DISCOVEEY OF A LAKGE METEOEITE IN MEXICO. 419 



CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE DISCOVERY OF A LARGE METEORITE 



IN MEXICO. 



I 



Letter from William M. Pierson, United States vice-consul, Paso del Norte, 

 Mexico, to the Department of State, Washington. 



My attention of late has been drawn to the famous Sierra Madre, 

 (Mother Mountains,) which are said to be the most prolific in rich gold 

 and silver mines of all the mountains in the State of Chihuahua, from 

 the fact of a very singular and large piece of meteoric iron having been 

 discovered by a party of Mexicans while excavating in the ruins of the 

 Casas Grandes, (great houses,) measuring 2 feet 6 inches square, and 

 weighing, as is supposed, over 5,000 pounds. This particular portion of 

 the Sierra Madre is located one hundred and fifty miles distant, and 

 almost directly south from this city, in parallel 30. 



"There is a tradition among the Pueblo Indians (town Indians) that 

 the Montezuma tribes came from the extreme north in ancient times by 

 gradual immigration, and settled at various points at intervals, until 

 they arived at and built the city of Mexico. The truth of this tradition is 

 verified by the plain trace of old ruined cities, built of adobe-brick, and 

 extending from New Mexico and Arizona south to the city of Mexico. 

 In the Gila Valley, Arizona, these immigrants appear to have halted, 

 built a city, recuperated, raised a sufficient quantity of corn and beans, 

 and then immigrated some four hundred and fifty miles farther south to 

 the great plain under the foot of the Sierra Madre, in the State of 

 Chihuahua, where another halt was made, another city built, and the 

 same routine of recuperation and raising of corn and beans, preparatory 

 for the march on to Mexico, was gone through with. 



"The ruins of the Casas Grandes on the Gila Elver in Arizona show 

 plainly that at one time a numerous and industrious people dwelt there, 

 and at this day, from the ruins, the structure and plan of the city is 

 discernable. Large rooms were built for a common depository of grain 

 for the use and benefit of the public. The great ditch by which the 

 water of the river Gila was turned out on the plain to irrigate, for the 

 purpose of raising grain, is still plainly traceable ; while the whole plain 

 for miles around is profusely strewn with broken pottery, on which the 

 devices and painting exactly correspond with that on the pottery man- 

 ufactured by the Pueblo Indians of Mexico at the present day. These 

 remarks will apply to the whole chain of Casas Grandes now in ruins, 

 south from New Mexico and Arizona to the city of Mexico. It is a well- 

 known fact that when the Spanish discovered Mexico, as far north as 

 Santa Fe the country was settled in all the large and fertile valleys by 

 Pueblo or town Indians, who lived by agricultural pursuits, planting 

 corn, beans, and pumpkins, and constructing and living in large towns, 

 built with the adobe-brick, the same as are now used throughout all Mex- 

 ico : and that the Montezuma Indians possessed large amounts of thf 



