By REV. SHELDON JACKSON, D.D.
New Mexico is Spain in the United States—a region where the Spanish
language, customs, and habits prevail, where the debates of the
legislature and the pleadings of the courts are in a foreign tongue; a
territory where an American feels as one in a foreign country, and is a
stranger in his own land.
While the latest section to receive American civilization, it was
the first to be occupied by Europeans. When our pilgrim fathers were
shivering through their first New England winter, New Mexico had been
settled half a century. When they were making
“The sounding aisles of the dim woods ring
To the anthem of the free,”
the Spanish cavalier was chanting the “Te Deum” in churches even
then beginning to be venerable with age. And there to-day are
the descendants of those brave old Castilians whose prowess made
illustrious the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
In 1677 a book was published in London giving an account “of America
and all the principal kingdoms, provinces, seas, and islands of it.”
Mr. Heylin, the author, thus speaks of New Mexico in volume IV:
“Nova Mexicana is bounded on the south with New Biscay; on the west
with Quivara; the countreyes, on the north and east, not discovered
hitherto, though some extend eastward as far as Florida, extended two
hundred and fifty leagues from the town and mines of Santa Barbara, and
how much beyond that none can tell; the relations of this country being
so uncertain and incredulous that I dare say nothing positively of the
soil or people, but much less of the towns and cities which are said to
be in it.”
New Mexico, as at present constituted, has an area of 121,201 square
miles, and in a general way may be said to consist of tablelands,
mountains, and valleys. The tablelands rise one above another in
well-defined terraces, with an altitude above sea level of from 5,000
feet in the southeast, to 7,500 feet in the northwest. These tablelands
cover about two-thirds of the Territory, and constitute the valuable
grazing lands. The mountainous region consists of the Rocky Mountains,
which enter the Territory from the north in two chains—like the prongs
of a fork. The eastern chain terminates a few miles south of Sante Fe,
while the western one ends in the broken and detached ranges of the
southern section of the Territory. These mountains are rich in gold,
silver, iron, copper, lead, and coal. Sections of them are covered
with valuable timber, and among them are many medicinal springs. The
valleys lie between these mountain ranges, and contain the agricultural
lands, and are farmed by artificial irrigation. These valleys produce
good crops of corn, wheat, beans, etc., and in the southern half of
the Territory raise fine apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, and
grapes, the grapes up to the present time being more abundant than
other fruits. In addition to the above, the Messilla (Ma-see´-ya)
valley produces quinces, figs, and pomegranates. Artificial irrigation
is supplied from the melting snows of the mountains. The principal
streams are the Rio Grande (Ree´-o Gran-da), the Canadian, the Pecos
(Pa-cos), the San Juan (San Whan), and the Gila (Hee-la).
The Rio Grande River is the Nile of America. It is 1,800 miles long and
of almost equal volume from its source to its mouth, flowing hundreds
of miles without receiving a tributary of any size, being fed almost
entirely from the snows of the mountains. Along on either side of the
river are canals conveying the water to the adjacent farms. The water
is exceedingly roily and its annual deposit of sediment upon the land
increases its fertility.
The climate is unexcelled by any portion of the United States—being a
succession of bright sunshiny days almost the year through. The country
is free from malarial, billious and lung troubles, general debility and
asthma.
New Mexico has much of antiquarian interest. The mysteries connected
with its earlier history and the evidences of former greatness throw
a halo of romance around it. The country when first visited in 1536,
or ’37, by Spaniards was filled with the ruins of great cities, which
ruins are still in existence. In some places, acres of ground are still
covered with pieces of broken pottery. The mountains, in sections, are
honeycombed with abandoned dwellings, like Petra of old, or with the
remains of ancient mining operations, from which were drawn those vast
supplies of gold and silver found at Montezuma’s court.
In the Cañon de Chilly (de-shay) high up in the face of perpendicular
walls of rock are hundreds of ruins now tenantless and desolate. Among
some of these ruins which we have visited are sepulchres, about four
feet square, of mortar-laid stone, in which we found human skeletons.
In the Cañon de Chaco are great buildings with three and four stories
of walls still standing, built in the most substantial manner of cut
stone and neatly plastered on the inside. The country in the immediate
vicinity of these ruins is wild and desolate, and no clew to the
builders has yet been found. We only know that years, possibly ages
ago, great cities grew, flourished and passed away, leaving extensive
ruins as the evidence of their existence.
At the close of the sixteenth century the Spaniards took possession of
the country, subjugated the native races and made them slaves to work
the newly-opened mines. The Spanish rule was so cruel that in 1680 the
Pueblos rebelled and drove them from the country. Then commenced a war,
lasting many years, making the valley of the Rio Grande classic ground,
as the Spanish forces again and again advanced up the valley, only to
be driven back by the Pueblos, until, through treachery and dissensions
among the native forces, the Spanish were again in full control.
New Mexico became known to Americans first through the explorations of
Captains Long, Nicollet, and Fremont. La Londe, a Frenchman, was sent
by Morrison, of Kaskaskia, Illinois, on a trading trip in 1804. He was
followed by James Pursley in 1805. Pike visited there in 1807, and a
train of goods was sent in 1812 by Knight, Beard, Chambers, and eight
others. This party were seized by the authorities and held as prisoners
for nine years. Caravans of traders were furnished with a government
escort in 1829, 1834, and 1843.
In 1848 New Mexico was annexed to the United States.
The majority of the people reside in villages. These are largely of
the same pattern, and consist of a large public square, around which
are grouped without much attention to regular streets, a number of
one-story adobe (sun-dried) brick houses. The individual houses are
built around the four sides of smaller squares called _placitas_.
The rooms of the house open on this _placita_; also the stable. The
buildings are usually one story high, with dirt floors and flat dirt
roofs. During the rainy season the roofs leak badly. Among the older
houses there are but few that have glass windows. A few others have
mica windows. The larger number have an open lattice work, protected
in stormy weather by a tight board shutter. The roof is made of
poles, covered first with grass, then two feet of dirt, and is used
for various family purposes. (2 Kings 19: 26; Acts 10: 9.) The floor
is the native earth, beaten hard, then covered with a layer of adobe
clay. The fire-place is in a corner, and on three sides of the room a
raised bench of clay forms a seat, and also a shelf for piling away
the bed blankets during the day. Many of the houses, especially of
the poorer classes, are without chair, bedstead, or table. Many of the
rooms are neatly whitewashed with a white clay found in that region,
and the walls hung with crucifixes, mirrors, and lithograph pictures
of saints. There is one large opening, or gate, into the _placita_,
admitting alike the family, donkeys, goats and sheep. The streets are
narrow, irregular, and without sidewalks. The roads, worn by the travel
of centuries, are lower than the adjacent country, and during a rainy
season filled with muddy water. Wagons are scarce, as also are the
native carts, some of them with a primitive wheel, constructed from a
solid section of a tree.
The Mexican’s chief friend is the donkey, and in the streets of the
villages are to be seen droves of them loaded with hay, fire-wood,
vegetables, crates of fruit, melons, merchandise, casks of whisky,
trunks, lumber, etc. It is no uncommon thing to see a drove, each with
a heavy stick of timber projecting into the air beyond his head, and
the other end dragging on the ground behind him.
In the fields are occasional lodges (Isaiah 1: 8) as a shelter while
watching the vineyard, melon or grain fields.
Roads for foot-passengers and pack-animals run through the grain and
corn fields (Mark 2: 23; Matthew 13: 4) and along the unfenced wayside
were the graves of the former inhabitants, or the points where the
pall-bearers rested in bearing the body to the grave, marked with a
rude board cross and pile of stones (Joshua 7: 26; 2 Samuel 18: 17).
The women carry water in great jars on their heads or shoulders (Gen.
24: 46).
They plow like the ancients with a crooked stick fastened to the horns
of the oxen—several yoke of oxen following one another (1 Kings 19: 19).
As in the days of Ruth and Boaz, men and women still reap with a sickle
and the poor get the gleanings (Ruth 2: 15-23). The grain when reaped
is spread out on threshing floors made smooth by packing the earth
(Gen. 50: 10; 1 Sam. 23: 1) where it is threshed out by driving around
in a circle sheep, horses or oxen (Deut. 25: 4). After cleaning out
the bulk of the straw with forks, the wheat and chaff are shoveled
into blankets, which by a series of jerks, similar to shaking carpets,
toss their contents into the air, the chaff blowing one side and the
wheat falling back in the blanket. This process can only be carried on
when the wind is favorable; consequently to improve a favorable wind
they work all night (Ruth 3: 2). Another process is to lift the wheat
and chaff in a bucket as high as the head and empty it slowly upon a
blanket spread on the ground. Separated from the chaff, the wheat is
taken to a neighboring stream and washed in large earthen jars, after
which it is spread upon woolen blankets to dry in the sun.
The principal diet of the people is _chile colorado_ (col-o-row). There
are several varieties of this fiery dish; one made of beef is called
_carne_. A more common dish is made of mutton and called _carnero_.
The flesh is boiled to a pulp, to which is added _chile_. _Chile_ is
prepared by rolling red pepper on a stone until pods and seeds are a
soft mass. It tastes as red-hot iron is supposed to taste. It is said
that a new beginner on this diet ought to have a copper-lined throat.
Many old churches are still in use. They are built of adobe brick, with
dirt roof and dirt floor. Some of them possess paintings evidently
imported from Spain. There are also many ruder home-made paintings on
the walls. They are without seats or pews, the worshippers kneeling
or sitting on the floor. They are also generally much out of repair.
They contain many images, and in some of the churches a bier with a
life-size image of the Savior. At certain festivals this is carried in
a procession, and on Good Friday is used to dramatize the crucifixion
of Christ. In some of the churches are exhibitions of Scriptural
scenes covering the life of the Savior, apostles and early martyrs.
Occasionally an image of Christ is rigged with a movable arm, which is
turned by a crank. As with the movement of the crank the hand comes up,
it is supposed to throw blessings upon the waiting congregation below.
Upon one occasion during a long dry spell, they carried an image of
the Virgin Mary in stately processions through the fields to secure
rain. But the drouth continuing, the people in anger took the image out
into the street, took off its costly clothing, and gave it a public
whipping. Just then a severe thunder and hail storm came up; vivid
flashes of lightning played around them, and the hail destroyed their
crops and gardens. Greatly frightened, the ignorant people hastened to
re-clothe the image, and prostrate themselves before it in most abject
submission. The enclosure in front of these churches, and especially
the floor of the church itself, is the favorite burial-place of the
people, the holiest place of all being near the altar. Nearness to the
altar is graded by the amount of money paid.
The Roman Catholic Church, removed from competition with Protestantism,
is a wisely constructed machine for extorting money out of the
fears and superstitions of an ignorant people. Baptism, confession,
blessings, anointing, burials, and mass must all be paid for at a round
price. The weeping friends bring the corpse of the loved one and set
down the bier before the closed gates of the church. Then money is laid
upon the corpse. Again and again has a priest been known to look out,
and if he judged that the money was not as much as the friends could
afford to pay, refuse to open the gate, and nothing is left for the
friends but to continue adding money to the sum previously collected
until the rapacity of the priest is satisfied. An ordinary funeral in a
churchyard will cost one hundred dollars, if the family has that much.
To be buried in some of the churches costs from five hundred dollars
to five thousand dollars, according to position. The corpse is carried
on a board or bier (they do not generally use coffins), to the place
of burial. If the priest goes to the house, he walks in front of the
funeral procession. He has on a scarlet dress with a white over-skirt.
At his side is a small boy similarly dressed, tinkling a bell. A few
yards in the rear is a second priest, dressed in scarlet and white,
swinging a burning censer. Around him is grouped a motley crowd of men,
women, and children, carrying lighted candles, the men and boys with
uncovered heads, and behind all are men firing muskets into the air to
frighten away the devil, who is supposed to be hovering around, waiting
a chance to seize the spirit of the departed one. If the corpse is that
of a child, it is covered with flowers (the corpse of such is called an
angel). From two to four children walk with the bearers. Behind these
are other children, who are considered more holy than the rabble that
follow. These are followed by four children carrying a richly dressed
saint under a canopy. If the family are able to pay for it, the priest
comes out to meet the procession, and sprinkles holy water over the
corpse, then into the grave. After this the corpse is slid off the
board into the grave with but little ceremony, and some dirt thrown
upon it. Men then get into the grave with a heavy maul and pack the
dirt down solid; then more dirt is thrown in and packed down. This is
continued until the grave is filled up level with the rest of the floor
of the church. The corpses are placed three or four deep in the same
spot, and oftentimes the bones of previous burials are thrown up to
make room for the new comer. In one instance that came to light, the
spade clave in two the head of a child and threw it out. Nearly all the
old churches I have visited smell like a charnel house. A few years ago
the legislature of New Mexico forbid further burials in the churches.
With the advent of railways, miners and Americans, the peculiar and
old-time customs of the country will speedily disappear, and a new era
dawn upon the people. Great changes are rapidly taking place, and New
Mexico is waking up from the sleep of centuries.
January 1, 1881, there were 658 miles of railway in operation, which
has been greatly increased since. During 1880 the yield of the mines
was $711,300. At the same time there were 400,000 head of cattle
and 5,000,000 sheep on its pasture lands. Population, 118,430. The
census of 1880 gives 38 Roman Catholic, 7 Presbyterian, and 1 Baptist
churches; and not mentioned in the census report, the writer knows of
several Methodist and Episcopalian churches.
In 1849, Rev. Henry W. Reed, a Baptist minister, opened a school at
Santa Fe.
In 1850 Rev. E. G. Nicholson commenced a Methodist mission at Santa Fe,
which was abandoned two years after.
In 1857 Rev. W. J. Kephart, a Presbyterian minister, was sent to New
Mexico in the anti-slavery interests, and became editor of the Santa Fe
_Gazette_. In 1852 Rev. Samuel Gorman, a Baptist minister, entered the
Territory and commenced a mission at Laguna Pueblo.
These missions were all abandoned at the beginning of the rebellion.
In 1866 Protestant missions were resumed by Rev. D. F. McFarland, a
Presbyterian minister sent to Santa Fe.
In 1869 the writer of this article was appointed Superintendent of
Presbyterian Missions for New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and
Montana. The present Presbyterian strength is eighteen ministers, of
whom six are Mexicans.