The Philipsburg mail., 1895-11-07

people burrowed in the earth like rats.
Their houses were holes in the hills,
some of them so extensive as to be veri-
table subterranean hotels, the apart
ments being in suites for the occupancy
OF families. Eight miles south Of
Verde, on the east side of the river, is
the now empty home of once prosper
GUS underground community. 1t has
200 rooms on the main level, divided in
to seyenty-four distinct and separate
sets, On level above, constituting a
second story, are fifty-six rooms in
tWenty-four sets. 1t is believed that
the entire establishment accommodated
$50 to 200 people. followed out Of the
faces of the cliffs in that region are
thousands Of rooms, sometimes in clus-
ters of two or three, while now and
then will be found such an elaborate
excavation as that just described, af-
fording guar ters for community of
considerable size. The places chosen
for such workings are along the faces
OF cliffs where strata Of soft rock ap
pear. The rooms generally are rudely
circular. the largest being thirty feet
and the smallest FIVE or six feet in di
ameter. In the underground hotels a
suite ordinarily consits of one large
main room in front, entered by mar
r0N hall from the face Of the bluff, and
number of smaller rooms connected
by narrow doorWays or short passages.
There Is no outlet into the open, except
through the main room or parlor. US
ually there are number of little stor-
age rooms, or cubbyholes, correspond
ing to closets. These are from one
foot to five feet in diameter on a level
with the floors. The deserted dwell
ings Of these burrowing people have
been found in New Mexico and Colora-
do also. In some places the hills haze
been literally honeycombed by them.
W. Fl. Holmes, the ethnologist, has de-
?;cribed a picturesque promontory of
rock which must have been at one time
4 veritable human hive. Says he: "As
ane from below views the rugged win
doW-pierced crags he is unconsciously
led to wonder if they are not the ruins
Of an ancient CASTLE behind the molder-
ing walls of which are hidden the Sc
crets of long-forgotten people. But
a near approach quickly dispels such
Hancies, for the windows prove to be
only doorways to irregular apartments,
hardly sufficiently commodious for a
race Of pigmies."
Along the Rio Giande. in New Mex
Eco, near the modern Pueblo of Santa
Clara, are cliffs of volcanic sand and
ashes. Into the face of these cliffs
many chambers have been excavated.
the rock being friable and easily
worked. The specific gravity of some
Of the rocks is so low that they will
float on water. For mile after mile the
hills are studded with dug-out rooms,
of which there are many thousands.
Some of them evidently were used as
stables for asses, goats, and sheep,
Judging from the accumulations of
,droppings found. Others were for the
storage OF grain. Often steps were cut
in the clitf-faces, forming rude stair
ways by which the chambers could be
reached. Not much is known about the
history of the Rio Verde valley With
in recent years that region has been q
stamping ground of the hostile Apache
and Walapai. So late as twenty-five
years ago, when settlement by the
whites was begun, the rifle was more
necessary than the plow for success
full agriculture. At present, the valley
is one of the best-knoWn mining dis
tricts in Arizona. In early times the
Verde was known as the Rio San Fran
CISCO and trappers and prospectors told
many tales of wonderful ruins To he
found along it's banks.