It seems incredible that this citadel, less than three days’ journey from Cuzco, should have remained so long undescribed by travelers and comparatively unknown even to the Peruvians themselves.  If the conquistadores ever saw this wonderful place, some reference to it surely would have been made; yet nothing can be found which clearly refers to the ruins of Machu Picchu.  Just when it was first seen by a Spanish-speaking person is uncertain.  When the Count de Sartiges was at Huadquina in 1834 he was looking for ruins; yet, although so near, he heard of none here.  From a crude scrawl on the walls of one of the finest buildings, we learned that the ruins were visited in 1902 by Lizarraga, lessee of the lands immediately below the bridge of San Miguel.  This is the earliest local record.  Yet some one must have visited Machu Picchu long before that; because in 1875, as has been said, the French explorer Charles Wiener heard in Ollantaytambo of there being ruins at “Huaina-Picchu or Matcho-Picchu.”  He tried to find them.  That he failed was due to there being no road through the canyon of Torontoy and the necessity of making a wide detour through the pass of Panticalla and the Lucumayo Valley, a route which brought him to the Urubamba River at the bridge of Chuquichaca, twenty-five miles below Machu Picchu.

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Figure

Detail of Exterior of Temple of the Three Windows, Machu Picchu
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Figure

Detail of Principal Temple Machu Picchu
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It was not until 1890 that the Peruvian Government, recognizing the needs of the enterprising planters who were opening up the lower valley of the Urubamba, decided to construct a mule trail along the banks of the river through the grand canyon to enable the much-desired coca and aguardiente to be shipped from Huadquina, Maranura, and Santa Ann to Cuzco more quickly and cheaply than formerly.  This road avoids the necessity of carrying the precious cargoes over the dangerous snowy passes of Mt.  Veronica and Mt.  Salcantay, so vividly described by Raimondi, de Sartiges, and others.  The road, however, was very expensive, took years to build, and still requires frequent repair.  In fact, even to-day travel over it is often suspended for several days or weeks at a time, following some tremendous avalanche.  Yet it was this new road which had led Melchor Arteaga to build his hut near the arable land at Mandor Pampa, where he could raise food for his family and offer rough shelter to passing travelers.  It was this new road which brought Richarte, Alvarez, and their enterprising friends into this little-known region, gave them the opportunity of occupying the ancient terraces of Machu Picchu, which had lain fallow for centuries, encouraged them to keep open a passable trail over the precipices, and made it feasible for us to reach the ruins.  It was this new road which offered us in 1911 a virgin field between Ollantaytambo and Huadquina and enabled us to learn that the Incas, or their predecessors, had once lived here in the remote fastnesses of the Andes, and had left stone witnesses of the magnificence and beauty of their ancient civilization, more interesting and extensive than any which have been found since the days of the Spanish Conquest of Peru.