Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-05-14
HECLIFFD
HOW THEY BUILT AND HOW THEY
MUST HAVE LIVED.
Their Loftiiy.rerchsd Homes Bait OF
Rsck and Mortsred with Cement
Thor Remote Existence.
fwr,t,er for tho pl.ps,ch.,

uDIuRt CbufOuH Ntin III VfNAs
and from tho mesas mountain-peaks
tower, snow-clad. Everywhere are great
rocks 80 carelessly piled by Mother Nature
| that her least SILVER would send some Of
the poised ones crashing down. Here IN
the iemotest canyons and in their most
| inaccessible sides. hundreds of feet from
the top or bed, still endure the prehistoric
villages, which are certainly several centu-
ries old, apd some say thousands OF years.
! came, 1 saw, but. alas i have not con-
| quered. The cliff houses are 70 me still "a
| dream-an unreality. If | were TO live IN
| one for months this effect would not wear
off. They are the strangest, the most IN
terestiDg things | have ever seen. and their
| very remotepess from civilization is awing.
WONDER OF II l.
The wonder of it all began on that wild,
picturesque ride over the Rockies,
| through scenery that dwarfs ANYTHING In
| Ward McAuister's dear abroad" From
! Denver it is sos miles to energetic little
Durango. N the southwestermost corner
of Colorado. Here one takes a narrow
railroad about thirty miles over the noun,
talns to a tiny hamlet called Mancos. ana
there engages guides, for a trip through
| the unsurveyed. waterless country wltn-
| out them is suicide: though my private
4 ODlllNDU ~ kDHl IlIll lllt lltIt wv
ing their stars in the daytime to BRING
them whence they started. After that u
is pure novelty; one must carry. proVl-
| sions on burros, sleep on the ground unIer
! the stars. give up washing a. a luxury, lot
| the alKali water takes of what little SKIN
| the pinions leave. and ride great distances
\ over fearful trails up and down the noun
| tains. These trails are hard 70 find out easy
| to lose. They are perllous ana ~fatlgulng,
II ....t IL 4Aa tuna mind through the
| l~ow-prowing p~inions. which are generaiiH
| considered trees, but which Know 10 %
| cnnpinely disguised demons, Delighted, III
| Hickinp out a bit of cheek. turning PACK q
| foot. eoucing out an eye, or even attempt
| ing TO pull a man bodily of his horse. l
| have ridden 200 miles under these clrcum-
stances on a broncho with an extremely
/ d~isagreeable disposition, am absoIuteiy
| bow-legged. and have climbed places IT
| makes nv hair rise 10 think of now, but
I'd do II all twice over rather than miss
| what | have seen in the clif-dweller, re-
gion.
WHERE FOUR STATES JOIN.
The most important group of their an
| c,eut houses are found about the corners
| of the only place in the United StaIes
| where four States sQuarely jOin-COiorado,
Arizona. Utah, and New Mexico. stone
| erected by the Government to mark the
exact spot is 10 down, which VIII pc
| greatly regretted by travellers VINO de-
light in doing such TOOL Things as lylne
upon this stone with hands and feet upon
| the ground, so as TO be able TO assert That
| they nave been IN four States at Once-as
il that isn't O common thing for a woman
to be.
On my trip ] had the advantage OF being
| part of the time with an exploring COM
| pany, the head OF which has made the
| most scientific explorations yet accom-
| plished. About a year ago he lifted out
a party. engaging the most competent
| Guides. and spent several months OF hard
| est work in the cliff villages. He not only
| thoroughly explored the region and ham,
| lets but made maps, measurements, and
| pictures of them. He had an expert photo
| crapher with him who secured fine views
OF many places never before seen, q taxi
| dermist who preserved animals to be
found thereabouts, and an artlst who
| made hundreds of sketches in oils, water
coloTs, and ink.
AT THE WORLDS FA1E.
The results of this expedition are verv
valuable to science and will be shown at
| the Worlds Fair. The unique building
which will hold the mummied bodies,
| pottery aud all relics found III the runs Of
the cliff dwellings Is now almost com
| pleted and represents the curious noun
| tain called Battle Rock" which visited
| while there. II is 200 feet long, high IN
| front but sloping ~irregularly to the
ground. Ii is near the dc-sinileruln OF the
| beautiful stone palace of prehistoric luca-
tan which United States Consul thompson
| came to this country to erect, near also 10
| the Forestry Building, and will form one
| Of the most attractive parts of the depart
| ment of archaeology and ethnol0gy. The
| Worlds Fair will do much towards en-
| tightening and increasing the but lately
| awakened interest IN American archie
| ology. With such q man as the learned FRO
| lessor of Archaeology and Ethnology at Har.
| ward and curator of the celebrated Peabody
Museum az chief, the department IS bound
to be one of the most interesting at Tho
| Fair. Americans have heretofore been
strangely indifferent to the wonderful re-
mains of their own country, although, as
Flske saws in his delightful Discovery OF
America" Aboriginal America is the
richest field in the world for the study oi
barbarism. Among the red men OF Amer!-
ca the social life OF ages more remote than
that Of the lake villages in Switzerland is
in many particulars preserved for us to-
day"
Row THEY BUILT.
Here. then. are some of these "particu
lars preserved in tine clld dwellings: In
the most precipltous of the canyon side
that prehistoric people built in natura
galleries or pockets in the standston,
rock built of the rock itself mortarec
with q cement made by mixing water Will
4" rotten rock"-tbat which the ponderoui
top stratum, the "rim-rock." has grounC
to powder beneath 1t. Viewed from a dis
lance. these ,hamlets of tiny houses
nestled back IN the cliff, resemble pigeon
holes in a mammoth dove-cote. ~Forfounda
ton they have the mountain beneath; foI
rear wall the cliff behind, and for far-ex
tending roof the arch of the rock. Iha
is why, while the same peoples houses OF
the mesas and IN the valleys have crumblet
almost back into their elements. thes,
houses still endure. Not a drop Of rain o
snow ever reaches them from II centur.
to another. The logs which still remain
are fuzzy, like the face OF q very old man
have fbres of them which came of full
length as fine rs string. The soil In tn
houses is dust. fine as powder and dry u
the blood of the builders.
The clif-houses are as many stories a
the spaces admit. each story 5 or 6 tee
high and separated by logs thrust through
holes left in the masonry. These logs ar
of cedar, hewn with stone axes. I'd a
lief chew down q tree. Across then
smaller boughs were laid. then twlgs an
adobe: the whole cemented-a most du
rable fOOr. Mucn or lne masonry Woui
do credit TO a modern sky-scraper. an
when 1t was poor it was usually stuccoe'
with the cement. Walls are often two OF
three feet thick.
THE ARCH NowHERE SEEN.
The arch is nowhere seen. but there ar
some well-built round towers, the stone
cut wedge-shaped and carefully fitted
This seems TO have been their one archl
t~ectural diversion, for there are abso
lutely no carvings. The only stone eve
suggesting an attempt at carving was dis
covered firmly set in the wall of q particu
larly-inaccessible house. and may hav
been intended, as some one suggested. a
a primitive elevator. u lariat being tosse
over it to assist the householder to reac.
his aerial abode. You may do wha
YOU like with this theory. 1t ism
mine. Windows are few and small
literally "wind-eyes." as the wor
itself means. Doors are very curiou;
They are stone slabs. sometimes lai
against grooves down the sides and leane
against a bar at the top, sometimes pushe
up between the pole at the top and secure
by a stick thrust through wooden staple
about the middle. When the househol
Law down to sleep, the door nicely fai
tened IN place. the room must have strong