Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-01-19
DUST FOR MANY AGES.
The Industrious CliE-Dwellers Of
Southern Colorado.
Relics OF n Peaceful Race of Men Found
Among tho Wind-Worn Caves of
Montezana County, Col.-Why
They Became Extinct


The archnologists of Denver should be
happy. Almost at their very door they can
now see the skulls and handiwork of men
and women of pre- historic time. The caves
Of the cliff-dwellers on the Mancos, of
Southern Colorado, have been once more
entered by vandals, but this time only ruin
and the dust of departed centuries were to
be found.
The existence of these caves has long
been known, but no thorough examination
was ever made until few months ago,
when Charles McLoyd, a prospector and
| miner of the San Juan, and four companions
concluded that it would be at least a lark to
look into the abandoned dwellings. Awriter
in the Denver Republican describes the re-
suit of their Investigations. No definite
idea of securing collection was thought of,
but after wandering from one rum to an
other on the top of the cliffs, and where the
land could be made fertile, they commenced
exploring the caves. Among the FIRST
entered little of interest was to be found,
! but they finally came to place that was al
| most inaccessible. On the mesa above a
large reservoir was TO be seen, and it is the
! opinion of the explorers that this great
| tract of ground was once titled by the peo-
| pie who lived in the caves below. But now
pinon trees of great age are standing on all
sides, and how many of them have sprung
up, lived their days, decayed and then have
been succeeded by others, no man living to-
day knows-it may have been hundreds, it
may have been thousands of years ago.
Mr.. McLoyd says that the dwellings in
Montezana County were found on the sides
OF walls of the canyon of of the Mancos and
its tributaries in wind-worn caves or crev-
| ipnG panSn1 hu fn 4
completely protected from the elements
that many of their effects were found in a
perfect state of preservation. As a rule,
these caves are ia almost inaccessible
places. When inhabited they were reached
quite frequently by notcnes cut in the rock,
and at other times rope ladders must have
been used.
Quite number of tho houses found were
| OF pretentious dimensions, the largest being
a building on the ground floor of which are
1l2 rooms, and 200 In the upper stories. This
building was four stories in height with
tower, and was built of dressed stone and
cement made of the surrounding soil
mixed with a substance now unknown, and
the architecture now would be called that
Of the Roman period.
The race which inhabited it Is thought to
have been related to the zunis, Moquis and
Pueblos, and it is supposed was the an
cestors Of those tribes. This, however, is
simply supposltion, and is based on the for
nation of the skulls and the relics of differ
ent kinds left
The race, according to tho theory advanced
by the Smithsonian Institute, existed about
ten thousand years ago. This theory is
based upon the idea that the people lived
and farmed on the banks of the SAT- river be-
| fnrp nod pf
and the finding Of trees and fungi in the
ruins.
The adjoining natives, the Navaios, are
the only race that have any tradition con-
cerning these people, and theirs is that the
cliff-dwellers became extinct by BENG over
come by numbers, and, preferring death by
drowning rather than at the hands of the
enemy, jumped into the water below their
homes, and, instead of drowning became
| fish. The cliff-dwellers were quiet, in
offensive race, judging from the lack of in
struments of war and the many articles
! that were used in their crude method of
farming.
Phrenologically speaking, they were quiet
and peaceable, the back part of the skull be-
ing very fiat and often depressed, while the
front part was well formed and denoted
some intelligence.
| Among the skulls IN the collection is one
that consists of one piece only, and shows
no trace of a seam between the three parts,
as is usual in the human skull The bones
found would indicate that they were peo-
pie of medium height and well formed, hay
! ing small hands and feet, the hair black and
! finer in texture than that Of any known race
of savages. There is no sign of any domes-
ticated animal or fowl with the exception
L..
specimens of dust brushes, bone needles,
etc., having been found. The agricultural
products found consisted of corn, beans and
pumpkins, for articles of food, and the
yucca for that Of clothing. Their textile
fabrics consisted of mats and cloths made OF
cord of the yucca plant interviewer with
the down from the turkey or fur of some
animal, and is soft and flexible 1t was used
evidently only in the burying of their dead,
who were wrapped in this cloth.
There were discovered near the cities OF
these people large reservoirs for holding the
water that came down from the mountains,
These reservoirs were made with stone
walls. There IS one still perfect, 1t being
situated on top OF the "mesa verdip or foot
hills, and is 150 feet in diameter, walled
with double walls and contains from ten TO
fifteen feet Of water. All their farming was
carried on in the valleys above the canyons
and was accomplished by hard labor and
with the crudest of implements, nothing
having been found Of this nature except a
sharp-poin ted stick OF hard wood, which
was used TO tear up the ground forplanting.
Their household utensils consisted Of
| pottery jars and casks made OF fiber aud
covered with substance resembling mod
erp Varnish Both were made in coils and
are light in weight and of course very dura-
ble
Their knives were made from the bones
of the deer, highly polished and very sharp.
There Is nothing 10 indicate that they were
acquainted in any respect with the uses Of
any kind OF metal. They used both wood
and coal for heating and cooking purposes,
and had their freplaces just outside the
door in the same manner that the MexicaBs
do to-day. The sandals used, unlike thOso
worn by savage tribes OF the present.
were made OF vegetable fibers and not Of
skins, aud there IS nothing 10 show that the
cliff dwellers were in any way proficient IN
the art Of hunting, as only arrows Of hard
wood and cane are found and they could
not be used In killing large game, being OF
80 fragile a nature. They had but few or
naments, which were made mostly Of tur-
key bones and nuts resembling the hickory
nut and OF which no other specimens are
extant. There are, however, a few made
Of camel coal, inlaid with ivory Of some
kind.
This race was one evidently that on ac-
count Of their peaceful natures were driven
from place 70 place ia the valley, and finally
took refuge and built homes iH these almost
inaccessible places, and were az last over