Hunt Co., TX - Aline & Bill Hudson Discover Artifacts in Mexico
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Former Celeste Resident Discover Artifacts in Mexico
    A former resident of Celeste, Aline Hudson Manning and her husband, Bill
Manning, of Los Lumas, New Mexico, in a casual hunt for Indian relics on a
Saturday afternoon jaunt last April discovered what was reported to be one of
the largest collection of artifacts ever found in one place and at one time.
    The story of the find is reported in the November-December 1966 edition of
the magazine, "New Mexico" as follows:
    "The Manning decided to pay a visit to an old Indian site about seventeen
miles south of Deming, New Mexico.  They had been there about ten times and
found ten arrowheads and a pottery bowl."
    The story continued, "While looking around, Aline suddenly saw a uniformly
shaped stone showing two or three inches above the sand.  She dug around it and
found it to be fairly large.  She called to her husband and speculated that
with a shovel a METATE might be found there."
    "That stone was a marker.  After removing it, Bill never stopped digging
until he had taken approximate seventy-five pieces weighing a total of eight
hundred pounds from a space the size of a four foot cube," the magazine story
related.  "Not being professionally qualified to judge their discovery they
called in a student of artifacts in that region.  He told them, 'I feel sure
this collection is from the Casa Grande culture dating to 1200 AD.  I have
never seen this many items that were found at the same time and place.' "
    "There were thirteen metates in perfect condition, weighing from twenty-
seven to fifty-nine pounds each and forty-five manos, loaf-shaped and of
various stones, and many smaller objects."
    The story is accompanied by a picture of the find.
    Mrs. Manning, a graduate of Celeste High School, keeps in touch with her
former English teacher, Mrs. W. R. Roach and sent to Mrs. Roach the Christmas
edition of the publication, "New Mexico."
(December 30, 1966, The Celeste Courier)