NOTES ON THE HISTORY AND CLIMATE OF NEW MEXICO. 



r>v Dr. Thos. a. McParlix, Snrgem, United States Army. 

 (Couimuuicated by General J. K. Barnes, Surgeon-Geueral, United States Army.) 



HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO. 



What is now known as New Mexico has had a varied history. First, 

 the home of nomadic Indians, perhaps as peaceable, loving, and tracta- 

 ble as those first described by Columbus. Gold and silver and the quest 

 of precious jewels, like the Golden Fleece, brought over the Spaniards, 

 and with them Mother Church. In 1540 Francisco Vasquez Coron- 

 ado came to the country with an expedition. He found some of the 

 Indians nomadic, and others living in settlements, and among them he 

 describes Cicuye, extending along the river for six miles, and the soil 

 cultivated by the Indians, from the mountains as far west as the present 

 town of AguaFria. This pueblo and cultivcated valley correspond with 

 what was afterward named after the patron saint, San Francisco de 

 Asis de Santa Fe. As it is at least four hundred years old as a town, 

 (how much older it may be there are no means of determining,) it is 

 much older than San Augustine, Fla., founded in 1565, or any other 

 town on this continent. 



In 1546, during the empire of Charles V, it was determined to encour- 

 age the settlement of the Indians in towns in order to protect the Pu- 

 eblo Indians. New Mexican Pueblo traditions accredit Montezuma with 

 having gone sou<^h from this Territory, and with his people the substan- 

 tial evidences of gold and precious minerals gave the Mexicans and 

 their conquerors, under Cortez, the information that their gold came 

 from the north, and with precious minerals existed here in great quan- 

 tities. 



The Indians were compelled by the Spaniards of this country to dig 

 the mines in all parts of the Territory, to carry water, and pack ores and 

 fuel on their backs to the furnaces ; and in consequence, after the rebel- 

 lion in 1680, when they drove the Spaniards out, they filled up and care- 

 fully concealed all evidences and traces of the mines they had worked 

 so successfully. When in 1701 the Spaniards revisited New Mexico, 

 the Pueblos entered into a compromise " by which the Spaniards were 

 permitted to return, but with the positive and express condition that 

 they should not open the mines or prosecute mining as a pursuit." 



Hence it is probable that the richest mines in this country are yet to 

 be discovered ; and it is certain that but for the scarcity of water very 

 many now known, but only imperfectly worked, would be very product- 

 ive. The records of the ancient mine near Abiquiu, derived from nn 

 21 s 



