Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-06-07

in the descent of particularly steep and
rough slope leading into short canyon be-
low. The canyon was of peculiar form, run
ming almost due north and south, the east
ern side, which we descended, sloping at a
considerable angle. The western wall
could have been scaled by nothing short of
wings, for it rose perpendicularly to a
height of 500 feet. A small thread of water
ran mt the foot of the cliff and by this we
made n temporary camp and ate urdinner
OF biscuit and canned meat. | tasted and
found the water sweet and cool and II heavy
draft was grateful after the dry fare.
Az raised myself from my knees beside
the water | saw fragment of earthen-
ware, light brown in color, with an arts
tically worked Greek border in black pig
ment. 1t was fragment but half the size
of my hand, but it sent an odd sensation
through me. Cliff dwellers?" queried,
mentally, raising my eyes up the western
wall of the canyon. No, that couldn't be it,
tor there seemed to be no Judgment in the
face of the cliff for any of their structures.
| turned to the oil her side of the canyon and
not 800 yards away beheld that which made
my heart stand still.
The eastern slope grew genter a little to
the northward and there, but few yards
HHoNe ltS bSl~t, SLObt IL lON WHll Ol uult
gray masonry, crumbling and broken, but
showing distinctly, even mt that distance
that the builder was human.
With winged feet flew over the ground
until stood with my hand resting on the
wall, and then my wondering eyes saw
above and beyond another and another,
rising to greater heights and standing in
far better preservation. was dazed;
didn't ~ hat RI do lint stnpI Ill IN
of those affected with moonshine had
really discovered dead city. My knees
were too unsteady to hold me, and sat
down on one of the fallen blocks of mason
ry until they should regain their irmness;
then began II survey of the field.
The houses of modern New Mexico are of
adobe-sundried blocks of mud and gravel,
and rarely rise above a single story The
cliff jewellers and the builders of this city
of mine showed higher civilization and Il
higher knowledge of architecture, for here
were walls Of beautiful symmetry built of
hewed sandstone blocks of an even size,
laid in strong mortar beds and with the
joints "broken;" that is, with the stones
laid SO that the joints come alternately, as
they do in the walls of a brick house of
modern times. This gives far greater
strength.
The wall which had first espied was a
little more than six feet high in its high
est place and nearly thirty feet long. los.
ing itself at the ends in the earth and
debris which had washed down around il
since the time of its desertion centuries
| ago. This wall was three feet thick and OF
stone throughout, and there were Others
close by of even five feet in thickness.
My city must have been quite metrop
oils in its day AMI generation, for the de
| cayed remains covered many acres, and
the knowledge we have of mems habits OF
life in those troublesome times tells lis that
they lived almost IN close together rs rab
| bits in a burrow. One Of the houses farther
| up the hill must have included three o,
| four acres within its outer walls and beer
OF several stories. The outer walls still
stand, in many places to a height of nearly
| thirty feet, reaching to the third story, ant
some of the rooms on the lower floor are in
tact, even to the roof of cedar timbers sci
/ in the walls. The whole structure was evi
IDENTITY built around an inner court or plaza
as the modern adobes and pueblos ar,
grouped, aud many families must have re
| sided within the Same walls. There couls