The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1879-12-04
THE CLIFF JEWELLERS.
America the Old World in Reality
A Civilization of Which Even
the Memory was Lost
Centuries Ago.

epoch Is formed, which carries the
existence of man in this country to
so remote a period that the Mound
Builder" of whom we know com.
paratively nothing, appears com
,paratively modern. Only these
stony ruins remain to tell the story
of a once powerful and semi cult
waited people. The first discoveries
of these houses were made by Mr..
A. d. Wilson, of the Hayden sur
vey, and later a special survey were
detailed under Mr.. w. II. jackson,
who returned with the first auJhen
tic reports According to Mr.. In
gersol, NEST of the ruins are found
around the edge of the desert tract
formed by the triangulation of the
rivers Rio Mancos, La Plata and
Rio San Juan. The San Juan and
La Plata have a width Of bottom
land between their banks, but the
Rio Mancos runs like a brooklet
along it's narrow part, shut in by
walls thousands of feet high. On
The terraces of the more open can
yons are multitudes of picturesque
ruins; in the bottom lands are the
remains of towns; in the wilder can
yons the houses are perched upon
the face of the chasm. In an en-
campment 1000 feet above the val
ley of the Rio Moncos are single
houses in groups Of two and three
and 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 reaching them from
below, although doubling paths and
footholds in the rocks show where
the way was trodden of old by hh
man feet. If the reader will mag
inc the Palisades three times higher
than they are, with midway shelves
between the top and the bottom
eaten out by the weather, on which
are erected stone huts. to and from
which the owners found their way
by paths scarcely a foot wide, he
will have some idea of these ancient
abOdes, whose counterparts in min
iature can now be seen at the mu-
scum.
The cliffs in some parts are lime
stone, but most frequently sand
stone, with alternating strata of
shales and clay The softer layers
are followed out, leaving caves
whose solid stone lodges 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 q mans head. Division walls
are built from the rear of the open
ing and running outward to the
front of the cave, which is so neatly
walled by masonry Of the prevail
ing stone that the artificial work is
scarcely noticeable by a casual oh
server. Upon the SUBMITS of the
loftier battlements are placed, at ir-
regular intervals, round stone tow
ers. The curve of the aboriginal
masonry is perfect. AS to the hab
its of these jewellers we know al
most nothing. Near the ruin called
Hovenweep Castle (the castle of the
deserted Valley no bones or signs
of graves have been found; only
heaps of ashes have been left, min
gled with charred wood, which tell
the story of cremation, and proba
bly, of the fire worship. 1t is ass
sumed that the present Pueblo In
dians are the descendants of these
people, from the fact that their huts
to day resemble the ancient cave
houses. The absence of imple-
ments of warfare, either completed
or finished, gives rise TO the opin
ion that they were a peaceful race.
Near some of the cities thousand OF
flint arrow heads were found stick
ing in the clIffs-all pointing to
ward the city-showing that some
strong invader had attacked them.
According to Mr.. Jackson, the
most remarkable remains are those
found in New Mexico, and some Of
the buildings equal any in the Uni
ted States, if we except the Capitol
One of these Shown in the cast by
the "Pueblo del Arroyo"
has wings $50 feet in length, and
the western wall of the court is 268
feet. Facing the center of the
court are three stories in height.
Another, the pueblo Chettro Ket-
tie is 440 feet long and $50 feet
wide, and presents the remains of
four stories; the logs forming the
second floor extend through the
walls a distance Of six feet. and
probably at one time supported a
balcony on the shady side OF the
house. Mr.. jackson estimates that
in the wall running around three
stories of the building, 925 feet in
length and 40 feet in height, there
were more than 1000 600 pieces of
stone for the outer surface of the
outer wall alone. This surface mul
tiplied by the stones of the oppo
site surface, and also by the stones
of interior and traverse lines of ma
sonry, would give tOta! of 10000
600 pieces in $4,000 cubic feet of
wall. These millions Of pieces had
to be qparried and put into posi-
ton; the tlmbers were brought from
a great distance, and considering
the vastness OF the work and the
amount of labor and time that must
have been expended, these build
lngs may well be compared with the
most famous works of what is so
wrongfully called the old world.
Among the caves of the Rio de
Chellev were found some of the
most beautifully tinted arrow heads
ever discovered; also, numbers of
large earthen jars of oval design.
In a large three story house were
found many implements of domes-
tic use representing the stone age.
Among them were large grindstones
and hammers. The walls, says Mr..
Ingersol, were plastered with ce
ment of stucco like finish. That it
was spread on the walls by human
hands is evident from the marks OF
the pores of the skin to be found
on the surface. Occasionally the
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