The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-06-28
COLORADO WONDERS.
Relics Of Past CenturieH-The Romantic
Ruins 0f the Forgotten People
Once InhabiGiHE south



At places where trains ran high up,
near the more precipitous portion of the
bluff remnants were found of stone
walls, iDclOsing spaces of from five to
twelve feet in length in the Cave-like
crevices running along the seems of the
rocks. They were pretty well demolished
the stones undressed and imbedded in
mud and mortar. In many places little
inches or crevices in rock had been
walled up in cupboard like places of
about the size of a bushel basket. Some
miles still deeper into the canon brought
about fresh and even more startling dis
closures, and one little house in particu-
lar, at the extremity of a lodge fully
eight hundred, it not more, feet from
the base of the bluff, caused the
greatest amazement at the temeTitY of
the builders. The discovery of this one,
so far above anything heretofore seen,
Immediately inspired an ambition to
scale the height and explore it. The first
fifty feet of the ascent were over long,
steep slope Of debris oveTgrOwn with
cedar; then came alternate perp5ndicu-
lars and slopes. Directly below the
house was a nearly perpendicular ascent
of fully one hundred feet, which,
for a while, was a puzzle, but finally
it was surmOunted by finding cracks
and crevices into which fingers and
| toes could be inserted. From this little
| lodges were occasionally found, and,
| by stepping shoulder above shoulder
and grasping tufts of brushes, these
| lodges, one after the other, were sur
mounted, and, in time, slope, smooth
and steep, was reached. In this slope
! there had been cut a series Of steps, now
weathered away into series of undulat-
ing hummocks, by which it was easy to
ascend, and without them almost an ut
ter impossibiIity. The perpendiculars
of the house were found to Re well re-
garded and the angles carefully squared.
| About the corners and windows cOnsid-
| siderable care and judgment were evident
| in the overlapping of the joints 50 that
! all were firmly held together. All the
int rstices between the stones were nicely
| clinked in with small chips of the same
material. Most peculiar, however, in
! the dressing of the walls of the interior,
was the thin layer of firm adobe cement
ColOred to a deep maroon red, with din
gy white band, eight inches lii breadth,
running around floor, sides and ceiling
Ruins of half dozen other houses were
| found on lower lodges, some crushed by
the Overhanging wall falling upon them
and others had lost their IOOthOld anC
tumbled down the precipice. Striking
the canon of the St Elmo, previous CX
ploratiOns having been in the MancOs
the ruins of a great massive structure o
some kind were found, its exterior dimen
sions being about one hundred fee
square, portion only of the. wall upOl
the noTtht m face remaining in its Origi
nal position The debris of the ruiz
formed a mOnstrOus mound from twelvt
to twenty feet in height, Overgrown will
brush, but showing clearly its rectangu
lar form, adjusted approximately to thu
four points of the compass. Inside thi
structure was circle about sixty feet il
diameter, deeply depressed in tho center
The space between the walls and the cir
Gle appeared to have been filled in solidl,
! with a sort of rubble masonry, and tn
! stones of the outer wall were found t.
be dressed to uniform size and finish
Another point of remarkable interes
was Battle rock, with its little nests 0
, stone, perched forty feet from the ground
! and its larger buildings, doubtless in
! tended for barracks, set in the jugge'
juts Ofthe mOnsterrock and standing still
though centuries have passed since man
; hand placed the stones in their beds o
cement. Rocky Mo,mtaineer