Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1879-12-25
THE ECLrFF DwELLERs.
A Race Lost TO Memory Centu.
ries Ago.


American Museum of Natural History
are many casts of curious 'cave houses"
or cliff dwellings, discovered by the
HAYDEN Geological survey. These struc-
lures are of such evident antiquity that |
a new epoch is formed which carries
the existence of man in this country to !
so remote period that the Mound
Builder" of whom we know compara-
lively nothing appears comparatively |
modern. Only these stony ruins remain
to tell the story of a once powerful and
semi-cultivated people. The first dis
coveries of these houses were made by
Mr.. A. ID. Wilson, of the Hayden sur
yey, and later special survey was de-
tailed under Mr.. w. Ii. Jackson, who re-
turned with the authentic reports. Ac-
cording to Mr.. IngersOll most of the ru-
ins are found arOnnd the edge of the
desert track formed by the triangulatiOu
of the rivers Rio Mancos, La Plata and
Rio San Juan. The San Juan and La
Plata have a width Of bottom land be-
tween their banks, but the Rio Nance
runs like brooklet along its narrow
path, shut in by walls thousands of feet
high. On the terraces of the more open
canons are multitudes of picturesque
ruins, in the bottom lands are the re-
mains of towns in the wilder canons the
houses are perched upon the face of the
chasm. In an encampment one thousand
| feet above the valley of the Rio MancOs
are single houses, in groups of two or
three mud villages, according to the
width of the shelf which they occupy.
They are so high that the naked eye can
distinguish them merely as specks.
There is no access to them from above
on account of the rocks that project
overhead, and no present way of reach
ing them from below, although doubling
paths and footholes in the rocks show
where the way was trodden of old by hu-
Imam feet. If the reader will imagine
the Palisades three times higher than
they are, with midway shelves between
the bottom and and top eaten by the
weather, on which are erected stone
huts, to and from which the owners
found their way by paths, scarcely foot
wide, he will have some idea of these
ancient abodes, whose counterparts in
miniature can now be seen at the muse
lum.
The cliffs, in some parts are limestone,
but most frequently sandstone, with al
tsrnating strata of shales of clay. The
softer layers are followed out, leaving
caves, whose solid stone serve as the
floors and roofs of the cliff dwellings,. A
few houses have two stories, and one
shows four stories. but generally they
; are not higher than mans head. Di-
vision walls are built from the rear OF
the opening and running outward to the
front of the cave, which is so neatly
walled by masonry of the prevailing
stone that the artificial work is scarcely
noticeable by casual observer. Upon
the SUBMITS of the loftier battlements
are placed at irregular intervals round
stone towers. The curve of the oborig.
inal masonry is perfect As to the hah.
its of these dwellers we know almost
nothing. Near the ruin called Hoven.
sweep castle (the castle of the deserted
Valley no bones or signs of graves have
been found; only heaps of ashes are left
mingled with charred wood, which tel
the story of cremation, and probably
fire-worship. 1t is assumed that the
descendants of these people, from the
fact their hutS to-day resemble the an,
cient cave houses. The absence of i'm
plements of warfare. either completed
or unfinished, give rise to the opinion thai
they were peaceful race. Near some
of the cities thousands of flint arrow,
heads were found sticking in the cliff
all pointing towards the city showing
that some strong invader had attacked
them.
According to Mr.. Jackson the most re
markable remains are those found il
J New Mexico, and some of the buildings
~, Ia rod fofa
cept the capitol. One of these (shOwI
in the cast by Hayden) the pueblo de
Arroyo" has wings 130 feet long, and
the western wall of the court is 26S rect
Facing the center of the court are three
stories in height. Another, the "PueblC
Chettro Kettle" is 440 feet long and 25C
feet wide, and presents the remains OF
four stories; the logs forming the sec
ond floor extend through the walls dis.
tance of six feet, and probably at one
time supported balcony on the shady
side of the house. Mr.. Jackson estI-
mates that the wall running round three
sides of the building, 925 feet in length
and 40 feet in height, there were more
than 100000 pieces of stone for the out
er surface of the outer wall alone. This
surface multiplied by the stones of the
opposite surface, and also by the stones
, of the interior and transverse lines OF
, masonry would give total of SO,0O0,00C
pieces in $4,000 cubic feet of wall
These millions of pieces had to be quar-
ried and put into position; the timbers
were brought from great distance
and considering the vastness of the
work and the amount of labor and time
that must have been expended these
buildings may well be compared will
the most famous works of what is sc
wrongly called the old world.
; Among the caves of tie Rio de Chel
ley were found some of the most beau
tifully tinted arrow-heads ever discover.
ed; also, numbers of large earthen jars
of oval design. In large three story
house were found many implements OF
domestic use representing the stone age
Among them were large grinstones and
/ hammers. The walls, says Mr.. Inger
soil, were plastered with cement OF
stucco-like finish. That it was spread
2 on the walls by human hands is evident
from the marks of the pores of the Skin
to be found on the surface. Occasional
ly the whole imprint of the hand has
been left; one woman's slender fingers
are thus preserved for the people of the
nineteenth century. As to the date Of
these erectiOns but little can be deter
mined at present. The Moqui towns
are now in precisely the same state Of
preservation as they were when desert
p bed by the invading Spaniards, nearly
four hundred years ago. Assuming thu
MOquis to be lineal descendants of tn,
cliff dwellers, how vast time the old ca
L. 1 L
p when Moquis have no knowledge of the
grand homes of their ancestorsl Re
garding the age of the Pueblos, they
S Ware said hv COrnnadn st fha timo ~