Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 145, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 June 1919 — MAY BE TRUTH IN LEGEND [ARTICLE]

MAY BE TRUTH IN LEGEND

Investigation of “Enchanted Table" In New Mexico Seems to Bear Out Story Long Believed. An isolated butte rising out of a vnsl plain in -the vast Southwest— n flattopped hill 430 feet high -.and with sides so nearly vertical that for many centuries it was supposed to he hopelessly climb-proof, is one of the most Interesting of the natural wonders of this part of the United Stntos. Many attempts to climb the "Enchanted Table” or “Mesa Encantadn," as the first Spanish settlers called it. have been made, hut Indian superstition has attributed their failure largely to a supernatural Influence that balked the ascent. Hence the name “Enchanted.” According to the Indian Idgend, the mesa, which Is three miles northeast of the well-known Acoma pueblo. In New Mexico, was very anciently the site of a prehistoric village. A frightful storm carried away part of the rock and with it the rocky staircase which offered the only path of access to the summit. As a result, the people In the village were cut off front the plain below. They could not cllntb down; no help could reach them, and they starved to death. The only survivors were a few who by chance were absent from the mesa top at the time of the disaster From them, it Is explained, are sprung the present-day inhabitants of the pueblo of Acoma. But science, while disposed to be Incredulous of things unproved, Is at the same time Inclined to investigation. Hence an expedition which the government bureau of ethnology sent out to climb the Mesa Encantada. The party, after almost incredible efforts, arrived upon the top. What they expected to find was nothing. But, to their surprise, they discovered, on the summit of the mesa, plain and unmistakable evidences of aneient oecupancy. such as ruined walls, and what they saw there afforded a measurable confirmation of the Indian legend.