Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1878-11-28
The Western CIf.Dwellers,

or late, blown over the plains, come sto-
ries OF strange newly discovered cities OF
the far southwest; picturesque piles OF
masonry, OF an age unknown to tradition
| These ruins mark an era among antiQusri.
ans. The mysterious mound-bulders fade
into comparative insignihcance before the
| grander and more ancient cliff-dwelers.
| whose castles lift their towers amid the
sands Of Arizona and crown the terraced
slopes Of the Rio Mancos and the Hoven-
weep.
A ruin, accidentally discovered by A.
D. Wilson Of the Hayden Survey several
years ago, while he was pursuing his la
bors as chief of the typographical crops in
Southern Colorado, Is described to me by
MIR. Wilson as a stone building, about the
size of the Patent Office. II stood upon
the bank of the Animas, In the San Juan
country, and contained perhaps five hum
dred rooms. The roof and portions OF the
walls had fallen, but the part standing in
dicatec height of four stories. A number
OF the rooms we're fairly presei ved had
small loop-hole windows. but no outer
doors. The building had doubtless been
entered originally by means OF ladders
resting on inches. and drawn in after the
occupants. The floors were of cedar each
! log As large around as a mans head.
the spaces illed ineatly by smaller poles
aud twIgs. covered by Is carpet OF cedar.
bark. The ends OF the timber were bruised
and irayed. as il severed by dull instru-
meDt; 10 the vicinity were stone hatchets,
and saws made OF sand stone Siyers about
two feet long. worn TO a smooth edge A
few hundred yards from the mammoth
building was second large house in ru-
ins, and between the two stronghods
rows OF small dwellings, built Of cobbie-
stones laid in adobe. and arranged along
streets. after the style OF the village of to-
day. The smaller houses were In more
advanced state OF ruin. on account OF the
round stones being more readily disinte-
grated by the elements than the heavy ma
sonry. The streets and houses of this de
serted town are overgrown by juniper and
pinOn,- the latter dwarf wide-spreading
pine which bears beneath the scales of its
cones delicious and nutritious nuts. From
the size OF the dead. as well as the living
trees. and from their position on the heaps
OF crumblin. stone, Mr.. Wilson concludes
that a great period OF time has elapsed
siEce the buildings fell. How many hun
dred years they stood after desertion be-
fore yieldihg To the inroads of time cannot
be certaioly known.
The presence OF sound wood in the
houses does not let aside their antiquity.
In the dry, pure mir of Southern Colorado,
wool fairly protected will last for centuI-
les. In Asia cedar-wood has been kept a
thousand years, and in Egypt cedar is
known To have been in perfect preserva-
ton two thousand years after 1t left the
ioIrct. iur truaI> tuI uuSuuuG tuC sD..'
tories OF the southwest do not rot. even in
the groves. They die, and stand erect,
solid and sapless. The winds aud whlring
sands carve the dead trees into forms Of
fantastic beauty, dtill holes through the
trunks, aud play at hide-and-go-seek in the
perforated limbs until, after ages OF resist
ance they literally blow away in atoms Of
fine, clean dust.
On the Rio San Juan, about twenty five
miles distant from the city OF the Animas,
Mr. Wilson discovered the following eve
ming a similar pile, looming soemnly in
the twilight near their camping place.
The scene as described was weird in the
extreme. As the moon arose, the shad-
Ows of the phantom buildings were thrown
darkly across the silvery plain. The blaze
of camI-hres, the tiny tents. the negro
cook, the men in buckskin hunting garb,
aud the pcketed mules, made a strange
picture ofthe summers night, with back
ground OF mooult desert and crumbling
ruins. on whose ramparts lowered dead,
gauht cedarS, iIiting their bleached skeie-
tons like sheetcd ghosts within the silent
watch-owers ef the murky past. From an
illustrated article IN Scribner for December.