There was suitable native stone to be had near Santa Fe. Ochreous limestone for the exterior could be quarried in the Arroyo Sais, and the light volcanic stone for the vaults in the Cerro Mogino within a few miles of the city; and for the interior walls, a heavy granite could be taken from the low hills in the country where the bishop’s land lay seventeen miles away on the Santa Fe Trail [the site of the present railroad junction of Lamy, New Mexico]. Preliminary donations were solicited, and the response, though modest, was enough to encourage Lamy to proceed with his plans. The New Mexican
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