Legends of the Pike's Peak region; the sacred myths of the Manitou

University of California • Berkeley

LEGENDS

OF THE

PIKE'S PEAK REGION

LEGENDS

OF THE

PIKE'S PEAK REGION

The Sacred Myths of the Manitou

BY

ERNEST WHITNEY, M. A.
I)

ASSISTED BY

WILLIAM S. ALEXANDER

ILLUSTRATED BY THOMAS C. PARRISH

PUBLISHED BY

THE CHAIN & HARDY CO

DENVER, COLORADO
1892

COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY
THE CHAIN & HARDY BOOK, STATIONERY & ART CO.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

ON THE WATERS TOWARD THE GATE OF HEAVEN 7

THE HEALING FOUNTAIN AND PIKE'S PEAK 17

THE GREAT DRAGON 31

TEMPLE OF THE LESSER SPIRITS 41

THE WIGWAM OF THE MANITOU 53

OWEVER un-
couth they may be,
the myths and le-
gends of early na-
tions, like the po-
etry of later, give
the highest and
truest exponents of their characters, and pre-
serve with a singular fidelity the very essence
of their daily lives, their fears and hopes, their
assumptions and intuitions. It is proverbial

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 9

that the songs of a people are stronger than
their laws; and the myths and traditions em-
bodying the sentiments upon which national
character, national religion, are founded, are
more powerful than the songs, which they
inspire. A ballad of the people, a bit of folk
lore, may teach us more than whole chapters
of history; we can hardly understand history
without such lights.

A century ago Scotland was to England
what Bceotia was to cultured Athens, pro-
verbially the land of the uninteresting, the
kingdom of dullness and prose; yet every lake
and stream, every glen and rock wore the
halo of poetry, the glamour of romance; and
when the Wizard of the North drew aside
the veil of prejudice, the eyes of all England
were opened as to visions, and the "land of
the mountain and the flood" became as famil-
iar and dear as the favored haunts of home.
Scott had discovered a new world, new even
to the dwellers in it. Gathering the tangled,
distorted fragments of tradition floating about
his native hills and dales, traditions full of
romance, yet despised or belittled as trifles

10 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

CVCL ;^y those from whom he learned them,
he gave to the world such pleasures of enter-
tainment as it had seldom known before.
And he gave to his country fame, and the
intellectual stimulus which led to its prosper-
ity. Thenceforth Scotland was one of the
beloved spots of the earth. Our historian,
Prescott, states that after the publication of
" 'The Lady of the Lake' the post-horse duty
rose to an extraordinary degree in Scotland
from the eagerness of travelers to visit the
localities of the poem." Another has said
that indeed the race of tourists was called into
existence by the pen of Scott.

What those neglected legends were to Scot-
land, Colorado's are to her. We scan the
glories of her scenery, surpassing the mar-
vels of the Alps, the beauties of the Rhine,
and lament the absence of tradition to give
them the charm of Old World scenes. The
tourist notes this seeming sterility with a
touch of prejudice. "But where are your
traditions?" is the final question; and the
answer is, "We have none; our history is too
recent." Yet the romantic Rhine cliffs, or even

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. II

the land of sphinx and pyramid, did nc J Jrise
above the ocean until its waves had beaten for
ages at the base of Rocky Mountain peaks.
This is the Old World, Europe and India are
of the New. And if nature in fantastic play
has made this the world's wonderland, much
more has man through centuries written and
rewritten its fading pages with the mysteries
of immemorial myths, legends, and traditions.
From Pike's Peak to Popocatepetl the land is
a palimpsest, dotted with ruins of remotest
antiquity, the relics of a people whose records
are replete with poetry and strange romance.
Their manuscripts enrich the archives of Mex-
ico and Madrid, and yet we learn but little of
them. They moulder in the missions of the
suspicious Spanish priests, or among the mys-
tic treasures of the Pueblos, and are decaying
unread. When we come northward to the
paths of later pioneers, to lands of less civil-
ized races, where history lives by oral trans-
mission only, hardly a legend but has lapsed
into oblivion. Those only can live which are
united to something concrete and enduring, or
which are so vitally interwoven that the life of

12 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

one tradition insures the life of another. The
early hunters looked upon natives whom they
met as savage aliens rather than possibly
kindred beings, and cared more for their furs
and gold dust than for any history of their
peoples. But even yet much may be regained
from a study of the records of Spanish priests,
from the lips of living races, and from the
thickly scattered ruins, many of which are
even yet undiscovered, nearly all of which are
practically uninvestigated. Indeed, much has
been regained, and from the mass of material
in the collections of Bancroft and others, and
from results of original research, the present
writer has sought to extract what is most
interesting to the audience to whom this little
book is offered.

The perhaps most remarkable cycle of
myths north of Mexico, the Sacred Myths of
the Manitou, might have perished, or lost their
home and identity at least, in another decade,
though the loss of such interesting relics of
aboriginal thought would have seemed inex-
cusable. But what we yet retain is sufficient
to appeal to the imagination most vividly, and

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 13

its restoration in this late day seems almost to
partake of the nature of strange revelation.
We ask who were the people among whom
such fables originated. The question as to
the identity of the earliest inhabitants in the
Pike's Peak region is a difficult one to answer,
but the conclusion of the latest historian is
that a race which had made considerable prog-
ress in civilization dwelt for centuries in Colo-
rado. Then a more barbarous people en-
croached upon its territory, and it was crowded
southward step by step, advancing in civiliza-
tion as it was driven from barbarism, leaving
picturesque ruins along its later path. It is
the conjecture of many students that this peo-
ple was none other than "that mystic race of
Aztlan, who, ages before, had descended into
the valley [of Mexico] like an inundation
from the north; the race whose religion was
founded upon credulity; the race full of chiv-
alry, but horribly governed by a crafty priest-
hood."

The situation of Aztlan, the ancient home
of the Aztecs, is the most puzzling question in
Mexican history. At all events, it was almost

14 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

certainly north of Mexico, but whether it
linked the home of the Aztec and Toltec to
California on the northwest, or to Colorado on
the northeast, it seems impossible for the un-
prejudiced historian to decide. The latest
and safest guide through the conflict of vary-
ing assertions, Mr. Justin Winsor, represents a
consensus of the wisest and most conservative
opinions. He is inclined to believe that un-
doubtedly two streams of immigration, one on
each side of the Rocky Mountains, flowed
together into Mexico. Toltec tradition tells
of a long sojourn some twelve centuries ago in
a land called Hue Hue Tlapallan, which means
"Old Red Land," and a local historian has
called attention to its hint of Colorado —

"Which fair Columbia, bending toward the West,
Now wears a crimson rose upon her breast — '

land of "crimson-hued rocks and yellow
plains," the "land of red earth." Certainly no
place but the wonderful Grand Caverns of
Manitou and the several caves of William's
Canon has been found in the probable range
of Aztec migration, which can be so well ident-

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. I 5

ified with the mysterious "Seven Caves" of
Aztlan, so often mentioned in Mexican myths.
It was the sacred birth-place of their great
god Huitzil, and to it sacerdotal embassies
were sent even as late as the year before the
invasion of Cortez. The early explorer whose
name the great mountain now bears, shows
that a Via Sacra from Mexico northward to
the peak was long kept open. "Indeed," Pike
wrote of the mountain in 1806, "it was so re-
markable as to be known by all the savage
nations for hundreds of miles around, and to
be spoken of with admiration by the Spaniards
of New Mexico, and was the bound of their
travels northwest." It is not unlikely that the
knowledge of an open and traveled path, and
the belief that it led to temples rich in gold
and jewels, led the earlier Spaniards to their
northern settlements and later excursions.
The tribe of Montezuma was but one of a
group of tribes each of which contributed its
quota to the phenomenal civilization of the
empire of Anahuac during the fifteenth and six-
teenth centuries. Even granting that neither
Aztecs nor Toltecs rose in Colorado, it may

1 6 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

still be confidently believed that at least one of
the most important Nahuan nations learned its
early lessons of barbaric culture under the
tuition of Pike's Peak. And this tribe or na-
tion during the slow migration, or soon after,
was completely absorbed by the Aztec stream,
if it was not the leader of it. What more
probable ? If it did not join this stream what
was its fate ?

HEN in these
"Sacred Myths of
lthe Manitou," we
perhaps see re-
flected some dim germs of that wonderful
religion, which was at once the strength and
weakness of the illustrious victims of Cortez.
Five, ten, or perhaps fifteen centuries ago
the dwellers along the great mountain slope
and adjacent plains had learned to look upon
that region around the eastern base of Pike's
Peak as one made sacred by a thousand

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 19

powerful associations. The great peak seen
forty leagues away, towering among and
wedged between the stars, "pinnacled dim in
the intense inane," was to them the symbol of
a god, the abode of the All-Father, the wig-
wam of the Manitou. The wide ranges of alps
on either side of it — the broad plains sublime
in their infinity — even the mysteriously-born
Father of Waters — none of these had the
influence upon the superstitious and super-
religious native which was exerted by that
ever-watching warden of the west. Probably
these early comers first saw the mountain after
months of dreary wanderings over the desolate
prairies. Awful in loneliness when seen afar,
silent and motionless as death, they drew near
and found it filled with life strange and ennob-
ling, and with a kindly nature, ready to stoop
and mingle with the human and make them
rich with blessings. It was a mountain of
mystery. To the dwellers on the monotonous
eastern levels, its ever varying miracles of light
and shadow were revelations of infinite spir-
itual power, and the sun-worshiper was ever
drawn nearer to its presence where the myster-

20 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

ious manifestations could be better seen. If
the hunter wandered out of its sight, it was at
times perhaps with a feeling of relief, as at
escaping from an almost burdensome over-
sight; yet he dared not stay long in the lands
lying beyond its guardianship. It was a never
forgotten element in life. If he slew the deer
or buffalo, a quick word of gratitude was sent
across the plains. If sometime a dark thought
came to him, he glanced furtively at this
reader of thoughts, and faltered. If in lone
venturing, perils confronted him, he would lift
up his eyes to the hills whence came his help,
and go forward with new courage. If the
tribes rallied for the war path, they sat in
reverence and hope before this god of peaceful
heavens, until tempest darkened and hid his
face, and then like storm swept down to cer-
tain victory. But if this oracle gave no show
of anger, rash was the chieftain who dare
attack a foe save in absolute and immediate
self-defense.

The story is told that a great and pow-
erful nation from remote regions once invaded
the lands of the children of the Manitou.

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 21

Day after day the war band advanced to-
ward this heart of the empire, and every day
the threateningly severe mountain-god seemed
more remote, more terrible, than before, until
at last, overcome with superstitious dread,
they turned back, believing it was impossible
to harm his people or do battle in his awful
presence.

Such were some of the thoughts which
this mysterious mountain inspired in primi-
tive minds. To them whatever of nature was
strange, beautiful, sublime, or powerful, was
worshipful. It was not unnatural that the
mountain should become dominant in their
religious system. Sun worshipers already,
what sublimer, nobler idolatry could there be
than theirs for this priest of the sun in the
land of undimmed heavens! Even the pilgrim
of to-day would fain uncover and bend the
knee before its tonsured head. That colossal
Face upon the mountain side was the first of
all American idols.

Civilization made progress among the
chosen people here, and there was much of
nobility and thoughtfulness in individual

22 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

characters. Their climate, the gift of the
Manitou, made them a strong race physi-
cally, but they were, perhaps, chiefly feared
and respected for their institutions and their
distinguished religion. We have records full
of detail of religious systems far more remark-
able, or more completely developed, among
the Nahuan nations. Torquemada estimates
the number of temples in Anahuac to have
been 80,000, and Clavigero places the number
of priests in these temples at 1,000,000. Every
year twenty to fifty-thousand human beings
were sacrificed on their altars. The myths
and fables of their religion fill huge volumes.
But probably nowhere north of Old Mexico
can be found traces of a theology anywhere
nearly approaching in simplicity and granduer
this one which had its Ararat, its Eden, and
its Salem in the Pike's Peak region. For here
they looked as to the cradle and the Mecca of
their race. The scant reflections which are
given of this religion to-day, like the clouds of
a fading sunset, can barely suggest the glory
of that sunset, the wide-streaming radiance of
the by-gone day.

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 23

The archaeologist, tracing the religious
history of the Greeks, finds in the early home
of one of their tribes the ruins of a temple,
and the torsos and other fragments of a group
of statues. It is his first duty to preserve
these exactly as they are found. It is a second
obligation so to study the temple, and the
arrangement of the sculptured fragments
around and within it, that, if possible, he
may understand and interpret the spiritual
meaning of the whole, as an exponent of the
religion. In this work he will take assistance
from history and from myth, and he will be
aided by comparison with other temples. If
obvious portions of the original group are
hopelessly missing, his special knowledge
may warrant the restoration of an arm or head
or possibly an entire figure. After the manner
of the archaeologist, we have delved among the
ruins of a forsaken temple. We have studied
the history, actual and mythical, of the race
who revered its shrines. And with the best
lights vouchsafed to us, we have tried to give,
in a form agreeable to the general reader, our
restoration of the myths of that ancient

24 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

religion. If we have felt it necessary here
and there to add a touch of completeness
almost arbitrarily, we have been so guided
by careful study of the myth makers and of
cognate religions as to feel warranted in each
case.

The breath and finer spirit of a purely
human religion, if any religion is purely
human, is not always well shown in those
myths and fables which are its most conspicu-
ous chronicles for later times. The fables
may be full of the grotesque and the absurd,
mere blind and awkward gropings after a
system where all was vague and mystic
at first. The first explanation of a crude
theolgy will, it is likely, be accepted as
the best. And in process of oral trans-
mission through generations all the myths
will suffer strange modifications without losing
their main identity. Thus none of the earliest
names of the deities in the myths before us
have been preserved, and Manitou, the com-
mon name of the supreme deity of the later
races, has been adopted from the legends of
later tribes.

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 25

The origin of a cycle of myths like the one
we are interested in was probably very much
in this wise, if we may trust the teaching of
analogy. A tribe, naturally of a roving dispo-
sition, driven from their river home by a series
of devastating floods, strikes boldly out for new
fortunes in the unknown prairies. Long, toil-
some journeys bring them at last to the foot of
the peak, where they make a new home, won
by the genial climate, fertile soil, and varied
topography. Gradually the tribe increases,
its power spreads, and it controls all the
region round about. It is called the Mountain
Tribe. Its members are children of the Moun-
tain. It is not long before these dwellers by
the Wigwam of the Manitou are called chil-
dren of the Manitou, and they believe in a god
as their creator and the mountain as their
birthplace. Later the story develops into the
true mythological form, uniting their earlier
and later religious ideas; and traditions com-
mon to all races of mankind, wherever found,
are woven into it. So in its later shape we
have the following:

At the beginning of all things the Lesser

26 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

Spirits possessed the earth, and dwelt near the
banks of the Great River. They had created
a race of men to be their servants, but these
men were far inferior to the present inhabi-
tants of the earth, and made endless trouble
for their creators. Therefore the Lesser
Spirits resolved to destroy mankind and
the earth itself ; so they caused the Great
River to rise until it burst its banks and over-
whelmed everything. They themselves took
each a large portion of the best of the earth,
that they might create a new world, and a
quantity of maize which had been their par-
ticular food, and returned to heaven. Arriv-
ing at the gate of heaven, which is at the end
of the plains, where the sky and the mountains
meet, they were told that they could not bring
such burdens of earth into heaven. Accord-
ingly they dropped them all then and there.
These falling masses made a great heap on
the top of the world which rose far above the
waters, and this was the origin of Pike's Peak,
which is thus shown to be directly under the
gate of heaven. Formerly it was twice as high
as it is now, but lost its summit as we shall

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 27

see later on. The rock masses upon it and all
about it, show plainly that they have been
dropped from the sky. The extent and
variety of mineral wealth in the region prove
that the earth's choicest materials are depos-
ited here. And still as the constellations
move across the heavens and vanish above
the mountain summits, we may see the spirits
rise from the Great River, and pass to the gate
of heaven. The falling stars are their falling
burdens, or the dropping grains of maize.

As the Lesser Spirits held their flight to
the gate of heaven from time to time grains of
their maize fell to the earth. These germs
being especially blest by their contact with
the immortals, sprang up with wonderful vigor
even under the waters of the flood, and soon
reached the surface, where they quickly
ripened. Now among the inhabitants of the
earth left to destruction, was one man who by
secretly feeding upon the food of the Spirits,
the sacred maize, had become much stronger
and superior in every way to his fellow beings.
Such was his strength that he succeeded in
sustaining himself and his wife above the

28 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

waters for a very long time. Suddenly a
maize stalk rose before him and blossomed
into fruit. Breaking a joint from it, he soon
fashioned this into a rude boat in which he
took refuge with his wife. In commemoration
of this the maize stalk was ever after hollowed
on one side. Not knowing what direction to
take on the pathless waters, he paddled toward
the only other object visible upon the face of
the deep. On approaching, this proved to be
another maize stalk. Upon it were a pair of
field mice which shared with him their supply
of grain. Launching forth again he paddled
toward another object visible in the distance,
which proved to be another maize plant. It
was held by a pair of gophers which were as
generous as the field mice with their corn, and
gave enough to sustain life until he reached
the next maize plant. Thus unconsciously fol-
lowing the course of the Lesser Spirits, he
passed in turn the maize plants of the prairie
dog, the squirrel, the rabbit, and all the
animals, and then came to the maize plants of
the birds, until passing from one to another he
came to the mountain. Having landed his

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 29

boat upon it, the man died of exhaustion, and
the woman died soon after, in the pains of
maternity, giving birth to a boy and girl.

The Spirits, looking down from the gate of
heaven, had watched the long voyage of hard-
ship with deep interest, and their sympathies
were aroused for the forsaken creatures on the
bleak island peak. Thinking that there was
after all something worth preserving here, they
endowed the infants with gifts raising them
above their ancestors in intelligence and
power. And feeding upon the sacred maize
which the Spirits had dropped on the top of
the mountain, the children rapidly advanced
to the age of maturity. One is minded of—

'There shall be a handful of corn in the
earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit
thereof shall shake like Lebanon; and they of
the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. "

Then the Spirits loosed one of the monsters
of heaven, the Lizard Dragon, Thirst. Seeing
the great satisfaction offered him, the huge
creature plunged directly to the watery world
beneath. The waters entirely engulfed him,
and for the first time his unquenchable passion

3O LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

knew something like gratification. He drank
and drank and drank, and every day the sea
grew lower and the mountain higher, until at
last the dragon's body was uncovered. He
pursued the waters, still drinking, until they
had receded beyond sight. Then fearing he
would dry up all the oceans and rivers beyond,
the all-powerful Spirits called him back.
Seeking to return to the gate of heaven, his
wings were unable to carry his swollen body,
and he fell back to the earth with such force
that his neck was broken off completely, and
he lay a huge crushed carcass on the land.
Such was the origin of the Mountain of the
Dragon, or Cheyenne Mountain as it is called
to-day. From his opened neck there issued a
torrent of blood and water which made the
soil over which it flowed the most fertile in
the world. And after all the blood had flowed
from his veins, there still issued a stream of
the purest water, and the sweetest for quench-
ing the thirst ever known. This fable of the
Lizard Dragon, Thirst, is strikingly character-
istic of a land where thirst was one of the
familiar terrors; and perhaps no creature of

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 33

the region is a fitter embodiment of the con-
ception than the lizard, which frequents the
dryest places. There is probably an allusion
to this legend in the quaint old Indian chant,
which in translation would run as follows:

"On deer path or war path

I wish I were like the lizard,

Never thirsting because his grandfather

Once had all he wanted to drink.

But my grandfather was always thirsty."

No one who looks upon Cheyenne from the
heights to the east or northeast of the city of
Colorado Springs can fail to recognize the
bloated form of the petrified monster, even to
the spurs upon its back.

The mountain on which the parents of the
new race were left was so steep and inaccess-
ible that they could contrive no way to escape
from it. At last when their supply of maize
was nearly gone, and the land below began to
grow beautiful with new verdure, the Spirits
told them to get into the boat and, after the
manner of Quetzalcoatl, to slide down. The
track made by the boat may even yet be seen
on the eastern face of the mountain, and was a

34 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

favorite resort of Quetzalcoatl, the sliding god;
and the boat itself, the cradle of the race, was
of course preserved. From the campus of the
college it can best be seen, riding the ridges of
the granite waves that flow tumultuously by
that eminence west of Cheyenne known as St.
Peter's Dome. It is shaped like the familiar
birch-bark canoe, curving high at either
end, and in it sit two worshipful figures,
one plying the paddle. One of the most
frequent embellishments in Aztec MSS. pic-
tures such a canoe moving over a flood toward
a lone mountain.

At the foot of the mountain they found the
most beautiful climate in the world, for being
directly under the portals of heaven it shared
with the Spirits the overflowing effulgence of
celestial light and atmosphere. But the sub-
siding waters had left about the foot of the
mountain all manner of dead creatures, and
these with the body of the dragon filled the air
with pestilence. Then the parents of mankind
prayed to the Spirits for help. And the
Spirits heard their prayer. They turned the
huge body of the dragon to stone, and they

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 35

granted to the parents of mankind that this
their home should never know the curse of
disease, but that it should be held sacred as a
place of healing for all the tribes. As a pledge
of their promise they sent to them Waters of
Life, so that the land was made sweet, the
pestilence stayed, and all diseases healed.
And such was the origin of the celebrated
springs of Manitou, which retain all their
miraculous virtues to this day.

For a long time the inhabitants of the
earth dwelt in the ease and luxury of a golden
age. But soon their numbers so increased
that it was no longer easy to live without care,
and the people were obliged to diffuse them-
selves over the region round about. Then
came three of the Lesser Spirits, and dwelt
among them. One taught them agriculture ;
from the second they learned how to make
weapons and set traps, and hunt successfully ;
and the third instructed them in religion and
government. Each of these Spirits built for
himself a magnificent titanic temple and home.
Although it is impossible to identify each
temple with its particular deity, the three are

36 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

are well known by their modern names as The
Garden of the Gods, Glen Eyrie, and Blair
Athol. It was the mission of the third Spirit
to lead them to the worship of the one and
single All Father, the great Manitou, whose
home was in the heaven of heavens, and whose
manifestation was the sun. It is a familiar
fact that the worship of the sun, as the most
obvious type of regenerative life, was one of
the very earliest and most widely spread
germs of .religion, not only among the primi-
tive nations of America, but in the Old World
as well. And the purist of to-day who sees
nothing worshipful in these manifestations of
the deity, may by his own misconceptions
know less of some of the attributes of that
deity than did his more reverent fellow in days
of ignorant barbarism.

At first under the instruction of the Spirit,
the people became so enthusiastically faithful
in their devotion to the new religion, that
when their eyes were closed, and even at night
the image of the Manitou ever stood before
them, and tradition tells us that they were
often afflicted with blindness. It was not

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 37

unnatural that awe and fear predominated over
love in such religion, and that their god was
at times a Moloch in their sight. Moreover
only the clearer eyes of the royal family and
of the higher priestly class, could discern the
exact features of the Manitou in that blaze of
glory.

At last certain of the people, urged by some
of the royal princes, implored the Spirit to
intercede for them, and ask the Manitou
graciously to throw aside this impenetrable
and awful veil of splendor, wherewith he was
wont to envelope his countenance, and favor
them with a more endurable manifestation of
his watchful care. After much persuasion the
Spirit consented to undertake the precarious
mission.

Soon the people noted that the sun, which
had hitherto passed directly above the moun-
tain, was gradually withdrawing towards the
south. His warmth lessened, plants perished,
and the first Winter came with its new and
strange hardships. Flocks of birds were seen
flying after the departing sun. Many among
the people followed their god, and despon-

38 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

dency fell upon the children of the peak when
they realized that their Manitou was offended.
But soon those who remained were cheered
by a new presence in the heavens, a milder,
more acceptable manifestation of the Manitou.
The silver moon appeared with its varying
phases, now in one part of the sky, now in
another, but ever showing clearly to all eyes
the plain features of the Manitou. But the
Manitou still showed the supremacy of the
sun by paling the new image in its presence,
and causing the moon to do reverence to the
sun by wholly yielding to its glory for some
days every month, after which the moon came
forth with renewed beauty; for that invisible
image in the sun was stamped anew upon the
face of the moon each time that it drew near
the god of day, thus insuring an accurate
reproduction, much to the satisfaction of the
thoughtful. These wonderful changes in
heaven and earth caused consternation
through all neighboring nations, and couriers
were sent from tribe to tribe. When it was
found that only the children of the peak could
explain the inexplicable phenomena, great was

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 39

the increase of their power and authority.

The reverence for the Manitou now deep-
ened among the people. They found that the
rigors of Winter were "after all a blessing with
few disadvantages. And soon the Manitou
became so pleased with the worshipers that he
even brought back the sun from the low skies
of the south, the birds returned, and some of
those who had followed the sun in his retreat,
sought their old homes, with strange tales of
their travels.

But votaries of the changing moon were
themselves a fickle and restless folk of varying
moods, though when a great discontentment
arose again it was through their devotion to
steadfastness. It was the old craving for a
greater familiarity with the gods, which we
find among the most religious races of man-
kind, that led the people to their new discon-
tent. Only for a part of the time could they
worship the inconstant moon, and the priests
felt that when its face was turned from them
there was a laxity of discipline which could
not fail to be serious. So the tutelary Lesser
Spirit was again implored to intercede for

40 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

them and obtain the gracious favor of a more
continuous revelation of the presence of the
Manitou. They wished to see him and worship
him daily and hourly if need be. The Lesser
Spirit received their message, but in departing
with it for the gate of heaven he bade them
farewell forever.

Soon after the great mountain was wrapped
in dense clouds with thunders and lightnings.
The mountain shook and the hills and plains
vibrated as under the heavy blows of earth-
quake shocks. Day after day passed in terror
until at length the clouds cleared away and all
was calm again. Then, lo, a great light fell
from the open portals of heaven full upon the
towering mountain top which was at its
threshold. And there from the highest point
of the peak shone down upon them a majestic
and godlike Face. Far out upon the plains,
far as the heaven-meeting peak could be seen,
its features were manifest to all, filling the
observers with awe and an unknown sense of
the power and nearness of the Manitou. As a
final seal of sacredness the mark of the symbol
which had already of old been stamped upon

the face of the sun and the moon, was now set
upon the earth, and upon the very mountain of
their history and religion. And, the legend is
careful to add, the nation became more unified
and more powerful than ever,

"Watched over by the solemn-browed
And awful face of stone."

There seemed now no reason for further
entreaties to the Manitou, whose kind regard

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 43

for his chosen had been so signally shown.
But with that inspired belief which shows
itself in all histories, that religion should stop
short of nothing but absolute perfection
according to the thinker's own ideas, it was
not long before the devout priests felt the
need of giving further information to their
Overruler. It often happened that while
perpetual sunshine and moonlight bathed the
plains, dark clouds wrapped the summit of the
mountain of the Manitou for days at a time,
thus concealing their Keblah, and interrupting
their devotions. Sorrow and murmuring rose
among the simple people in those days of
darkness. They dared not undertake a
journey, perform a tribal ceremony, set their
traps, plant their maize, or engage in any
affair of consequence unless the visible face of
the Manitou looked favorably upon them.
They were too childlike to worship and 'trust
the invisible when the Great Face had once
been seen. They would that the veil of clouds
which gathered about the summit of the
mountains might be dispelled forever.

After suns and moons of hesitancy and of

44 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

longing for the counsel of the departed Lesser
Spirit, the people were emboldened to send
an embassy of priests and princes up the stair-
way of the mountain to the gate of heaven,
with their petition to the Manitou. The last
three steps of this vast stairway are still
plainly seen just north of Cheyenne Mountain,
and bear the modern names of Monte Rosa,
Mount Grover, and Mount Cutler. Amid
the prayers and sacrifices of the people these
departed on their unprecedentedly presump-
tuous and hazardous mission to the" Face of
the Manitou, the gateway of heaven, and were
never heard of more. Terrible was the punish-
ment of their sacrilege in thus approaching
the inapproachable. Violent storms enveloped
the mountain to its very base in fire-riven folds
of darkness. Great rocks came ruining down
its precipitous sides, or fell from the clouds,
and night succeeded night with no intervening
comfort of light. The people fled in terror
from their quaking homes, and scourges of
bitter rain and biting hail drove them far out
upon the plains. These tremendous convul-
sions threw them prostrate with fear with their

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 45

faces in the dust. For dust, as though the
mountain were ground to powder, filled the
air, and has filled it many and many a time
since in the region about the base of the peak,
in commemoration of those days of reproof,
when the stricken inhabitants of the earth
realized that they were but as the dust of it,
and were bowed in sack-cloth and ashes. At
last when the anger of the Manitou was
appeased the clouds of wrath rolled away, and
the sun and moon and blue sky came once
more. What was the bewilderment and awe
of every beholder to see that the top of the
sacred mountain had disappeared altogether,
and no longer reached more than half way to
the gate of heaven. Mortals should never
again pass over that lofty stairway. The
presumptuous ambassadors of the people had
been hurled from the high threshold, and the
top of the mountain cast upon them, like
^Etna on Enceladus. It is a wonder that no
Spanish priest has here woven in some fable of
confusion of tongues and dispersion of races,
but it comes later in the story.

Though with angry reproof, their prayer

46 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

had been answered. For on the plain before
them, at the foot of the great peak, rose their
colossal Palladium, that very threshold stone
of heaven, the topmost step of the stairway of
spirits, the summit and crown of the old peak,
still bearing upon it the Great Face of the
Manitou. Never again were the people pre-
sumptuous in their religion; and never again
was the Face concealed from them, however
heavy the clouds upon the peak, except when
the spirits were displeased with the nation.

To this day whoever looks from any point
on the site of the old capital of the aborigines,
where now stands the City of Colorado
Springs, the city of refuge, can still see the
calm, benignant features of the old god of
these early Aztecs, on the side of Cameron's
Cone, the old summit of the discrowned peak.
The snows of winter hide its features for
weeks at times; and when the noonday sun
shines full in its face, the ancient superiority
of the day-god is shown, for the features are
then an indistinguishable mass of light and
shadow. But through Spring, Summer, and
Autumn, in the afternoon shade, or in the

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 47

fullness of the morning light, it towers in the
west like a clear vision. More majestic than
the Zeus Otricoli, grander in design and pro-
portions than the fabled dream of carven
Athos, it stands as the most perfect, the sub-
limest of the sculptures with which unaided
Nature or the skill of man has adorned the
earth. One is slow to believe that Nature
alone could so closely mimic the majesty of
art, but it is impossible that Aztec hands could
have wrought out such a colossal conception.

" 'Twas Nature's will who sometimes undertakes
For the reproof of human vanity
Art to outstrip in her peculiar walk."

To one who would learn how step by step
the savage mind groped onward, "through
Nature up to Nature's God," it is clearer than
all theological lectures.

For many generations the favored nation
increased in strength and intelligence. But at
length a barbarian host, apparently from the
northeast, came pressing upon them with the
sweeping onslaught of a herd of buffaloes,
with the fierceness of mountain lions. It may
likely have been this very invasion which

48 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

furnished to the laureate Southey the material
for his noblest epic, the story of Madoc and
the Aztecas 'of the Missouri Valley. The
religious people of the peak, relying upon
their gods alone, fell back before them until
their very sanctuary was oppressed and
profaned.

It is true that in earlier times, when they
were weaker in number and skill at war, such
reliance had not been disregarded. For once
a host of giants and of monsters had attacked
them from the hostile north, before whom all
resistance had seemed utterly vain. And then
a great wonder had taken place. The Manitou
had turned his mountain face, even as the face
of an ^Egis, upon the invading bands, and
straightway each and all had changed to stone!
It was a terrible sight indeed for future
enemies to behold that gorgonized army of
granite giants standing athwart all paths
approaching from the north or northeast, no
longer besiegers, but unwilling and silent
defenders whom no foe had yet found courage
to approach. And though flood and tempest
have overthrown and buried many of them,

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 49

yet by Austin Bluffs and still more in the
strange, grim forms which give name to the
world-famous Monument Park, the routed
remnants of that ancient army may still be
seen, some standing defiant with shield and
club uplifted to meet the crash of Death's
petrific mace, some crouching in eternized
horror at their impending doom.

But though the present had living witnesses
of the truth of this encouraging tradition, yet
the children of the Manitou had no longer any
right to expect such needless intervention, and
finally, encouraged by supernatural signs they
turned against their enemies and repulsed
them from their shrines. But on the day after
the battle the sun arose eclipsed, clouds veiled
the hills, and a great flood rolled southward
from the mountain valleys. When light was
restored to them after a long tempest, lo, the
air was filled with omens. As once before
beasts and birds were passing southward in the
path of the waters, winds were blowing and
strange clouds drifting in the same direction.
The scouts brought word of a mighty muster-
ing of myriads of the enemy from the north.

5O LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

In the midnight sky auroral warriors, red with
slaughter, danced the war dance and menaced
them with destruction. And most terrible,,
most astounding of all, the Great Face which
had hitherto turned lovingly and fully upon
them, now looked away to the south! It, too,,
had been eclipsed and turned in a single day.
There was but one interpretation of the
omens. Plainly they were to forsake their old
kingdom, which had grown less and less
fertile, and less able to support the increas-
ing numbers of later generations. But all
that was good should go with them. The
changed face of the Manitou intimated that
his watchful care would still follow them in
their new home, nor would he look with favor
upon the usurpers. The flood of water told
that tides of fertility awaited them. The
departure of birds and beasts in advance of
their march showed that Nature was still their
faithful steward. Yet they felt with sadness
that because they had allowed sacrilegious
invaders to violate the great sanctuary, they
must henceforth be expelled from the imme-
diate presence of the Manitou.

LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION. 51

With the departure of this interesting peo-
ple from the cradle and home of their history,
the chapter of their story which concerns us
most is led to a natural end. Indeed it would
be difficult to continue it, for such records of
their wanderings as have been found are vague
and incomplete; no two writers would inter-
pret them alike. For these people mingled
with others and lost their individual identity
when they entered the broad path to Mexico
over which such extensive migrations were
then passing. The history of no one of the
Nahuan nations is intelligible for its migratory
period. Though the progressive line of archi-
tectural ruins stretching across the plains and
down the valleys of New Mexico and Arizona
into the Aztec empire, would seem to show the
finger posts of the great marching route of
these nations, yet so barren are the records of
the so-called Cliff-Dwellers and other early
inhabitants of our southwest territory, that
many historians even doubt the connection
between the architects of Casa Grande and of
the palace of the Montezumas. To our minds
the proofs which may be gathered from the

52 LEGENDS OF THE PIKE'S PEAK REGION.

preceding pages are sufficiently conclusive for
our purpose. And it is not impossible that
further researches among the records of these
mediaeval, these Dark Ages of aboriginal
history, may set our conclusions beyond the
reach of skepticism. If our little sketch be
the means of suggesting to one reader how
much there is of pleasure, of poetry, of truth,
of religion, in Nature and natural associa-
tions,— if it be the means of prompting more
thorough investigation and more careful
preservation of every scrap of tradition now
vanishing among the races of aboriginal
America, we shall feel that it has not been
written in vain.

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