You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login
Sky stone: treasured for all time
Elizabeth Cook-Romero I The New Mexican
December 21, 2006
In 1857 William Blake, the first geologist to visit Mount Chalchihuitl near the town of Cerrillos, made sketches of the open pit where Native Americans had mined turquoise since 800 A.D. Local mine buffs say the pit has changed little since then. Blake estimated the depth of the hole to be between 200 and 300 feet, but today it?s known to be closer to 85 feet. Blake?s mistake is understandable ? when approached from the east, the almost-vertical drop into the Great Western Pit of Chalchihuitl is startling.
?I was so much struck with the extent of this singular excavation that it was some minutes before I could believe that it was the work of men alone and for an ornamental stone. ... That such an extensive excavation and breaking away of the hard rocks can be the work of Indians without powder seems incredible but such it undoubtedly is,? he wrote in a journal. . . . . . . .
Linkback: You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login
http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,1228.msg10082.html#msg10082
|
« Last Edit: December 27, 2006, 07:40:49 am by Sweet Sue »
|
Logged
|
|