ThunderbirdPhoto
Fresh Blood
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2022
- Messages
- 20
- Location
- USA
Hi all, I thought you might be interested in my recent research into mysterious ruins that were reported to have been discovered in the desert of Baja California in the 1890s. The article below was originally posted on my website, at https://thunderbirdphoto.com/f/the-lost-rattlesnake-temple-of-baja-california.
By Kevin J. Guhl
Rattlesnake Temple Ruins ©2023 thunderbirdphoto.com
Somewhere in the desert along the California-Mexico border, an impossible structure rivaling those of ancient Egypt is said to lie hidden amongst rocky hills. Stumbled upon only once by prospectors in search of gold, it was promptly lost again and has awaited rediscovery for over 130 years. To learn the details of this amazing story, let's travel back in time to when news broke of the earth-shattering find in the summer of 1893.
While the more evocative account from the July 23, 1893 San Francisco Examiner is reprinted below, the same day's coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle included many unique details. Those passages have been added and noted below within the copy from The Examiner:
A MYSTERY OF THE DESERT.
Ruins of a Prehistoric Temple Found by Prospectors.
COLUMNS CARVED IN SEMBLANCE OF RATTLESNAKES.
Searching Out the Secrets Nature Is Supposed to Have Buried Beneath the Burning Sands—The Probable Scene of Civilization Coincident With the Construction of Egyptian Pyramids.
[Special to the EXAMINER.]
SAN DIEGO, July 22.—There is a world of mystery out in the broad expanse of desert lying between the mountains east of this city and the Colorado river, the least feature of which are the skeletons of men which dot the sands—men who have perished in the vain attempt to search out those secrets which nature is supposed to have buried beneath the burning sands.
The latest discovery is that recently made by a party of four prospectors and it promises to be of vast interest to archaeologists. About a month ago Hank Ferguson, Theo Price, Gus Atherton and John Cline, all old prospectors, joined forces at Yuma and started on a prospecting trip and, incidentally, to search for the Pegleg mine.
Leaving Yuma they crossed the Colorado river and took an entirely new course toward the northern spurs of the Cocopah mountains. Heretofore parties have either gone down the Colorado river until opposite the mountains and then crossed the strip of desert to the Cocopahs, or followed the old Yuma and San Diego stage trail.
The party named, after crossing the river, took a diagonal course southwest toward the mountains, a course heretofore avoided, owing to the absence of water, and showing with the aid of the glass no hills which might bear mineral. The prospectors were well provided with water carried in zinc canteens on pack mules, and after several days reached a stretch of broken country of granite and porphyry formation that gave promise of bearing gold. After some little search they found a water-hole, and, making camp, prepared for prospecting the locality systematically. One day Ferguson came to camp and reported that at quite a distance out on the desert he had seen through his glass what appeared to be a row of stone columns protruding above the sand several feet and arranged so regularly that they seemed to be artificially planned, and not the work of nature. Price and Atherton were inclined to scoff at it and said they were nothing but granite dikes. Cline had confidence in Ferguson's experience, however, and early next morning the two men with an ample supply of water set out for the locality.
It was several miles away, and the sand was deep, but on arriving they felt well repaid for their trouble. What appeared to be dikes were finely carved granite columns, as nearly as could be judged about eighteen feet in height. On top of these columns were huge rectangular blocks of cut granite weighing tons.
CARVED IN THE SHAPE OF RATTLESNAKES.
Realizing the great historical value of this discovery they returned to camp and informed their comrades of the nature of the find. Next morning the entire party, with two or three days' supply of water and provisions, went to the ruins to make a thorough exploration. They first endeavored to approximate the size, and, as near as could be ascertained from the pillars above the sand, the dimensions were 460 by 260 feet. On one side facing east they found at the top of two curiously carved columns excellent representations of serpents' heads, with a huge capstone lying across. On the other side of this capstone was some curiously carved scrollwork of frieze unlike and pattern they had ever seen. The granite columns were slightly curved in a modified form of the letter S. The men decided that this must have been the entrance to the building, temple, or whatever it is, and all hands fell to clearing away the sand. They finally reached the foot of the columns and found they were made to resemble huge rattlesnakes. There were tails carved to represent rattles, and the huge pillars or columns were horrible in their semblance, appearing to be huge rattlers eighteen feet long, standing on their tails, though, of course, out of proportion as regards thickness, in order to afford sufficient strength to support the huge capstone or entablature.
SFC: The walls of the once great building had been taken down or perhaps had been shaken to the ground by the tremendous earthquakes that even to this day visit the desert region, terrifying the Indians and reviving the mud volcanoes.
SFC: A rough approximation of the extent of the ruins showed them to be about 420 feet long by 260 feet wide. The north and east walls, or what little remained of them, were exposed to view, as well as a portion of the south wall. The pillars already mentioned were upon the north side and were curiously formed to represent rattlesnakes. They were slightly curved, and the bottom or tail ends were made to resemble the rattles, and upon their heads rested immense slabs of granite weighing tons. In all forty-eight pillars, some fairly well preserved, were found, and all were beautifully proportioned. At their tops, above the snakes' heads, was frieze ornamentation, resembling Egyptian sculpture, and exhibiting far more skill in its workmanship than is possessed by the Indians of the present day. The inclosure between the walls was filled with debris, and no satisfactory examination of the interior could be made.
Then the party began searching over and through the ruins, but failed to unearth anything but specimens of some unique ornamental pottery. The walls have fallen and lie buried in the sand with the exception of a portion of the north wall. Here was found a part of what had been a wall between the columns. It was built of large blocks of cut granite accurately joined, laid one on another, without any evidence of cement or other adhesive material having been used. The men, not being prepared to make a thorough excavation or exploration, again "stepped" the distance and found their original measurements correct. They found the distance between the serpent pillars at the supposed entrance to be twelve feet. Digging still further at the foot of these pillars they uncovered three huge broad granite steps and had not yet reached the bottom. How much of that once magnificent temple is buried in the sands cannot as yet be told.
SFC: All around the exposed parts the same class of ornamentation was found upon the pillars.
ANOTHER START FOR THE RUINS.
The old prospectors were greatly excited over their find, and after some deliberation decided on their course. They took two pieces of the carved stonework and several pieces of the ornamental pottery, both far excelling anything the Indians of the present day can produce, and started for the Yuma trail. There they separated, two going toward Yuma and two coming to this city. The latter bring a piece of the stonework and pottery. They sought out H. C. Gordon, a capitalist and mining man of this city, and, imposing the strictest secrecy, divulged the history of their find.
SFC: Ferguson and his associates were naturally much excited over the discoveries and gave no further thought to prospecting for minerals. After resting and taking particular note of the locality two of the party started to return to Yuma, and Ferguson and his companion turned toward San Diego. They arrived here nearly two weeks ago, dirt-begrimed and with the appearance of having had a hard trip... It was Ferguson's intention to find some man of capital who would make an examination of the ruins.
Gordon was at first inclined to doubt it, but the men were so persistent that he finally concluded to investigate, and, interesting John H. Gay Jr., one of the wealthiest men in the city in the story, the two fitted out, and with two prospectors left for the scene about ten days ago.
SFC: They sent teams ahead to Stonewall and with Ferguson and his companion they took the Cuyamaca train to Lakeside a week ago last Friday. Saturday morning the party, six in number, started down the Banner grade via Carrisso creek and camped that night at Carrisso ranch. The stream near which they camped led from a mud volcano near by and small and apparently eyeless fish were caught in large numbers in the stream. They had no fishing tackle and simply used a barley sack, scooping the fish up by dozens. The following day the party reached the base of the Laguna mountains.
They reached the foot of the Laguna mountains, near the edge of the desert, without mishap, and after filling their canteens and water kegs, secured the services of two Indian runners to go in advance and look for water holes and began a hundred-mile march across the desert. The heat was fearful, and after the second day out they were overtaken and obliged to stop by a terrible sandstorm, which lasted two days. In the meantime their water supply was reduced, and being unaccustomed to the furnace-like heat, the two capitalists decided to return and wait a more favorable opportunity, despite the protests of the two prospectors, who urged them to continue, saying the water would last if judiciously used. The second day the Indian runners, naked and well exhausted, came into camp and this decided the two men, who turned about, much to the disappointment of the two prospectors. They arrived in this city this evening and will make another attempt to reach the ruins as soon as the weather cools. At this time of the year it is almost certain death for inexperienced persons to attempt to cross the desert by trail.
SFC: Ferguson himself was averse to any such arrangement and insisted on finishing the trip, but the others talked him out of the idea and the return was begun. The teams were left at Julian in charge of Ferguson, while the others came on, arriving here this afternoon.
ANCIENT IRRIGATING CANALS.
The other two men have been more successful, as a dispatch this morning announces that a party of four have left Yuma, via the Colorado river, equipped with a month's supply of provisions to explore the locality and the ruins. As nearly as the men could ascertain the ruins are just this side of the line in San Diego county. Several times prospectors from that section of country have told of finding what appeared to be a bed of ancient irrigating canals, the banks partly defined, stretching in an air line for miles across country. It will be remembered that H. W. Patton, editor of the Banning Herald, explored that section of the country for the EXAMINER about three years ago at the time of the New river overflow. He went down the Colorado to the crevasse and then came across the country in a boat, following the course of the overflow till it emptied into Salton sea. At that time, at a point which from his description must have been in the vicinity of the ruins, his course was for twenty miles as straight as an arrow between rows of thick stunted trees evidently marking the banks of an old canal. Here the water was confined between banks, but above and below the water spread over the country. This, in connection with the ruins just discovered, would indicate that the locality was at one time the scene of civilization and the water for irrigation was taken from the Colorado—a civilization probably old when the Pyramids of Egypt were in the course of construction.
The Colorado River Delta as it appeared in 1893 when strange ruins were said to have been discovered there.
It might be noted here that the Mohave people, who have lived along the Colorado River for more than 12,000 years, began practicing floodplain and irrigated agriculture more than 4,000 years ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. This began as following the river's natural flood-cycle patterns, planting in the spring as floodwaters receded. Later, the Mohave began digging ditches and canals by hand to divert water toward cultivated fields upland.
The anecdote about the eyeless fish (What do you call a fish with no eyes? Fsh!) might sound like a strange detour into Fantasyland, but it is not so far-fetched. The endangered Mexican blindcat, for instance, is a small catfish that lacks eyes and pigmentation, appearing pinkish white. They are adapted to living in the darkness of freshwater pools in caves and in groundwater trapped in porous rocks. Only studied in recent years, the Mexican blindcat in known to inhabit caves in Coahuila in northeastern Mexico, Tamaulipas in southern Mexico, and in the Amistad National Recreation Area near Del Rio, Texas. Perhaps this fish or one like it existed in the Carrizo Creek area of San Diego County, occasionally blown to the surface by the eruption of a mud volcano, confused and easy pickings for fishermen.
The story of the Rattlesnake Temple's discovery brings to mind the more well-known tale of the Grand Canyon Ruins, aka Kincaid's Cave. An April 5, 1909 article in the Arizona Gazette recounted the discovery of a massive underground citadel, possibly of ancient Egyptian origin, deep within a cave along the canyon wall. While the article stated that discoverer G.E. Kinkaid and professor S.A. Jordan were exploring the abandoned city on behalf of the Smithsonian, the Institution has never located record of either man and has declared the story a hoax. Furthermore, neither the Gazette nor any other paper printed a follow-up article. Brian Dunning, examining the case on Skeptoid, placed this report in its broader contemporary context, a time when strange archaeological discoveries were a staple of popular fiction, many yearned for the "purity" of ancient cultures, and amazing finds in Egypt were beginning to grab headlines. Additionally, this was an era when tall tales and hoaxes were commonplace in American newspapers, and the majority of readers were in on the joke. "One was supposed to admire their talent of imagination," wrote Don Lago in the Grand Canyon Historical Society's The Ol' Pioneer magazine.
While the Rattlesnake Temple might certainly be a hoax, the story has a few attributes which Kincaid's Cave does not: wider coverage, follow-up articles (with healthy debate) and verifiable principals. The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Herald, San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle all covered the initial reported discovery of the ruins in their July 23, 1893 editions, and the Chronicle continued to provide updates through October. It didn't take long, however, for the Chronicle to turn from breathlessly retelling the adventure of the serpentine ruins to sour skepticism.
DESERT RUINS A MYTH.
Disbelief in the Story of Furguson's Find.
YUMA (A.T.). July 31.—Geronimo Elizaldo, a resident of the Cocopah country for years, has just arrived. He says the story of Furguson, Cline and party relative to finding a lost city west of Yuma is a fake of the first class. No such party has been where the ruins are located. Elizaldo is reliable and has been on the same ground for two months. Hardly one in Yuma believes Furguson's story.
Diligent inquiry fails to find any one who ever saw the party. Those well posted on the section where the ruins are said to be disbelieve the yarn. Bert Hewins has just been over the same ground and pronounces it a grand fake. None of Furguson's party ever returned to Yuma as reported.
And then...
A DESERT CANARD.
No Prehistoric Temple on the Colorado.
Ranchmen and Indians of the Locality Call Ferguson's Story a Hoax.
Special Correspondence of the CHRONICLE.
YUMA (A. T.), August 4.—The tale told so glowingly, and sent over the country broadcast, that Ferguson, Price, Atherton and Cline, who claimed to have fitted out, and to have started from Yuma, had found the ruins of a large temple, and an ancient city; is believed to be a "fake" of the wildest order, by those living here, who are well posted on the section where the ruins are reported to have been found. First of all no one living here knows anything about any such party, although they claim to have spent some time in Yuma, and that two of them returned here after the discoveries were made. So far as known they have never been seen in this section. The Cocopah Indians who guard their country with a jealous eve, and never allow any one to visit it, or to prospect over it without reporting the same at once to the whites, report that no such party has been over the ground, trails or section where Ferguson and party claim to have been.
The parties claim that they went over an unknown country, and by a strange trail, unknown to anyone in these parts. This is an improbability, as every square mile between Yuma and the Cocopah country has been traveled over, times without number, by cattlemen, prospectors, Indians and hunters, who for the past five years have roamed over the country at will. The parties of the ruins claim that they were camped near the Cocopah mountains, and that the ruins were only a three hours' walk from the foot of the range where they made their camp. This would bring the ruins within about two miles of the base of the mountains. Almost with the same breath they state that the temple and ruins were just over the Mexican boundary line in San Diego county. By two measurements lately made it was ascertained that the point where Ferguson and party had their camp was thirty-six miles from the boundary line. William McCord, who knows every Indian along the route the party must have traveled from Yuma to Cocopah, says that no such party has passed over the section. At the time the party claims to have left Yuma on the trip no one could cross the country, for all of the branches of the Padrones, New Pescadero, Carter and the Colorado rivers were impassable for man or beast on account of high water. Bert Hewins, foreman of the cattle ranch of Johnson & Roberts, whose camp is within a short distance of the located mines, says that he has been over every mile there and that no such thing exists anywhere in that section. He also says that no such party of men have been there. Geronimo Elizaldo, a reliable and competent man who lives in that region and knows every foot of it, says that there is no truth in the report, and the Indians, who report every stranger to him, says that no white men have been there for months. Mr. Elizaldo has passed over the very line of travel marked out by the party in their report three times within the past five weeks and he says that the whole thing is a "fake" of the worst kind.
The ruins are reported to be found in a section over which thousands of people have passed since 1849 on their way to California for gold and where the United States Government built a telegraph line. The section has also been surveyed by the engineers of the Mexican Government once and by those of the United States twice. The last line was surveyed only a few weeks ago and the work covered every spot for ten miles on either side of the line. No one, however, has seen these so-called wonderful ruins. All join in pronouncing the whole story a fabrication.
It would have been an utter impossibility for any such party, equipped as they claim to have been, to travel over any portion of this country without being seen by some one. Some are uncharitable enough to think that if the capitalists who started from San Diego to see the ruins with one of the party had not turned back as they did there would have been a repetition of the disaster that befel Fish and the Breedloves, who perished in the same desert only a year ago. No one should undertake the hazardous trip in that section without a guide who knows every foot of it, for if they do, no matter how plentiful the water and feed, they take their lives in their own hands.
The naysayers did little to deter Gordon and Gay, who were apparently convinced enough of the ruins' existence that they once again set out on a perilous journey to find them without the initial prospectors. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle:
FAILED TO FIND DESERT RUINS.
Fruitless Search of Prospectors for a Decayed City.
SAN DIEGO, October 22.—John H. Gay Jr. and H. C. Gordon have returned from a trip to the Laguna mountains on the edge of the Colorado desert. They left here a week ago last Thursday with the object of visiting the ruins discovered some months ago by a prospector, Hank Ferguson, on the desert near the Cocopahs, the location of which Ferguson had minutely described to Gay and Gordon.
Like the former trip the present journey was fruitless. Owing to the great scarcity of water in the creeks and springs the Indian guides refused to cross the desert, insisting that to do so would be fatal. The Indians have been forced by this awful drought far up into the Laguna mountains, and even there the water supply is inadequate to their ordinary requirements.
"It was this state of affairs," said Gordon to the CHRONICLE correspondent, "that prevented our pushing on to the Black range, where the ruins are said to exist. We are confident that they do exist in the location indicated by Ferguson and will make the journey to the Cocopahs as soon as the rains have filled the water holes to examine carefully the surroundings."
Gordon's reference to the "Black range" is puzzling. There are mountains called the Black Range in southwest New Mexico, but surely these are too far east of the area he was referencing. The Cerro Prieto volcano, located near the Cocopahs, was called "Black Butte" by Americans at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. But it is possible that Gordon was using a now obscure local name for peaks in the Colorado Desert, possibly within the Cocopahs themselves.
Gordon and Gay, the affluent San Diego men the pair of discoverers solicited to join their expedition, are well established in California history.
Gordon was a prominent broker in San Diego and co-owner of the Iron Chief and Granada iron mines in San Bernardino County, until selling them in January 1890. By June of 1893, shortly before seeking the desert ruins, Gordon had invested in a scheme to set up a lottery in Ensenada, Baja California, submitting an application in Mexico City. In 1903, Gordon was vice-president of the Yuha Oil Well Company, 20 miles in the desert from Imperial, California. He was noted in the press for discovering enormous oyster shells from California's prehistoric past, the largest 14 inches in length, littering the ground on the Yuha company's property. He bundled up several shells to send to the Smithsonian.
Gay was a colorful character, a mining man who arrived in California from St. Louis in 1885. Perhaps tiring of the search for the desert ruins, in 1894 he traveled to Italy where he studied the horticulture business and the lemon industry, with the notion of starting a citrus business back home. He was back in the news in 1903, entangled in a messy divorce with wife, Lucille, which resulted in her being denied any part of his estate. Gay, described as a well-known San Diego capitalist, embraced the growing popularity of the automobile. In 1904, Gay purchased the Lakeside Inn, near San Diego, where he fenced off the neighboring public park and claimed it was part of his estate. There, he built a 60-foot-wide track surrounding Lindo Lake for automobile and horse racing. In the summer of 1912, Gay, his chauffeur and cook embarked on several camping excursions into the California back country. Gay drove a Franklin Torpedo accompanied by another Franklin car he had modified into a makeshift hauler with cupboards to carry dishes and camping supplies. The County of San Diego County won back the former public park after a series of court battles, causing business at the resort hotel to wither without its primary attractions. Local scuttlebutt suggested that Gay was so embittered over the loss of the lake and park that he placed in his will the demand that the Lakeside Inn be torn down after his death—which it indeed was in 1920.
1912 Franklin Torpedo
Ferguson, Price, Atherton and Cline, the old prospectors, are harder to track down in the historical record. The obvious question is, were they the honest discoverers of a world-shaking historical find, or were they scamming two of the richest mn in town, filling their heads with ideas of fortune and glory? Were Gordon and Gay just easy marks, targeted to finance the prospectors' mining efforts and perhaps attract further investors? This would not be an unheard-of circumstance. According to Lago, newspapers during this golden age of mining frequently broadcasted new discoveries, many which were just scams designed to swindle money from investors back east. In this light, it's not hard to fathom that the Serpent Temple might have been a local fraud that managed to grab regional headlines.
There is confusion within the original articles about whether the desert ruins are situated near the Cocopah Mountains (Sierra de Los Cucapah) in Baja California or at the bottom of San Diego County, which at the time extended from the Pacific Ocean to the Colorado River, spanning the entire California-Mexico border. The majority of references appear to indicate the Cocopah range on the Mexican side in Baja California (aka Lower California).
The Sierra de Los Cucapah, located south of Mexicali in northwestern Mexico, are named for the native Cocopah people. Trending north-south and positioned east of the Laguna Salada basin, the Cocopah Mountains are part of the Peninsular Ranges that extend from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Mount Signal (El Centinela) is the northernmost peak of the Cocopah range, starting at the Mexico-U.S. border. The range is composed of granitic rocks that developed from the collision and subduction of the Farallon oceanic plate of the Pacific beneath the North American continental plate during the Mesozoic period.
National Geographic, in 1900, wrote of the Cocopah Mountains: "The slopes and sides of the range appear to be utterly devoid of vegetation. Weathering and wind have broken its long mass into vast fragments of stone. Though occasionally exhibiting delicate tints of color, its general appearance is the sand gray and volcanic brown of desert formations."
A view of the Cocopah Mountains, from a by photo by David P. Barrows, published in 1900.
The Cerro Prieto Volcano sits approximately 10 miles east of the Cocopahs. It was last active between 100,000 to 10,000 years ago, with tales of its fiery rage preserved in Cocopah lore as "a monster that covered the land with hot rocks, which grew through the soil and emitted fire tongues."
A shallow magma body beneath the ground generates a powerful flow of geothermal heat throughout the area. The Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station, the largest complex of geothermal power stations in the world, has been constructed to take advantage of this abundant source of natural energy.
Earthquakes have rocked the Cerro Prieto Fault throughout the centuries, fissuring the earth and forming mud volcano cones reported to reach 10 feet in height as the underground belches up smoke, boiling water and hot dirt. Major earthquakes shook the Cerro Prieto region in 1891 and 1892. The Feb. 23, 1892 quake was severe enough to be felt strongly from San Quintin to Los Angeles, and as far away as Santa Barbara, Visalia and Needles. That night, a group of miners camped in the lower Laguna Mountains witnessed black smoke emanating from what appeared to be the Cocopah region about 40 miles away. Mud volcanoes formed once again around the Cocopahs, furiously belching smoke for at least a month. These mud volcanoes are a documented feature of the Cocopah Valley as well as northward in California, just south of the Salton Sea. Another earthquake on Dec. 31, 1934 caused huge fissures to open in the proximity of the Cerro Prieto Fault. If the ruins existed, could they have been reburied or destroyed in a later earthquake?
Mud Volcanoes in the Colorado Desert, part of the greater Sonoran Desert. 1857.
This period of seismic activity immediately predating the supposed discovery of the Rattlesnake Temple in 1893 offers important historical context to the overall story. For native residents and newly arrived explorers alike, the primal geological forces within the northern Baja California peninsula were both wondrous and fearsome. While the Cocopah people of the 19th and early 20th centuries had resided near the mud volcanoes for generations and understood (as Europeans would discover) the health benefits of bathing in pools of the hot mud, they also referred to the place as "crust of hell" and "home of the devil." The San Francisco Chronicle's coverage of the desert ruins states plainly that, "The walls of the once great building had been taken down or perhaps had been shaken to the ground by the tremendous earthquakes that even to this day visit the desert region, terrifying the Indians and reviving the mud volcanoes." Did a mighty earthquake shake free the long-buried ruins of a forgotten archaeological wonder, its walls cracked and crumbled from centuries of seismic rumbling? Or, at the very least, did it provide impetus for an imaginative tale?
There is one civilization glaringly unmentioned in the articles about the desert ruins, whose architecture bore some resemblance to what was described—the Aztecs. Granted, Baja California is more than 2,000 kilometers northwest as the crow flies from the base of Aztec culture as it existed between the 14th and 16th centuries in central Mexico. However, it is interesting to note the parallels. Pyramids, temples and palaces in the Aztec Empire's capital city of Tenochtitlan (today the site of Mexico City) were generally made of stone. Columns were cylindrical or square, cut from a single block and ornamented with bas-reliefs. Serpents, including rattlesnakes, were a common feature in Aztec sculpture and architecture. Mesoamerican societies revered the reptile for its ability to swim through water, burrow through the earth and perch in trees, making it able to transcend all earthly realms. The Aztecs associated snakes with rebirth and fertility due to their ability to molt, and their undulation was a symbol for the flow of life-giving blood and rain. This spiritual perception of the snake elevated its religious importance. Prominent deities displaying serpentine qualities included Quetzalcoatl ("Feathered Serpent"), Chicomecōātl ("Seven Serpent"), Cōālīcue ("Snakes-Her-Skirt"), and Huītzilōpōchtli, who wielded Xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent, as a weapon. The Temple of Ehécatl-Quetzalcoatl in Tenochtitlan was a circular building which had an entrance resembling the mouth of a serpent with fangs; the Spanish conquistadors were said to dread crossing its threshold. The Great Temple in Tenochtitlan is adorned with massive, undulating serpents around the corners of its stairway, each snake possessing a distinctive face. The pyramid in the Aztec city of Tenayuca is ornamented with the Wall of Serpents, rows of rattlesnakes that line three sides of its base; coiled snakes are positioned on the north and south sides of the pyramid at ground level. The snakes at the pyramid are associated with sun worship. Tenochtitlan was interlaced with canals, used for transportation, and aqueducts that transported fresh drinking water into the city.
.jpg/:/cr=t:0%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:100%25/rs=w:1280 "Serpent sculptures adorning the Aztec Templo Mayor (Great Temple) in Mexico City; the structure was rediscovered in 1978. Photos by Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.")
Serpent sculptures adorning the Aztec Templo Mayor (Great Temple) in Mexico City; the structure was rediscovered in 1978. Photos by Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
.jpg/:/rs=w:1280)
This Colorado Desert in Lower California is not without its known archaeological treasures, however. Along a narrow, mostly limestone arroyo at the north end of the Cocopahs, a traveler can find echoes of the distant past. Native inhabitants carved petroglyphs into the rock, designs such as concentric circles, triangles, zigzags and digitate anthropomorphs (human figures with fingers and toes represented). Near the mouth of the arroyo remain signs of many different pre-Hispanic cultures. Meanwhile, the crumbling adobe and stone walls of several Spanish missions that were operated by the Franciscan and Dominican orders of the Catholic Church in the 18th and 19th centuries dot the desert across northern Baja California.
It is fun to ponder the possibility that those old prospectors weren't spinning yarns about their desert find and showing off fraudulent shards of pottery. What if, contrary to established historical understanding, an Egyptian-style temple emerged in the Sonoran sands during some unknown epoch of pre-history, built by hands unknown? Could it have been a still-lost Aztec outpost? Perhaps hiding in the dry stretches of Baja California under the gaze of the Cocopah Mountains rest giant granite rattlesnakes, eyes vacantly watching many suns rise and fall as they await their rediscovery.
View of ruins of a prehistoric fort and the Vermilion Cliffs of Arizona, taken during the Brown-Stanton survey of the Colorado River's canyons in 1889. Photographer Frederick Monsen noted, "There are many remarkable ruins in this vicinity but the country is very difficult to travel over."
SOURCES:
Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel. "Aztec Art & Architecture." FAMSI (Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.), 18 Jan. 2007, http://www.famsi.org/research/aguilar/Aztec_Art_Architecture.pdf. Accessed 12 Nov. 2023.
Alvarez de Williams, Anita. "Five Rock Art Sites in Baja California South of the 29th Parallel." Pacific Coast Archaeological Society, vol. 9, no. 4, 1973, pp. 37-46.
"Amid Desert Sands." San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Jul. 1893, p. 13.
Atwood, Roger. "Under Mexico City: Temple of Quetzalcoatl," Archaeology, Jul./Aug. 2014, https://www.archaeology.org/issues/...ico-city-aztec-temple-of-ehecatl-quetzalcoatl. Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
Biart, Lucien. The Aztecs: Their History, Manners and Customs. Translated by J. L. Garner, Chicago, 1887.
"A Buried City." Los Angeles Sunday Times, 23 Jul. 1893, p. 2.
"Aztec Architecture." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_architecture. Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
"Aztecs." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztecs.Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
Barrows, David P. "The Colorado Desert." National Geographic Magazine, Sept. 1900, pp. 337-351.
“Cerro Prieto.” Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History Global Volcanism Program, https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=341000. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“Cerro Prieto.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Prieto. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“Cerro Prieto Fault.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Prieto_Fault. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Prieto_Geothermal_Power_Station. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"A City in the Desert." Herald [Los Angeles], 23 Jul. 1893, p. 1.
"Colorado River Basin Ten Tribes Partnership Tribal Water Study." Bureau of Reclamation, 2018, https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crbstudy/tws/finalreport.html. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"A Desert Canard." San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Aug. 1893, p. 2.
"Desert Ruins a Myth." San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Aug. 1893, p. 3.
Dunning, Brian. "Exploring Kincaid's Cave." Skeptoid, 31 Jan. 2017, https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4556. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"El Centinela (Baja California)." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Centinela_(Baja_California). Accessed 5 Nov. 2023.
"Failed to Find Desert Ruins." San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Oct. 1893, p. 2.
Glenn, C.R. "Mexican Blindcat." Earth's Endangered Creatures, 2006, http://www.earthsendangered.com/profile.asp?gr=F&view=&ID=&sp=35. Accessed 5 Nov. 2023.
Hendrickson, Dean A., Jean K. Krejca and Juan Manuel Rodríguez Martinez. "Mexican Blindcats Genus Prietella (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae): An Overview of Recent Explorations." Environmental Biology of Fishes, no. 62, 2001, pp. 315-337, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1011808805094. Accessed 5 Nov. 2023.
"Huītzilōpōchtli." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huītzilōpōchtli. Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
"Italian Lemon Culture." San Francisco Chronicle, 26 Dec. 1894, p. 11.
Kier, David. "The Spanish Missions of Baja California, Part 2: The Franciscan and Dominican Missions 1769-1849." Viva Baja, https://vivabaja.com/missions2/. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
Lago, Don. "'Looks Like a Mulhatton Story': The Origins of the Grand Canyon Egyptian Cave Myth." Ol' Pioneer, vol. 20, no. 2, 2009, pp. 3-11.
Lancaster, Jeremy. "Cuyamaca Rancho State Park." Geological Gems of California State Parks, Geogem Note 49. California Geological Survey, Department of Conservation, 2015, https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/734/files/GeoGem Note 49 Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.pdf. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"Legends of Lakeside." Lakeside Historical Society, 1985.
Lynch, Dave. "Cerro Prieto Volcano." Universities Space Research Association, 20 Feb. 2009, https://epod.usra.edu/blog/2009/02/cerro-prieto-volcano.html. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"A Mystery of the Desert." Examiner [San Francisco], 23 Jul. 1893, p. 3.
"A New Lottery Scheme." Los Angeles Times, 1 Jun. 1893, p. 4.
"The Oil Industry." Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 1902, p. 11.
“Peninsular Ranges.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_Ranges. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"Personal Notes." San Francisco Chronicle, 17 May 1885, p. 5.
"A Reported Sale." Los Angeles Daily Herald, 23 Jan. 1890, p. 6.
Rhodes, Jesse. “175 Years of the Smithsonian’s Most Untrue Stories.” Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Aug. 2009, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smit...rban-legends-about-the-smithsonian-135407460/. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“San Diego County, California.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_County,_California. Accessed 30 Oct. 2023.
"Serpents in Aztec Art." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpents_in_Aztec_Art. Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
“Sierra de Los Cucapah.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_de_Los_Cucapah. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
Strand, Carl L. "Mud Volcanoes, Faults and Earthquakes of the Colorado Delta Before the Twentieth Century." Journal of San Diego History, vol. 27, no. 1, 1981. https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1981/january/mud/. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"Wife Gets Nothing in Gay Divorce Suit." San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Oct. 1903, p. 3.
"Will Tour in Two Franklins." San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Jun. 1912, p. 9.
"Wonders of the Desert." Salinas Daily Index (The Californian) [Salinas CA], 29 Jan. 1903, p. 2.
The Lost Rattlesnake Temple of Baja California
In 1893, gold prospectors claimed to have discovered mysterious stone ruins in the desert southeast of San Diego.By Kevin J. Guhl
Somewhere in the desert along the California-Mexico border, an impossible structure rivaling those of ancient Egypt is said to lie hidden amongst rocky hills. Stumbled upon only once by prospectors in search of gold, it was promptly lost again and has awaited rediscovery for over 130 years. To learn the details of this amazing story, let's travel back in time to when news broke of the earth-shattering find in the summer of 1893.
While the more evocative account from the July 23, 1893 San Francisco Examiner is reprinted below, the same day's coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle included many unique details. Those passages have been added and noted below within the copy from The Examiner:
A MYSTERY OF THE DESERT.
Ruins of a Prehistoric Temple Found by Prospectors.
COLUMNS CARVED IN SEMBLANCE OF RATTLESNAKES.
Searching Out the Secrets Nature Is Supposed to Have Buried Beneath the Burning Sands—The Probable Scene of Civilization Coincident With the Construction of Egyptian Pyramids.
[Special to the EXAMINER.]
SAN DIEGO, July 22.—There is a world of mystery out in the broad expanse of desert lying between the mountains east of this city and the Colorado river, the least feature of which are the skeletons of men which dot the sands—men who have perished in the vain attempt to search out those secrets which nature is supposed to have buried beneath the burning sands.
The latest discovery is that recently made by a party of four prospectors and it promises to be of vast interest to archaeologists. About a month ago Hank Ferguson, Theo Price, Gus Atherton and John Cline, all old prospectors, joined forces at Yuma and started on a prospecting trip and, incidentally, to search for the Pegleg mine.
Leaving Yuma they crossed the Colorado river and took an entirely new course toward the northern spurs of the Cocopah mountains. Heretofore parties have either gone down the Colorado river until opposite the mountains and then crossed the strip of desert to the Cocopahs, or followed the old Yuma and San Diego stage trail.
The party named, after crossing the river, took a diagonal course southwest toward the mountains, a course heretofore avoided, owing to the absence of water, and showing with the aid of the glass no hills which might bear mineral. The prospectors were well provided with water carried in zinc canteens on pack mules, and after several days reached a stretch of broken country of granite and porphyry formation that gave promise of bearing gold. After some little search they found a water-hole, and, making camp, prepared for prospecting the locality systematically. One day Ferguson came to camp and reported that at quite a distance out on the desert he had seen through his glass what appeared to be a row of stone columns protruding above the sand several feet and arranged so regularly that they seemed to be artificially planned, and not the work of nature. Price and Atherton were inclined to scoff at it and said they were nothing but granite dikes. Cline had confidence in Ferguson's experience, however, and early next morning the two men with an ample supply of water set out for the locality.
It was several miles away, and the sand was deep, but on arriving they felt well repaid for their trouble. What appeared to be dikes were finely carved granite columns, as nearly as could be judged about eighteen feet in height. On top of these columns were huge rectangular blocks of cut granite weighing tons.
CARVED IN THE SHAPE OF RATTLESNAKES.
Realizing the great historical value of this discovery they returned to camp and informed their comrades of the nature of the find. Next morning the entire party, with two or three days' supply of water and provisions, went to the ruins to make a thorough exploration. They first endeavored to approximate the size, and, as near as could be ascertained from the pillars above the sand, the dimensions were 460 by 260 feet. On one side facing east they found at the top of two curiously carved columns excellent representations of serpents' heads, with a huge capstone lying across. On the other side of this capstone was some curiously carved scrollwork of frieze unlike and pattern they had ever seen. The granite columns were slightly curved in a modified form of the letter S. The men decided that this must have been the entrance to the building, temple, or whatever it is, and all hands fell to clearing away the sand. They finally reached the foot of the columns and found they were made to resemble huge rattlesnakes. There were tails carved to represent rattles, and the huge pillars or columns were horrible in their semblance, appearing to be huge rattlers eighteen feet long, standing on their tails, though, of course, out of proportion as regards thickness, in order to afford sufficient strength to support the huge capstone or entablature.
SFC: The walls of the once great building had been taken down or perhaps had been shaken to the ground by the tremendous earthquakes that even to this day visit the desert region, terrifying the Indians and reviving the mud volcanoes.
SFC: A rough approximation of the extent of the ruins showed them to be about 420 feet long by 260 feet wide. The north and east walls, or what little remained of them, were exposed to view, as well as a portion of the south wall. The pillars already mentioned were upon the north side and were curiously formed to represent rattlesnakes. They were slightly curved, and the bottom or tail ends were made to resemble the rattles, and upon their heads rested immense slabs of granite weighing tons. In all forty-eight pillars, some fairly well preserved, were found, and all were beautifully proportioned. At their tops, above the snakes' heads, was frieze ornamentation, resembling Egyptian sculpture, and exhibiting far more skill in its workmanship than is possessed by the Indians of the present day. The inclosure between the walls was filled with debris, and no satisfactory examination of the interior could be made.
Then the party began searching over and through the ruins, but failed to unearth anything but specimens of some unique ornamental pottery. The walls have fallen and lie buried in the sand with the exception of a portion of the north wall. Here was found a part of what had been a wall between the columns. It was built of large blocks of cut granite accurately joined, laid one on another, without any evidence of cement or other adhesive material having been used. The men, not being prepared to make a thorough excavation or exploration, again "stepped" the distance and found their original measurements correct. They found the distance between the serpent pillars at the supposed entrance to be twelve feet. Digging still further at the foot of these pillars they uncovered three huge broad granite steps and had not yet reached the bottom. How much of that once magnificent temple is buried in the sands cannot as yet be told.
SFC: All around the exposed parts the same class of ornamentation was found upon the pillars.
ANOTHER START FOR THE RUINS.
The old prospectors were greatly excited over their find, and after some deliberation decided on their course. They took two pieces of the carved stonework and several pieces of the ornamental pottery, both far excelling anything the Indians of the present day can produce, and started for the Yuma trail. There they separated, two going toward Yuma and two coming to this city. The latter bring a piece of the stonework and pottery. They sought out H. C. Gordon, a capitalist and mining man of this city, and, imposing the strictest secrecy, divulged the history of their find.
SFC: Ferguson and his associates were naturally much excited over the discoveries and gave no further thought to prospecting for minerals. After resting and taking particular note of the locality two of the party started to return to Yuma, and Ferguson and his companion turned toward San Diego. They arrived here nearly two weeks ago, dirt-begrimed and with the appearance of having had a hard trip... It was Ferguson's intention to find some man of capital who would make an examination of the ruins.
Gordon was at first inclined to doubt it, but the men were so persistent that he finally concluded to investigate, and, interesting John H. Gay Jr., one of the wealthiest men in the city in the story, the two fitted out, and with two prospectors left for the scene about ten days ago.
SFC: They sent teams ahead to Stonewall and with Ferguson and his companion they took the Cuyamaca train to Lakeside a week ago last Friday. Saturday morning the party, six in number, started down the Banner grade via Carrisso creek and camped that night at Carrisso ranch. The stream near which they camped led from a mud volcano near by and small and apparently eyeless fish were caught in large numbers in the stream. They had no fishing tackle and simply used a barley sack, scooping the fish up by dozens. The following day the party reached the base of the Laguna mountains.
They reached the foot of the Laguna mountains, near the edge of the desert, without mishap, and after filling their canteens and water kegs, secured the services of two Indian runners to go in advance and look for water holes and began a hundred-mile march across the desert. The heat was fearful, and after the second day out they were overtaken and obliged to stop by a terrible sandstorm, which lasted two days. In the meantime their water supply was reduced, and being unaccustomed to the furnace-like heat, the two capitalists decided to return and wait a more favorable opportunity, despite the protests of the two prospectors, who urged them to continue, saying the water would last if judiciously used. The second day the Indian runners, naked and well exhausted, came into camp and this decided the two men, who turned about, much to the disappointment of the two prospectors. They arrived in this city this evening and will make another attempt to reach the ruins as soon as the weather cools. At this time of the year it is almost certain death for inexperienced persons to attempt to cross the desert by trail.
SFC: Ferguson himself was averse to any such arrangement and insisted on finishing the trip, but the others talked him out of the idea and the return was begun. The teams were left at Julian in charge of Ferguson, while the others came on, arriving here this afternoon.
ANCIENT IRRIGATING CANALS.
The other two men have been more successful, as a dispatch this morning announces that a party of four have left Yuma, via the Colorado river, equipped with a month's supply of provisions to explore the locality and the ruins. As nearly as the men could ascertain the ruins are just this side of the line in San Diego county. Several times prospectors from that section of country have told of finding what appeared to be a bed of ancient irrigating canals, the banks partly defined, stretching in an air line for miles across country. It will be remembered that H. W. Patton, editor of the Banning Herald, explored that section of the country for the EXAMINER about three years ago at the time of the New river overflow. He went down the Colorado to the crevasse and then came across the country in a boat, following the course of the overflow till it emptied into Salton sea. At that time, at a point which from his description must have been in the vicinity of the ruins, his course was for twenty miles as straight as an arrow between rows of thick stunted trees evidently marking the banks of an old canal. Here the water was confined between banks, but above and below the water spread over the country. This, in connection with the ruins just discovered, would indicate that the locality was at one time the scene of civilization and the water for irrigation was taken from the Colorado—a civilization probably old when the Pyramids of Egypt were in the course of construction.
It might be noted here that the Mohave people, who have lived along the Colorado River for more than 12,000 years, began practicing floodplain and irrigated agriculture more than 4,000 years ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. This began as following the river's natural flood-cycle patterns, planting in the spring as floodwaters receded. Later, the Mohave began digging ditches and canals by hand to divert water toward cultivated fields upland.
The anecdote about the eyeless fish (What do you call a fish with no eyes? Fsh!) might sound like a strange detour into Fantasyland, but it is not so far-fetched. The endangered Mexican blindcat, for instance, is a small catfish that lacks eyes and pigmentation, appearing pinkish white. They are adapted to living in the darkness of freshwater pools in caves and in groundwater trapped in porous rocks. Only studied in recent years, the Mexican blindcat in known to inhabit caves in Coahuila in northeastern Mexico, Tamaulipas in southern Mexico, and in the Amistad National Recreation Area near Del Rio, Texas. Perhaps this fish or one like it existed in the Carrizo Creek area of San Diego County, occasionally blown to the surface by the eruption of a mud volcano, confused and easy pickings for fishermen.
The story of the Rattlesnake Temple's discovery brings to mind the more well-known tale of the Grand Canyon Ruins, aka Kincaid's Cave. An April 5, 1909 article in the Arizona Gazette recounted the discovery of a massive underground citadel, possibly of ancient Egyptian origin, deep within a cave along the canyon wall. While the article stated that discoverer G.E. Kinkaid and professor S.A. Jordan were exploring the abandoned city on behalf of the Smithsonian, the Institution has never located record of either man and has declared the story a hoax. Furthermore, neither the Gazette nor any other paper printed a follow-up article. Brian Dunning, examining the case on Skeptoid, placed this report in its broader contemporary context, a time when strange archaeological discoveries were a staple of popular fiction, many yearned for the "purity" of ancient cultures, and amazing finds in Egypt were beginning to grab headlines. Additionally, this was an era when tall tales and hoaxes were commonplace in American newspapers, and the majority of readers were in on the joke. "One was supposed to admire their talent of imagination," wrote Don Lago in the Grand Canyon Historical Society's The Ol' Pioneer magazine.
While the Rattlesnake Temple might certainly be a hoax, the story has a few attributes which Kincaid's Cave does not: wider coverage, follow-up articles (with healthy debate) and verifiable principals. The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Herald, San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle all covered the initial reported discovery of the ruins in their July 23, 1893 editions, and the Chronicle continued to provide updates through October. It didn't take long, however, for the Chronicle to turn from breathlessly retelling the adventure of the serpentine ruins to sour skepticism.
DESERT RUINS A MYTH.
Disbelief in the Story of Furguson's Find.
YUMA (A.T.). July 31.—Geronimo Elizaldo, a resident of the Cocopah country for years, has just arrived. He says the story of Furguson, Cline and party relative to finding a lost city west of Yuma is a fake of the first class. No such party has been where the ruins are located. Elizaldo is reliable and has been on the same ground for two months. Hardly one in Yuma believes Furguson's story.
Diligent inquiry fails to find any one who ever saw the party. Those well posted on the section where the ruins are said to be disbelieve the yarn. Bert Hewins has just been over the same ground and pronounces it a grand fake. None of Furguson's party ever returned to Yuma as reported.
And then...
A DESERT CANARD.
No Prehistoric Temple on the Colorado.
Ranchmen and Indians of the Locality Call Ferguson's Story a Hoax.
Special Correspondence of the CHRONICLE.
YUMA (A. T.), August 4.—The tale told so glowingly, and sent over the country broadcast, that Ferguson, Price, Atherton and Cline, who claimed to have fitted out, and to have started from Yuma, had found the ruins of a large temple, and an ancient city; is believed to be a "fake" of the wildest order, by those living here, who are well posted on the section where the ruins are reported to have been found. First of all no one living here knows anything about any such party, although they claim to have spent some time in Yuma, and that two of them returned here after the discoveries were made. So far as known they have never been seen in this section. The Cocopah Indians who guard their country with a jealous eve, and never allow any one to visit it, or to prospect over it without reporting the same at once to the whites, report that no such party has been over the ground, trails or section where Ferguson and party claim to have been.
The parties claim that they went over an unknown country, and by a strange trail, unknown to anyone in these parts. This is an improbability, as every square mile between Yuma and the Cocopah country has been traveled over, times without number, by cattlemen, prospectors, Indians and hunters, who for the past five years have roamed over the country at will. The parties of the ruins claim that they were camped near the Cocopah mountains, and that the ruins were only a three hours' walk from the foot of the range where they made their camp. This would bring the ruins within about two miles of the base of the mountains. Almost with the same breath they state that the temple and ruins were just over the Mexican boundary line in San Diego county. By two measurements lately made it was ascertained that the point where Ferguson and party had their camp was thirty-six miles from the boundary line. William McCord, who knows every Indian along the route the party must have traveled from Yuma to Cocopah, says that no such party has passed over the section. At the time the party claims to have left Yuma on the trip no one could cross the country, for all of the branches of the Padrones, New Pescadero, Carter and the Colorado rivers were impassable for man or beast on account of high water. Bert Hewins, foreman of the cattle ranch of Johnson & Roberts, whose camp is within a short distance of the located mines, says that he has been over every mile there and that no such thing exists anywhere in that section. He also says that no such party of men have been there. Geronimo Elizaldo, a reliable and competent man who lives in that region and knows every foot of it, says that there is no truth in the report, and the Indians, who report every stranger to him, says that no white men have been there for months. Mr. Elizaldo has passed over the very line of travel marked out by the party in their report three times within the past five weeks and he says that the whole thing is a "fake" of the worst kind.
The ruins are reported to be found in a section over which thousands of people have passed since 1849 on their way to California for gold and where the United States Government built a telegraph line. The section has also been surveyed by the engineers of the Mexican Government once and by those of the United States twice. The last line was surveyed only a few weeks ago and the work covered every spot for ten miles on either side of the line. No one, however, has seen these so-called wonderful ruins. All join in pronouncing the whole story a fabrication.
It would have been an utter impossibility for any such party, equipped as they claim to have been, to travel over any portion of this country without being seen by some one. Some are uncharitable enough to think that if the capitalists who started from San Diego to see the ruins with one of the party had not turned back as they did there would have been a repetition of the disaster that befel Fish and the Breedloves, who perished in the same desert only a year ago. No one should undertake the hazardous trip in that section without a guide who knows every foot of it, for if they do, no matter how plentiful the water and feed, they take their lives in their own hands.
The naysayers did little to deter Gordon and Gay, who were apparently convinced enough of the ruins' existence that they once again set out on a perilous journey to find them without the initial prospectors. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle:
FAILED TO FIND DESERT RUINS.
Fruitless Search of Prospectors for a Decayed City.
SAN DIEGO, October 22.—John H. Gay Jr. and H. C. Gordon have returned from a trip to the Laguna mountains on the edge of the Colorado desert. They left here a week ago last Thursday with the object of visiting the ruins discovered some months ago by a prospector, Hank Ferguson, on the desert near the Cocopahs, the location of which Ferguson had minutely described to Gay and Gordon.
Like the former trip the present journey was fruitless. Owing to the great scarcity of water in the creeks and springs the Indian guides refused to cross the desert, insisting that to do so would be fatal. The Indians have been forced by this awful drought far up into the Laguna mountains, and even there the water supply is inadequate to their ordinary requirements.
"It was this state of affairs," said Gordon to the CHRONICLE correspondent, "that prevented our pushing on to the Black range, where the ruins are said to exist. We are confident that they do exist in the location indicated by Ferguson and will make the journey to the Cocopahs as soon as the rains have filled the water holes to examine carefully the surroundings."
Gordon's reference to the "Black range" is puzzling. There are mountains called the Black Range in southwest New Mexico, but surely these are too far east of the area he was referencing. The Cerro Prieto volcano, located near the Cocopahs, was called "Black Butte" by Americans at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. But it is possible that Gordon was using a now obscure local name for peaks in the Colorado Desert, possibly within the Cocopahs themselves.
Gordon and Gay, the affluent San Diego men the pair of discoverers solicited to join their expedition, are well established in California history.
Gordon was a prominent broker in San Diego and co-owner of the Iron Chief and Granada iron mines in San Bernardino County, until selling them in January 1890. By June of 1893, shortly before seeking the desert ruins, Gordon had invested in a scheme to set up a lottery in Ensenada, Baja California, submitting an application in Mexico City. In 1903, Gordon was vice-president of the Yuha Oil Well Company, 20 miles in the desert from Imperial, California. He was noted in the press for discovering enormous oyster shells from California's prehistoric past, the largest 14 inches in length, littering the ground on the Yuha company's property. He bundled up several shells to send to the Smithsonian.
Gay was a colorful character, a mining man who arrived in California from St. Louis in 1885. Perhaps tiring of the search for the desert ruins, in 1894 he traveled to Italy where he studied the horticulture business and the lemon industry, with the notion of starting a citrus business back home. He was back in the news in 1903, entangled in a messy divorce with wife, Lucille, which resulted in her being denied any part of his estate. Gay, described as a well-known San Diego capitalist, embraced the growing popularity of the automobile. In 1904, Gay purchased the Lakeside Inn, near San Diego, where he fenced off the neighboring public park and claimed it was part of his estate. There, he built a 60-foot-wide track surrounding Lindo Lake for automobile and horse racing. In the summer of 1912, Gay, his chauffeur and cook embarked on several camping excursions into the California back country. Gay drove a Franklin Torpedo accompanied by another Franklin car he had modified into a makeshift hauler with cupboards to carry dishes and camping supplies. The County of San Diego County won back the former public park after a series of court battles, causing business at the resort hotel to wither without its primary attractions. Local scuttlebutt suggested that Gay was so embittered over the loss of the lake and park that he placed in his will the demand that the Lakeside Inn be torn down after his death—which it indeed was in 1920.
Ferguson, Price, Atherton and Cline, the old prospectors, are harder to track down in the historical record. The obvious question is, were they the honest discoverers of a world-shaking historical find, or were they scamming two of the richest mn in town, filling their heads with ideas of fortune and glory? Were Gordon and Gay just easy marks, targeted to finance the prospectors' mining efforts and perhaps attract further investors? This would not be an unheard-of circumstance. According to Lago, newspapers during this golden age of mining frequently broadcasted new discoveries, many which were just scams designed to swindle money from investors back east. In this light, it's not hard to fathom that the Serpent Temple might have been a local fraud that managed to grab regional headlines.
There is confusion within the original articles about whether the desert ruins are situated near the Cocopah Mountains (Sierra de Los Cucapah) in Baja California or at the bottom of San Diego County, which at the time extended from the Pacific Ocean to the Colorado River, spanning the entire California-Mexico border. The majority of references appear to indicate the Cocopah range on the Mexican side in Baja California (aka Lower California).
The Sierra de Los Cucapah, located south of Mexicali in northwestern Mexico, are named for the native Cocopah people. Trending north-south and positioned east of the Laguna Salada basin, the Cocopah Mountains are part of the Peninsular Ranges that extend from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Mount Signal (El Centinela) is the northernmost peak of the Cocopah range, starting at the Mexico-U.S. border. The range is composed of granitic rocks that developed from the collision and subduction of the Farallon oceanic plate of the Pacific beneath the North American continental plate during the Mesozoic period.
National Geographic, in 1900, wrote of the Cocopah Mountains: "The slopes and sides of the range appear to be utterly devoid of vegetation. Weathering and wind have broken its long mass into vast fragments of stone. Though occasionally exhibiting delicate tints of color, its general appearance is the sand gray and volcanic brown of desert formations."
A view of the Cocopah Mountains, from a by photo by David P. Barrows, published in 1900.
The Cerro Prieto Volcano sits approximately 10 miles east of the Cocopahs. It was last active between 100,000 to 10,000 years ago, with tales of its fiery rage preserved in Cocopah lore as "a monster that covered the land with hot rocks, which grew through the soil and emitted fire tongues."
A shallow magma body beneath the ground generates a powerful flow of geothermal heat throughout the area. The Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station, the largest complex of geothermal power stations in the world, has been constructed to take advantage of this abundant source of natural energy.
Earthquakes have rocked the Cerro Prieto Fault throughout the centuries, fissuring the earth and forming mud volcano cones reported to reach 10 feet in height as the underground belches up smoke, boiling water and hot dirt. Major earthquakes shook the Cerro Prieto region in 1891 and 1892. The Feb. 23, 1892 quake was severe enough to be felt strongly from San Quintin to Los Angeles, and as far away as Santa Barbara, Visalia and Needles. That night, a group of miners camped in the lower Laguna Mountains witnessed black smoke emanating from what appeared to be the Cocopah region about 40 miles away. Mud volcanoes formed once again around the Cocopahs, furiously belching smoke for at least a month. These mud volcanoes are a documented feature of the Cocopah Valley as well as northward in California, just south of the Salton Sea. Another earthquake on Dec. 31, 1934 caused huge fissures to open in the proximity of the Cerro Prieto Fault. If the ruins existed, could they have been reburied or destroyed in a later earthquake?
Mud Volcanoes in the Colorado Desert, part of the greater Sonoran Desert. 1857.
This period of seismic activity immediately predating the supposed discovery of the Rattlesnake Temple in 1893 offers important historical context to the overall story. For native residents and newly arrived explorers alike, the primal geological forces within the northern Baja California peninsula were both wondrous and fearsome. While the Cocopah people of the 19th and early 20th centuries had resided near the mud volcanoes for generations and understood (as Europeans would discover) the health benefits of bathing in pools of the hot mud, they also referred to the place as "crust of hell" and "home of the devil." The San Francisco Chronicle's coverage of the desert ruins states plainly that, "The walls of the once great building had been taken down or perhaps had been shaken to the ground by the tremendous earthquakes that even to this day visit the desert region, terrifying the Indians and reviving the mud volcanoes." Did a mighty earthquake shake free the long-buried ruins of a forgotten archaeological wonder, its walls cracked and crumbled from centuries of seismic rumbling? Or, at the very least, did it provide impetus for an imaginative tale?
There is one civilization glaringly unmentioned in the articles about the desert ruins, whose architecture bore some resemblance to what was described—the Aztecs. Granted, Baja California is more than 2,000 kilometers northwest as the crow flies from the base of Aztec culture as it existed between the 14th and 16th centuries in central Mexico. However, it is interesting to note the parallels. Pyramids, temples and palaces in the Aztec Empire's capital city of Tenochtitlan (today the site of Mexico City) were generally made of stone. Columns were cylindrical or square, cut from a single block and ornamented with bas-reliefs. Serpents, including rattlesnakes, were a common feature in Aztec sculpture and architecture. Mesoamerican societies revered the reptile for its ability to swim through water, burrow through the earth and perch in trees, making it able to transcend all earthly realms. The Aztecs associated snakes with rebirth and fertility due to their ability to molt, and their undulation was a symbol for the flow of life-giving blood and rain. This spiritual perception of the snake elevated its religious importance. Prominent deities displaying serpentine qualities included Quetzalcoatl ("Feathered Serpent"), Chicomecōātl ("Seven Serpent"), Cōālīcue ("Snakes-Her-Skirt"), and Huītzilōpōchtli, who wielded Xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent, as a weapon. The Temple of Ehécatl-Quetzalcoatl in Tenochtitlan was a circular building which had an entrance resembling the mouth of a serpent with fangs; the Spanish conquistadors were said to dread crossing its threshold. The Great Temple in Tenochtitlan is adorned with massive, undulating serpents around the corners of its stairway, each snake possessing a distinctive face. The pyramid in the Aztec city of Tenayuca is ornamented with the Wall of Serpents, rows of rattlesnakes that line three sides of its base; coiled snakes are positioned on the north and south sides of the pyramid at ground level. The snakes at the pyramid are associated with sun worship. Tenochtitlan was interlaced with canals, used for transportation, and aqueducts that transported fresh drinking water into the city.
This Colorado Desert in Lower California is not without its known archaeological treasures, however. Along a narrow, mostly limestone arroyo at the north end of the Cocopahs, a traveler can find echoes of the distant past. Native inhabitants carved petroglyphs into the rock, designs such as concentric circles, triangles, zigzags and digitate anthropomorphs (human figures with fingers and toes represented). Near the mouth of the arroyo remain signs of many different pre-Hispanic cultures. Meanwhile, the crumbling adobe and stone walls of several Spanish missions that were operated by the Franciscan and Dominican orders of the Catholic Church in the 18th and 19th centuries dot the desert across northern Baja California.
It is fun to ponder the possibility that those old prospectors weren't spinning yarns about their desert find and showing off fraudulent shards of pottery. What if, contrary to established historical understanding, an Egyptian-style temple emerged in the Sonoran sands during some unknown epoch of pre-history, built by hands unknown? Could it have been a still-lost Aztec outpost? Perhaps hiding in the dry stretches of Baja California under the gaze of the Cocopah Mountains rest giant granite rattlesnakes, eyes vacantly watching many suns rise and fall as they await their rediscovery.
SOURCES:
Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel. "Aztec Art & Architecture." FAMSI (Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.), 18 Jan. 2007, http://www.famsi.org/research/aguilar/Aztec_Art_Architecture.pdf. Accessed 12 Nov. 2023.
Alvarez de Williams, Anita. "Five Rock Art Sites in Baja California South of the 29th Parallel." Pacific Coast Archaeological Society, vol. 9, no. 4, 1973, pp. 37-46.
"Amid Desert Sands." San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Jul. 1893, p. 13.
Atwood, Roger. "Under Mexico City: Temple of Quetzalcoatl," Archaeology, Jul./Aug. 2014, https://www.archaeology.org/issues/...ico-city-aztec-temple-of-ehecatl-quetzalcoatl. Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
Biart, Lucien. The Aztecs: Their History, Manners and Customs. Translated by J. L. Garner, Chicago, 1887.
"A Buried City." Los Angeles Sunday Times, 23 Jul. 1893, p. 2.
"Aztec Architecture." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_architecture. Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
"Aztecs." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztecs.Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
Barrows, David P. "The Colorado Desert." National Geographic Magazine, Sept. 1900, pp. 337-351.
“Cerro Prieto.” Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History Global Volcanism Program, https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=341000. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“Cerro Prieto.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Prieto. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“Cerro Prieto Fault.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Prieto_Fault. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Station.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Prieto_Geothermal_Power_Station. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"A City in the Desert." Herald [Los Angeles], 23 Jul. 1893, p. 1.
"Colorado River Basin Ten Tribes Partnership Tribal Water Study." Bureau of Reclamation, 2018, https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crbstudy/tws/finalreport.html. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"A Desert Canard." San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Aug. 1893, p. 2.
"Desert Ruins a Myth." San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Aug. 1893, p. 3.
Dunning, Brian. "Exploring Kincaid's Cave." Skeptoid, 31 Jan. 2017, https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4556. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"El Centinela (Baja California)." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Centinela_(Baja_California). Accessed 5 Nov. 2023.
"Failed to Find Desert Ruins." San Francisco Chronicle, 23 Oct. 1893, p. 2.
Glenn, C.R. "Mexican Blindcat." Earth's Endangered Creatures, 2006, http://www.earthsendangered.com/profile.asp?gr=F&view=&ID=&sp=35. Accessed 5 Nov. 2023.
Hendrickson, Dean A., Jean K. Krejca and Juan Manuel Rodríguez Martinez. "Mexican Blindcats Genus Prietella (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae): An Overview of Recent Explorations." Environmental Biology of Fishes, no. 62, 2001, pp. 315-337, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1011808805094. Accessed 5 Nov. 2023.
"Huītzilōpōchtli." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huītzilōpōchtli. Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
"Italian Lemon Culture." San Francisco Chronicle, 26 Dec. 1894, p. 11.
Kier, David. "The Spanish Missions of Baja California, Part 2: The Franciscan and Dominican Missions 1769-1849." Viva Baja, https://vivabaja.com/missions2/. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
Lago, Don. "'Looks Like a Mulhatton Story': The Origins of the Grand Canyon Egyptian Cave Myth." Ol' Pioneer, vol. 20, no. 2, 2009, pp. 3-11.
Lancaster, Jeremy. "Cuyamaca Rancho State Park." Geological Gems of California State Parks, Geogem Note 49. California Geological Survey, Department of Conservation, 2015, https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/734/files/GeoGem Note 49 Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.pdf. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"Legends of Lakeside." Lakeside Historical Society, 1985.
Lynch, Dave. "Cerro Prieto Volcano." Universities Space Research Association, 20 Feb. 2009, https://epod.usra.edu/blog/2009/02/cerro-prieto-volcano.html. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"A Mystery of the Desert." Examiner [San Francisco], 23 Jul. 1893, p. 3.
"A New Lottery Scheme." Los Angeles Times, 1 Jun. 1893, p. 4.
"The Oil Industry." Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 1902, p. 11.
“Peninsular Ranges.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_Ranges. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"Personal Notes." San Francisco Chronicle, 17 May 1885, p. 5.
"A Reported Sale." Los Angeles Daily Herald, 23 Jan. 1890, p. 6.
Rhodes, Jesse. “175 Years of the Smithsonian’s Most Untrue Stories.” Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Aug. 2009, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smit...rban-legends-about-the-smithsonian-135407460/. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
“San Diego County, California.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_County,_California. Accessed 30 Oct. 2023.
"Serpents in Aztec Art." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpents_in_Aztec_Art. Accessed 11 Nov. 2023.
“Sierra de Los Cucapah.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_de_Los_Cucapah. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
Strand, Carl L. "Mud Volcanoes, Faults and Earthquakes of the Colorado Delta Before the Twentieth Century." Journal of San Diego History, vol. 27, no. 1, 1981. https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1981/january/mud/. Accessed 29 Oct. 2023.
"Wife Gets Nothing in Gay Divorce Suit." San Francisco Chronicle, 30 Oct. 1903, p. 3.
"Will Tour in Two Franklins." San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Jun. 1912, p. 9.
"Wonders of the Desert." Salinas Daily Index (The Californian) [Salinas CA], 29 Jan. 1903, p. 2.
Thank you 