Dr. F. W. Hodge, because formerly the Rio Grande and an arroyo from the mountains islanded the pueblo between them.
[20]The church authorities, it should be said, do not endorse this tradition. Father Zepherin Engelhardt, the historian of the Franciscans in the Southwest, tells me that there were other missionaries named Padilla b
s interesting “Romance of the Colorado River,” “one of the distinguished feats of history;” for not one of the pioneering party could have any conception of what physical obstacles were before them when the boats set out at the CaÑon’s head into the unknown. Powell was a Civil War veteran and had but one hand. He made a second and more leisurely trip in 1871-72.
[80]Bright Angel is the name given by the first Powell expedition to a creek entering the river here from the north; its bright, clear waters being in striking contrast to a turbid little tributary discovered not long before, which the men had dubbed “Dirty Devil Creek.”
[81]It is not a true salmon. Dr. David Starr Jordan identifies it as Ptychocheilus lucius, and it is really a huge chub or minnow. There is a record of one caught weighing 80 pounds; more usual are specimens of 10 and 12 pounds.
[82]An interesting trip with the Grand CaÑon as a base is to Cataract CaÑon, a side gorge of the Grand CaÑon about 40 miles west of El Tovar. The trip may be made by wagon to the head of the trail leading down into an arm of Cataract CaÑon, but the final lap—about 15 miles—must be on horseback or afoot. At the bottom is the reservation of a small tribe of Indians—the Havasupais—occupying a fertile, narrow valley hedged in by high cliffs of red limestone. There are numerous springs and the water is used to irrigate the fields and peach orchards of the tribe. These Indians are much Americanized, and live under the paternal care of a local Government agency. A feature of the CaÑon is the number of fine water falls. To one exquisite one, called Bridal Veil, it would be hard to find anywhere a mate. A camping trip eastward from Grand View along the rim to the Little Colorado Junction may also be made a pleasant experience, rendered particularly glorious by the desert views.
[83]Jerome is reached by a little railway from Jerome Junction on the Ash Fork and Phoenix division of the Santa Fe; Clarkdale, by a branch from Cedar Glade on the same division. The Clarkdale branch threads for much of the way the picturesque caÑon of the upper Verde River.
[84]There is, however, no evidence of volcanic action in the vicinity; so the depression—deep as it is—is doubtless the result of solvent or erosive action of the waters of the Well. (J. W. Fewkes, 17th Ann. Rep. Bureau of American Ethnology.)
[85]17th Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology.
[86]The climate is noted for its mildness and salubrity. There is a local saying, “If a man wants to die in San Antonio, he must go somewhere else!”
[87]Pronounced ah´la-mo, Spanish for cottonwood. The name was probably given from cottonwoods growing near by. The Church of the Alamo was erected in 1744.
[88]The reader, curious for details of the San Antonio Missions, as well as items of local secular history, is referred to Wm. Corner’s “San Antonio de BÉxar.” He will also be interested in a picturesque sketch of San Antonio as it was nearly half a century ago, by the Southern poet Sidney Lanier, who in quest of health passed the winter of 1872-3 here, and here made his resolve, faithfully carried out, to devote the remainder of his life to music and poetry. The sketch is printed in a collection of Lanier’s essays entitled “Retrospects and Prospects.”
[89]These three Missions were originally located about 15 years earlier on sites some distance from San Antonio. Scarcity of irrigation water is given as one important cause of their removal in 1731 to the banks of the San Antonio River.
[90]Silver and gold gave it its start. Its name is believed to be due to a huge bowlder or globe of silver weighing 300 pounds, found there in 1876.
[91]Pronounced Too-son´. It is the name applied by the neighboring Papago Indians to a mountain at the west of the present town, and according to Dr. W. J. McGee, means “black base.” Tucson’s first appearance in history seems to have been in 1763, as an Indian village whose spiritual needs were served by the missionaries of San Xavier del Bac. In 1776 a Spanish presÍdio was established here, and the little pueblo became San Agustin de Tucson. An edifice, originally a church dedicated to St. Augustine but now a lodging house, still faces the old Spanish plaza of the town.
[92]“An escutcheon with a white ground filed in with a twisted cord ... and a cross on which are nailed one arm of Our Saviour and one of St. Francis, representing the union of the disciple and the divine Master in charity and love. The arm of our Lord is bare while that of St. Francis is covered.” (Salpointe, “Soldiers of the Cross.”)
[93]Engelhardt, “The Franciscans in Arizona.” The diaries of GarcÉs are marked by naÏve charm and simplicity. One, translated and elaborately annotated by the late Dr. Elliott Coues, has been published under the title “On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer.”
[94]It stands on the west (opposite) side of the river from the railway, a fact that may be fraught with trouble; for the river, which is ordinarily insignificant enough to be crossed on a plank, is capable of becoming after storms a raging flood 200 feet wide and 20 deep. Under such circumstances, it is the part of wisdom to motor from Tucson.
[95]In the sanctuary were interred, and I suppose still repose, the bones of the Franciscan Padres Baltasar Carillo and Narciso Gutierres, whom Archbishop Salpointe in his “Soldiers of the Cross,” credits with being the supervising builders both of the present church of TumacÁcori and that of San Xavier.
[96]Dr. F. W. Fewkes gives this and several other folk tales concerning the Casa Grande in the 28th Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, which should be consulted for an exhaustive account of the ruin and the Government excavation work.
[97]The following all-day trips are especially recommended: 1. To Redlands, in the San Bernardino foothills, one of the most beautiful of California towns, and Riverside with its famous Mission Inn (about 145 miles the round, including the ascent of Mt. Roubidoux), traversing a beautiful orange and lemon district and paralleling the stately Sierra Madre, whose highest peaks are snow-capped in winter. (If there is time for another day this trip may be extended in winter or spring to include the run to Palm Springs in the desert, 50 miles beyond Redlands. This is particularly enjoyable in March and April when the wild flowers of the desert are in bloom—a surprising and lovely sight. There is a good hotel at Palm Springs, but it is safest to arrange ahead for accommodations).
2. To Mission San Juan Capistrano (about 120 miles the round), one of the most interesting and poetic in its half ruin of the old Franciscan California establishments. The road traverses the rich agricultural districts tributary to Whittier and Santa Ana, and a portion of the extensive Irvine, or San Joaquin Ranch (about 100,000 acres). A detour may be made to include Laguna and Arch Beaches and a run (over an inferior road) of ten miles overlooking a picturesque rock-bound bit of Pacific surf.
3. To Mount Wilson Peak (50 miles the round, but includes 9 miles of tortuous mountain road with a grade as high as 23% in one or two spots). On this peak (6000 feet above the sea) are situated the buildings of the Carnegie Solar Observatory, which, however, are not open to the public. The views from the peak are very beautiful. The trip can also be made by public auto-stage. There is a hotel at the summit.
4. To Camulos Rancho (95 miles the round), a good example of the old style Spanish-California ranch, utilized by Mrs. Jackson as the scene of part of her novel “Ramona.” It is situated in the Santa Clara Valley of the South. A stop may be made en route at Mission San Fernando. The return trip may be made by way of Topanga CaÑon and the seaside town of Santa Monica, if an extra hour can be given to it.
Half-day drives in the vicinity of Los Angeles are too numerous to be itemized here, but the following may be mentioned:
1. To the Mission San Fernando by way of Hollywood (famous for its beautiful homes, and latterly as the capital of “Movie-land”) and through the Cahuenga Pass, returning via the Topanga CaÑon, the beach and Santa Monica.
2. To Sunland via Alhambra and Santa Anita Avenue to the Foothill Boulevard, Altadena, and La CaÑada, returning via Roscoe and Tropico.
3. To Mission San Gabriel, returning by way of Pasadena’s famous residential districts of Oak Knoll and Orange Grove Boulevard, thence over the Arroyo Seco Bridge and past the Annandale Country Club, back to the city.
4. To Whittier and the citrus-fruit belt of the San Gabriel Valley via either Turnbull or Brea CaÑons (the latter picturesque with oil derricks) returning by the Valley Boulevard.
[98]“The California Padres and their Missions,” by C. F. Saunders and J. S. Chase.
[99]The San Marcos road has some stiff grades and should only be traveled by experienced drivers.
[100]For a more detailed account of the tourist attractions in Southern California, reference is made to the author’s “Finding the Worth While in California.”
