The Old Palace has been identified with the times of the Inquisition; with the zealous work of Friar Marcos de Nizza, Friar Augustino Ruiz, and with Coronado and his band of warriors. On the Plaza, Juan de Oñate unfurled the banner of Spain; here de Vargas gave thanks for his victory, and here to-day is a simple monumental memorial of General Kearny placed there by the Daughters of the Revolution. The revered memory of Archbishop Lamy is closely associated with the place. In the Old Palace is a musée where a great array of unique curios is gathered; pictures of saints rudely painted on skins; crucifixes rudely carved in wood or moulded in native silver; gods carved in stone, and primitive domestic utensils.
There is a very charming and cultivated society in Santa Fé of the small circle of American residents,--a circle that is of late rapidly increasing. The country around is rich in gems,--the turquoise, opal, onyx, garnet, and bloodstone being found in liberal deposits; and in the town is a manufactory of Mexican filigree work that employs the natives only who are very skilful in this delicate art. The Plaza is a curiously fascinating place to saunter around, and the visitor finds himself loitering and lingering as he is wont to loiter and linger on the old Ponte Vecchio in Florence. The nomenclature of Santa Fé is sufficiently foreign to enable one to fancy himself in Andalusia, as such names as Padilla, Quintona, Lopez, Gutierrez, Vaca, and others recur.
The Rosario Chapel, built by Señor Diego de Vargas, stands on a height overlooking Santa Fé a mile distant from the Plaza and the Old Palace. Near it is now located the Ramona School for the children of the Apaches. The legend of the founding of San Rosario is still on the air. When, in 1692, Señor de Vargas, marching from the south with his band of two hundred men, gazed upon the city from which, in 1680, his compatriots had been so tragically driven, he prostrated himself on the ground and implored in prayer the protection and aid of "Our Lady of the Rosary," and recorded his purpose that, would she but lead him on to victory, he would build, on the very site where he was kneeling, a chapel to her name. Arising, he led his band on to assault, and after a tragic struggle of eleven hours' duration he was victorious. Did the "Lady of the Rosary" shield and strengthen him? Who shall venture to deny it?