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Zuni
Sacred Spring
I have been fascinated by this
place ever since I first saw this picture in Whipple's
Report. The expedition's camp 70 was just east of the
modern Zuni community of Black Rock and this spring was
nearby. I have collected copies of old maps of the Zuni
Reservation and visited the reservation but have been unable to
determine its exact location. I've been told that it was buried under the Black
Rock Dam in about 1910 but haven't been able to verify
that. The spring was one of the most important sites in the Zuni religion so it's hard
for me to believe they allowed
it to be buried. Here are some of the diary accounts of the
spring:
"On journeys such as ours it is customary
that at every new camping-place the environs should be
thoroughly investigated, and search made for anything
remarkable that may exist there, and accordingly this was done
at Zuni. We had scarcely arrived before most of us were
rambling about all over the neighborhood, and we soon
discovered a spring that formed a pool, twenty-five feet in
diameter. The pool received its tribute from veins lying
concealed, and sent its superfluous water through a little
hidden runnel to the nearest brook, and through this to the
Zuni river. The tiny lake had been carefully inclosed by the
Indians with a wall, probably to prevent the incursions of
cattle. The cultivated fields that surround the spring
appeared to be exclusively watered from it—although there
was a rivulet so near; for numerous urns and vessels that had
served for drawing and carrying water stood ranged at the top
of the wall. Some of our party, attracted by the peculiar form
of these vessels wished to take some of the lighter ones with
us; but the Indians would not allow even the order in which
they stood to be disturbed, so that the idea occurred to us
that the spring was in some way venerated by the Zuni".
-Balduin Mollhausen, 1853
"A few hundred yards above a singular
fountain was discovered: it was from ten to twelve feet in
diameter and of a greater depth than we had the means of
measuring. Enclosing it was an adobe wall about four feet
high, upon the top of which were ranged a row of inverted
jars; that, glistening in the sunlight, first attracted our
attention some half a mile distant. Many of them were white,
well proportioned, and of elegant forms. Upon their inner and
outward surfaces they were curiously painted to represent
frogs, tadpoles, tortoises, butterflies, and rattlesnakes. All
were brittle from age; some being divested of the plaster
ornaments which they had possessed, and others covered with a
coating of lime that nearly concealed the painting. The artist
made a sketch of the place, and some of the vases were taken
to be preserved as specimens". -A.W. Whipple,
November 20, 1853
"... An example of the homage paid by the
red race to genii of fountains is furnished in the sacred
spring of the Zunis, represented on plate 37. This basin of
fine water is located near the table-land on a branch of the
river Zuni, between the ruins of Ojo Pescado and the present
pueblo of Zuni. It is between seven and eight feet in diameter
and around it a low circular wall, from fifteen to twenty feet
across, has been raised. The spring is cleared out every year,
when an offering is made to the spirit of the font, of one or
more water-pots, which are placed on the wall. A dozen or more
whole ones were observed, while fragments abounded. Some of
the remaining vases reputed to have been offered centuries ago
by the pueblo caciques". -Whipple's Indian Report
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