[To me, this legend sounds like some naive excuse invented by the
Spanish to account for their great overthrow by the Indians of the
Southwest in 1680. Just as likely it is an Indian boast of that
overthrow. An observation recorded by the observant Josiah Gregg in
1844 seems to me luminous here. Gregg says that, according to
tradition, numerous and productive mines were “in operation in New
Mexico before the expulsion of the Spaniards in 1680; but that the
Indians, seeing that the cupidity of the conquerors had been the cause
of their former cruel oppressions, determined to conceal all the mines
by filling them up, and obliterating as much as possible every trace of
them. This was done so effectually, as is told, that after the second
conquest (the Spaniards in the meantime not having turned their
attention to mining pursuits for a series of years) succeeding
generations were never able to discover them again. Indeed it is now
generally credited by the Spanish population, that the Pueblo Indians,
up to the present day, are acquainted with the locales of a great
number of these wonderful mines, of which they most sedulously preserve
the secret. Rumor further asserts that the old men and sages of the
Pueblos periodically lecture the youths on this subject, warning them
against discovering the mines to the Spaniards, lest the cruelties of
the original conquest be renewed towards them, and they be forced to
toil and suffer in those mines as in days of yore.”—Gregg, Josiah,
Commerce of the Prairies, Philadelphia, 1855, Vol. I, pp.
162–163.—Editor.]
Upon a northwestern peak of Mount Franklin, near El Paso, there stands
out against the brilliant blue of a western sky the distinct outline of
an Indian’s head. It is plainly visible at almost any hour of the day
and is an object of wonder and speculation to the majority of
beholders.
According to the legend told me many years ago by an old, old Indian,
Cheetwah was the chief of an ancient tribe in New Mexico. He was
accustomed to go into old Mexico every few years, and often at the
point in the mountains where the Indian head now shows, he with his
followers encountered hostile wanderers, whereupon followed battles
short but fierce.
Finally, after about two centuries of goings and encounters, Cheetwah
came upon a band of another and a strange race, the Spaniards. With
much pomposity, they commanded him and his people to surrender to them
all their gold and silver and then to be gone. The order so incensed
Cheetwah that, climbing to the top of the peak, he sent forth a great
call to all the Indians in the spirit world to rally to his assistance
and rout the haughty Spaniards forever from their usurped power in
Mexico.
After a battle in which the Indians seemed guided by some supernatural
power, the Spaniards were vanquished. Then Cheetwah and his men
vanished into the mountains, there to keep vigil through all the
centuries that no alien should prosper from the mineral wealth of their
land. Eventually the pale-faces came back, but it was further decreed
by the Great Spirit that for all time the face of Cheetwah should
remain upon the peak whence he had issued his great call, a reminder
that, though conquered outwardly for a time, the Indian shall yet come
back into his own and rule the mighty country that his ancestors
possessed in freedom. Thus stands Cheetwah today, aloof and majestic,
biding his time.