Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of a view of the Mesa Encantada from the North, Acoma, New Mexico, ca.1900. The mesa, which sticks up above the general landscape like a pedestal, is in the distance beyond a clearing in the foreground. A wider mesa can be seen at left in the distance. "Also known as the Enchanted Mesa. It's a sandstone butte, 430 ft (131 m) high, central N.Mex., near the pueblo of Acoma called Mesa Encantada in Spanish and Katzimo by the Native Americans. According to one Pueblo legend, the mesa was the home of their people until an earthquake destroyed the only approach investigation does not support the legend." -- The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001. "About a mile from Acoma is La Mesa Encantada (the Enchanted Hill), with perpendicular walls rising four hundred feet high from the plain. There is a weird tradition of this lofty cliff related by Mr. James W. Steele, who states that on this mesa was anciently the home of the people of Acoma. One day in harvest-time the whole population of the town -- men, women, and children -- with the exception of three ailing women, were in the valley below, working together, according to their custom on such occasions. A cloudburst, as the sudden rain floods of the country are called, occurred up the valley, and a great wave swept down, undermining the sand upon which rested the narrow staircase of notched rock by which alone the top of the mesa could be reached. When the people returned, they found that where the stairs had been, the whole side of the mesa had fallen in a heap in the valley below, leaving the summit absolutely inaccessible. The three women could be seen above, wandering around the edges, waving their arms, and shouting, but no help could reach them. The skeletons of these women lie somewhere on the summit, where still are the walls of the old city but nobody has ascended the Mesa Encantada since the day of the disastrous flood." -- Clarence Pullen.
Type
image
Format
2 photographs : photoprints, b&w 20 x 25 cm., 21 x 26 cm. photographic prints photographs
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
