The Grand Quivira
The following extract is from the "General Description" in the
field-notes of the survey 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 Fe:—
"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, known as 'La Cienega.' At this point a stream of
water, furnished by two springs, and running to a distance of about
a mile at all seasons of the year, which has never been known to be
dry within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, has, within the last
year, entirely disappeared; and even digging to a considerable depth
in the bed of the late springs fails to find the stream, or the
channel by which it has so mysteriously disappeared.
"To those at all familiar with the cretaceous formation of the
south-eastern portion of New Mexico, and who have seen the numerous
rivers that flow hundreds of inches of water within a few yards of
where they make their first appearance, and the total disappearance
of these streams within a few miles, who have seen the water flowing
in caves and subterraneous streams, and the fact that the whole
country is cavernous, can easily imagine the possibility of a stream
acting upon its cretaceous bed, and eventually wearing a channel, to
connect with some immense cavern, and disappearing at once from the
surface beyond all reach of human power.
"To the south of the Gran Quivira, at a distance of about twenty
miles, commences a mal pais, an immense bed of lava, sixty
miles in length from north to south, and covering an area of five
hundred square miles. To the south-west of this commences a salt
marsh, which has an area of fifty square miles, and which is fed
entirely by subterranean streams from the Sacramento and White
Mountains, receiving without doubt by the same means the drainage of
this plain for a hundred miles to the north. The above facts are, I
think, sufficient to account for the absence of water at the present
time near Gran Quivira.
