Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-11-21
The Cliff Dwellers Of Arizona.

ern Arizona. At that time mail service
extended only to Government forts and
mining Gel res. Aside from the nail
coach, the only mode OF travel was on
horseback Over narrow, winding trails.
The first United States mail line es-
tabl;shed through this section in the
spring .of 1889 was repeatedly robbed
by masked highwaymen, and was soon
afterward discontinued: Near the nov
thriving town of Flagstaff, then a mere
camp, fourteen highway robberies were
| committed in Us many consecutive
days. The widest disorder and law
lessness prevailed, The cemetery, on
the gentle slope of a pipe-clad hill just
west OF the town, contains more than a
| dozen graves of outlaws and despera-
does who met a violent death in the
palmy days of railway construction.
The Apaches on the south were a
standing menace to the contractor and
settler and even penetrated this
section, killing the settlers, scatter
inc and diving off the flocks and
herds in Tonic Basin, a Leautiful
valley south of the Atlantic & Pacific
Railway. Mr.. John w. Young, son
of the late prophet and leader Of
Mormonlsm. who was then a proml
nent contractor, constructed a fort
for the protection of his workmen
and property. The fort was named
after one of the patron saints of Nor
monism. 1t is now the headquarters
for an extensive cattle range. The
entire section of country is dotted
with towns and villages Of a SUBJ
stantial character, containing schools,
churches, and printing offices.
The country ranges from 5000 to
$4,000 feet above the sea, has a de-
lightful temperature, abounds IN all
kinds of wild game, and is strewn
with the ruins and relics of prehis-
toric races. In scenic beauty it has
few equals.
Three hundred ard forty miles west
of Albuquerque, on the Atlantic 4 Pa
citic fallway, is Flagstaff, now apros.
porous and growing town, centrally
located among the most attractive
features of this section. The pride
and boast of the town is the
ancient city OF Cliff dwellings,, in
u mountain gorge some eight
miles ea.t OF the village. 1t is
a pleasant drive. aflording much time
for lettering and leisure by the way
side, where the winding road leads
through alternate stretches of forests
and prairie glades. Antelope. black
tailed deer, and will turkey arc here in
great numbers, and the visitor to the
Ciiif Dwellings is frequently rewarded
with a saddle OF v~cnison or q brace Of
birds. The visitor has no warning of
his proximity to the ancient pueblo I'M
til he stands on the very brink of the
canon and gazes down into a gorge,
deep, dark, and ~toreboding. On de.
scending he feels an oppressed sensa-
ton stealing over him, caused by the
sudden shutting out of the broad world,
but he soon loses this in the con,cm-
plation Of his surroundings. 1t is as if
he were transferred for the hour into
some country and cline remote, abound
ing in forms and sights grotesque. The
trees and shrubs are 0 u variety wholly
different from those Just left on the
heights above MIN. the birds of oayer
song II more brilliant pllmage, w tn
here the skeleton of some monster beast,
and there massive horns. Continuing
the descent to the bottom, he lnds
great RATS of logs piled high by the
DOoQo " 1ol lilCl NfulS. c1lc VI ulCSC
great drifts, fired by an Indian or some
a%dventurer, lies Il black and desolate
mass. Far up the frowning clill walls
have crumbled and mingled with the
heaps of ashes and blackened, half
burned trunks OF rees.
Niched in the walls of these Cliffs, in
a broader and more cheerful part of
the tortuous gorge, are the ruins of
the cliff jewellers. Some freak OF ma
ture has left great caverns in the STRAIT
flied rocks ailording only floor and
roof, leaving for the Gill dwellcr the
simple task OF dividing this space by
walls according to fancy or necessity.
The walls are built of mud and stone,
and bear evidence of some skill in CON
struction and rare ingenuity in location.
Every foot of space SO covered is IN
closed, even though the outer walls
stand upon the very brink of the yawn-
ing depths below. No enlightened moth
er, perhaps. has eve visited this spot
without asking how those people could
rear children in such a place. The
dwellings extend a mile along the
rugged, lutting sides of the canon, tar
down It's walls, and yet are hundreds
OF feet from the bottom. They are
constructed in tiers one above the 9TH
er, and occupy each side Of the gorge.
There are six tiers in all.
This ancient city is accessible from
cnly one or two points, and for only
two persons at a time. tits the LARGEST
pueblo known. Although it has been
visited by tourists and travellers from
every quarter of the civilized world in
the past season, many of its dark cav
erns are Yet a mystery and have never
been entered by Il white man. Having
once gained access to one row or tier,
1t is necessary to travel to the end OF it
before gaining access to the one above
or below it.
While it is an accepted theory that
these ruins are the former homes and
dwelling place of some race now en-
1lnct, 1t seems more reasonable to sup
pose that they were the retreat of SOME
v~anquished people, who here sought
refuge from the fierce nomadic tribes
that roamed these wllds at a time 50
renlote that history bears no record of
their wars. Their descendants NAV vet
be found in the pnahInc If AI,