Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-10-03
Prehistoric Peoples.
ISGnta Fe New Mexican J

Prehistoric Peoples.
 Issnta Fe New Mexicsn.l
 A reporter for this paper spent an agreeable hour at the Palace last night. i'm the company of Major J. W. Powell, chief of the United States geological survey. It IS the majors first visit to Santa Fe in sixteen years. In lc69 he made A national record by first explor- the grand canon Of the Colorado, at winch time be crossed the country from southern Utah and entere 1 this city vla the Jeuez mountains. Operations m the government bureau are very active this season, over 800 men being em- ployed in various parts ot the OnlOn working under instructions from Major Powell. This gentleman has been en- gagged in his present work for seventeen years: this summer he has spent two months along the New Mexico and Arr zona line and IS to get back to Wash ington shortly. The real work of the bu- reau IS the study of the topography and geology of our continent, and the At- tention be pays to ancient ruins, study of the prehistoric peoples and the like, is merely incidental.
 THE VARIOUS PURBLos
 are classified according to language in to four divisions" sad Major Powell.
 These are:
 "First-The mesa pueblos, of two kinds, cluster and single dwellings,, and are built out on the mesa lands Ike most of the pueblos Of the present time.
 "Second-Cliff dwellings. These are made by walling in, or enclosing with outer walls, spaces under oyerhanglng rocks.
 "Third-The cavate cave dwellings,; they are dwellings that have been excs- vhted in the face tin all cases We know of) of cinder cliffs-they are never found in lime or sand stone.
 "Fourth-This class constitutes the subterranern dwellings,; they are made by sinking a shaft about twelve feet, then excavating underground cham bers.
 THESE VARIETIES OF DWELLINGS were constructed by the ancestors of the present various tribes of Pueblo Indians. Of these four classes also have been recognized:
 "First-The ShimOs, who occupy what the Spsniards called the province of Tusayan, in Arizona. where the sO-called MOqui towns are now located.
 "Second-The Zuni pueblos- For merly tbere were seven tribes of these, and that region inhabited by them was known by the early Spanihrds as the province of Cibola- The remnant ot these seven tribes Is now merged into one ard they all live at the ZuDI pueblo.
 Third This class l call the Ianean group, which dwells up and down the Rio Grsnde and iuhabit the principal villages.
 "Fourth.-The Heres group also live in Rio Grande valley, but speak a Ian guage peculiarly their OHn. But one tribe of this class also Inhabits one of the MOqui towns m Arizona, and 1t Is odd to find them chnging to their own language with those surrounding them speaking an entirely different tongue.
 "THE AZTEC PEOPLES
 were no ak;n to the Pueblos of the pre- sent day. This Is a popular error. The Aztec people dweIt ID the valley of Mexico, and never came as far north as the valley of the Rio Grsnde, though We have every reason to believe that the degree of culture that existed here was quite as advanced as that prevail ing among the AZtecs.
 "As We travel over the country now we seek out all the runs we can find and map them, that is locate them on the maps. Besides the inhabited pueb- los we have to date mapped the location of over 5000 ruins. These ruined hab- itations are found all over New Mexico and Arizona, part of Utah, & small part of California, 10 Nevada, and m about half of Colorado.
 "Yes, | think the southwest is receiv- ing its full share of attention. The ar tiquities of this country are very grand. My trIp up this way is for the purpose of examining the cliff dwellings near Espsiiola which belong to the "Csvste" family, which variety l have never per sonally inspected. Col. Stevenson? He Is still ID the field, and Is at work on the Little Colorado to-day.
 THE LATEST DISCOVERIES of interest to your readers are situated eighteen miles northeast of Flagstaff on the top of an unnamed ciDder cone, GOO feet high, and surrounded by beAuti- full grassy plain. The nearest water IS two and One-half miles distant. This ciuder cone has a we'll developed crater, and jagged rim or margin extends up nearl yall around 1t. the rIm being from fifty 10 POO feet high. On the inside of this rim they had built their pueblo nobody knows how many years ago. This village IS composed of twenty-one groups of dwellings of from three to twelve rooms each. The houses are very irregulsrly situated in the cliff; are constructed of cinder rock and plas tered within. We found there three estufss and two dancing plgci.as. Very many stone implements were found, also 6Irow hesds, many fTas sments of pottery and numerous metates, also several bone needles. The pottery was of the cloud desIgu. In a sort of a cupboard in the wall We found piece of cloth evidently woven from wild flax fiber. and also s.stdette of clay. The buildings We explored are located m very inaccessible places and It was with great labor that we got into them at all. Ikis pueblo IS among the old est. if not itself the oldest, that has ever been discovered. The Su2ai Indians. now living on Grand Canon of the Colorado, inform me that their ancestors once lived in this pueblo
 YirtuOus Paris.