Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-09-22
THE CLrFF-DwELLERs.
Some History OF n Pre- Historic Race and
Their Descendants.
From "a Baltimore So.

/
Prom the Baltimore Sun.
! EsPANoLA, N. NJ, sept. 5.-The cliff
/ jewellers represent an unknown race, who
/ dwelt in our country in prehistoric
! times. Their dwellings are the only re-
mains Of perhaps once strong and pow
erful race. 1t startles one to find homes
along the precipitous face of lofty cliffs,
| where the swallows might build, or the
! eagle construct his eyrie, along with
safety. These dwellings are sometimes on
lodges. which jut out directly from the
| cliff sometimes, as is the case with those
! which may be reached from EspanOla,
| cut directly into the shady rocks, some
! times a wall of hewn stone without, with
windows and doors, and an excavation in
the rock within. Access was possible by
steps cut into the rock. or by ladders
either suspended from above, or using
shelf after shelf from below. From one
built on ledge that was reached by
sharp descent from above, and a pebble
/ could be dropped 500 feet plump into the
gorge below. A dangerous window in
which to sit and muse. Yet this house
/ was constructed of quarried stone cut,
with stone implements, exactly true, and
! ground so perfectly smooth inside as to
! require no plastering, whilst the lintels
| of windows and doors were of one single
! stone each. 1t speaks volumes for their
/ mechanical skill. and their civilization.
! The following description of a house is
taken from Ernest lngersoll
"Seven hundred feet above the valley
| perched on little ledge only just large
! enough to hold it was 2-story house,
made Of fnely-cut sandstone, each block
about IA by inches, accurately fitted
| and set In mortar, now harder than the
| stone itself. The floor was the ledge upon
| which 1t rested, the roof the Overhanging
| rock. There were three rooms upon the
! ground floor, each by 8 feet, with parti-
| ton walls OF faced stone. Between the
| stories was originally a wooden floor,
! traces of which still remained, as did
also the cedar sticks set in the wall over
the windows and DORIS; but
! this was over the front
room only, the height of the
! rocky roof not being sufficient to allow an
| attic there. Each OF the stories WAS
feet in height, and all the rooms, upstairs
and down, were nicely plastered and
| painted, what now looks dull brick-red
| color, with a white band along the floor
| like a Dashboard. There was low door
way from the ledge into the lower story,
| and another above, showing that the up
! per chamber was entered from without.
! The windows were square apertures with
no indication OF any glazing or shutters.
/ They commanded q view of the whole
! country for many miles. Near the house
! several convenient little inches in the
! rock were built into better shape as
though they had been used for cupboards
| or caches; and behind it a semi-circular
| wall, inclosing the angle of the house,
and cliff, formed water reservoir holding
| two and a half-hOgsheads. The water
| was taken out OF this from window of
| the upper room. In front OF the house
which was the left side OF the one facing
| the bluff, an esplanade had been built to
widen the narrow ledge, and probably
| furnished a cOmmOdious place for
| kitchen. The abutments which support
| ed it were founded upon smooth, steep
| ly-inclined face Of rock; yet so consum-
mate was their skill in masonry that these
/ abutments still stand, though it would
seem that pounds weight might slide
/ them Of" t
| From Espanola, the terminus Of the
| New Mexico Branch of the Denver and
! Rio Grande railway, it is but u miles to
the extensive ruins in the cliffs OF the
! Santa Cruz creek. The cliffs face toward
| the east, the homes of this strange people
! always being on the side where the beams
| OF the morning sun could strike them.
/ Here the habitatiOns are dug directlyinto
! the cliffs, the roof being oval in shape.
| There are two and three rooms with little
receptaces for food and water to each
| home. Some most excellent specimens Of
pottery have been found here, indscat-
| ing perception Of beauty OF no mean,
order.
Close investigation has pretty fFmly
established the following facts:
In very early times, as the existing
ruins not only here, but further west and
north, show large population occupied
ho Lott, hot
| tains, wherever there were springs and
water-cOurses. The inhabitants, whilst
brave and full OF resource, were an ag
| ricultural and pastoral people. In the
course Of time the ancestors Of the wild
Indians swept down upon this civilized
people from their Northern forests and
prairies as the GOths and Vandals upon
efieminate Rome.
Their villages and towns were ruth
lessly oyerthrown, and the survivors
sought safety in the cliffs and built their
houses as described from whence they
could observe the approach of their cruel
and crafty foes, call in their fiOcks, and
from their almost inaccessible homes bid
| defiance to their enemies. Yet, even here
| occasionally they were overthrOwn, as in
/ one OF the towns where excavations have
been made the skeletons found have the
skull-bones crushed, whilst the charred
| embers show that they were first defeat
ed and slain, and then their homes fired
| by their cruel foes. After a time, either
they grew stronger or the power of the
savage lessened, and once more they re-
| turned TO towns I'm the valleys and built
| the commercial villages, which remain TO
this day. The Pueblos to-day when they
wish to refer TO the distant past, indicate
| it by saying "when our fathers lived in
the cliffs" 1t was I'm this third stage of
their history when they had again become