Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1877-05-23
LYON COUNTY TIMES
A Prehistoric City.

LAKE CITY, Col, May 10.-Prof
Hayden has given southwestern Col
.orado new interest by discovering
and describing the ancient ruins in
that section, and in southeastern
Utah. The stories told about these
ruins are very interesting. The fer
tile valley of the Animas was densely
inhabited and highly cultivated By
an enlightened race of people Gen.
turtles ago. The ruins Of the houses,
corrals, towns, Notifications, bitches,
potteryware, drawings, Lon-lnterpre-
table writings, ETC., show that many
arts were cultivated by these prehis-
toric people which are now entirely
lost. Their houses were bnilt OF most
every kind of stone, from small
boulders to the finest sandstone.
The finest Of these ruins, and the
nearest perfect, are situated about
thirty-five miles below Animas City,
in a large valley fifteen miles long by
seven wide, on the west side OF the
river. This valley has been covered
with buildings of every size, the two
largest being 800 by 5000 feet, and
about 800 feet apart. They are built
of small blocks of sandstone, laid in
adobe mud, the outside [ walls being
tour feet, and the inside walls from a
foot and halt to three feet thick. In
the lower story are found port holes
q foot square. There are rooms now
left and walls for about tour stories
high are still standing.
About the second story on the west
side, there was once a balcony along
the length of the building. No signs
of door are visible in the outer walls
and the ingress must have been from
the top, in the inside being passages
from room to room. Most of them
are small, from 8x10 to 12x14
feet, the doors being 2x4 feet. The
arches over the doors and PORTFOLIOS
are made of small cedar poles two
inches vide, placed across, on which
the masonry is placed. The sleepers
supporting the floors are OF cedar,
about eight inches thick, and from
30 to so feet long. and about three
feet apart. A layer of small round
poles was then placed across the
sleepers, then layer OF thinly split
cedar sticks, then about three inches
of earth, then layer of thinly split
cedar sticks, then about three inches
of earth, then layer of cedar bark,
then another layer of dirt, then car
pet of some kind OF coarse grass.
The rooms that have been protected
from exposure are whitewashed, and
the walls are ornamented with draw
ings aud writings. In one of these
rooms the impression of hand dip
ped in whitewash, on joist, is rs
plain as if it had been done only
yesterday. In another room there
are drawings Of tarantulas, cent?
pedes, horses and men.
In some of the rooms have been
found human bones, bones OF sheep,
corn cobs, goods, raw hides, and all
colors and varieties OF potteryware
These two large buildings are exactly
the same in every respect. Portions
of the building plainly show that
they were destroyed by fire, the tim
bers being burned off and the roofs
caved in, leaving the lower rooms en-
tirely protected. The rock that these
buildings were built of must have
been brought long way, as nothing
to compare with it can be found with
in radius of twenty miles. All the
timber used is cedar, and has been
brought at least Twenty-Five miles.
Old roads and bitches are to be seen
in every direction.
The Navajo Indians say, in regard
to these ruins, that their forefathers
came there five old mems ages age
$500 years., and that these ruins were
, here, and the same then as now, and
there is no record whatever OF their
origin.