The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-10-25
PHOTOGRAPHS oFrHE SAN JUAN.
Wonderful WORK OF Prehistoric Artists l!
Southeastern Utah.

The cl1u ruins OF the san Juan valley
have been the center OF attraction,
have been viewed from all sides. and
their wonders have been told and re-
told to the world time and time again.
Scientific men have visited this region,
have penetrated southeastern Utah,
and have considered this valley place
of especial interest, because these cliff
and cave dwellings are probably the
oldest in this strange country, being
the first built in that mysterious jour-
ney southwark of great but unknown
people. For twenty years the pros
pector has followed this bold little
river and gazed with careless uncon-
Germ on the rough and broken walls, so
full of interest to the archRologlst;
but the mind of the prospector has no
room for curios. and he has no time for
archaeological investigation. He sees
only the glitter of the gold in the
sand, and thinks only of the time when
he shall have made his stake. In
November of 1892 hundreds Of gold
hunters rushed madly into the canon
north of the Navajo Mountain, travelled
three hundred miles over bleak, desert
table-lands, suffered terribly from cold,
hunger, and the long. wearisome jour
ney; in few days staked off all the
available land for fifty miles up and
down the river, and then returned
home without having obtained so mucE
as color of gold, and to-day have
nothing to show for it but the stakes
Whether this is region that will
ever show rich pay dirt the writer
knows not, but he can say, without
hesitation, that it is one of the most
wildly picturesque and beautiful re-
gions in the world. The bleak old Ma
vajo mountain rises abruptly and tow
ers like grim sentinel over the sur
rounding mesa, while in canon gorge,
more than three thousand feet below
its base, the Rio San Juaii appears Like
silver thread. The canon is several
miles wide, and d descent can be made
to the river by precipitous trail, but
as the river approaches the great Colo
| RADIO the canon becomes more narrow
and the walls more perpendicular and
when it merges into the grand canon
| it is scarcely more than a deep, dark
| channel.
The Navajo mountain. the jutting
| buttes that line the canons verge, the
huge powders that are lodged on the
! canon's sides, and the straight walls
of the canon proper, are all points OF
wonderful interest, for they are the
canvas upon which are depicted some
of the most strange and beautiful pic
tographs that have ever been discov-
cred in this country. Nearly every
bowlder is a picture gallery. and nearly
every smooth surface is covered with
weird and fantastic figures.
On the mountain these continue to
! the summit, and, as the crowning
piece. q huge block of sandstone stands
on the top, the four sides presenting
smooth surfaces These faces are more
than one hundred feet square, and on
each face is picture of the sun, with
the figure of seven warriors bowed, as
to the earth, in prayer. Beneath the
warriors are many hieroglyphic char
acters, proba bly, prayer to the sun god.
On bowlder, by the verge of the
canon, is the picture of a woman kneel-
ing in prayer to the sun.
On one of the canon walls, more than
one hundred feet from anything that
could have furnished the barbaric artist
a foot or hand hold, there is weird
panoramic view in three scenes. Under
a tree a child is sleeping. One little
hand lies across it's breast, while the
other has fallen carelessly by its side.
ell hal lHa q,
large snake, evidently rattlesnalke, is
coiled to strike. Down the canon toward
the west is scene 2. The snake is crawl
ing away and the limbs of the child
are drawn as though in the last con-
yulsions of death. The snake has done
its deadly work. Still further down
the canon scene 3. A warrior. evi-
dentlv the father of the child, with one
arm clasps the dead ba be: with the 9th
er hand he holds a club. Upon his
face the rude artist has depicted a look
of mortal anguish and hate. A snake
lies dead at his feet. This is proba ably V
the most beautiful picture ever execu-
ted by savage hands.
On one of the canon's wallsa warrior
and maiden are represented, gayly
tripping along hand in hand while two
doves are circling around their heads.
Photographs of the bear-in one place
a bear followed by two cubs-the dog,
the mountain lion and the catamount
are all TO be found. Many of these are
evidently of recent date and have prob
ably been executed by the Nava jos,
but here and there one meets with a
dim Photograph that bears evidence OF
great age.
On one wall, in an apparently mac
cessible place. there is a picture un-
doubtedly intended to represent the
nastodon The trunk, the tusks the
MASSIVE body are all there, and the
long. shaggy hair tell of another than
the modern elephant. Close by these
is q representation of a camel. The
conception of the mastodon may have
been obtained from the great north,
but whence that of the camel? 1t is
we'll known that the camel is an
Oriental beast and found in America
only in the menagerie. with one note
worthy exception. A few years since
the United States government i'm
norteS few of these ships of the des-
ert TO be used as a means of transpor-
tation in southern Arizona and the
California desert. but the scheme
proved impractica BILE. and to-day these
camels are roaming at large. The
Navajo Indians may have had an op-
portunity to see the camel, but these
photographs are not Navajo work.
They were undoubtedly placed there
bv another people. This is one of the
many puzzling questions concerning