The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-10

hileb1ne 1nVeStlSdt1nS IRIS he
narkabIe Race.
Denver is situated where thousands
of years ago a tribe of people lived
who were far advanced in civilization
and were quiet, modest people given
to agricultural pursuits rather than
war. This is the opinion of Major E.
H. Cooper, who has spent many years
among the Navajoes, Moquis and
other tribes of semi-civilized savages
of the present time. Most of this
residence among the Indians was for
the purpose OF studying their folk
lore and legends, and as the student
in antiquity gained scrap of infor-
nation he Immediately sought to YER
ify it from the ruins and works left
standing after thousands of years.
Major Cooper is an interesting talk
er on his favorite subject. What he
lacks in rhetorical powers, perhaps, he
makes up in details gained by resi-
dence among tribes of most remark
able people whose history, were it
fully known, would turn the minds of
scientists in amaZement. In support
of his argument about the residence
of prehistoric people, the major said:
BELIEVES IN EVOLUTION.
wherever animals live, there hui
man beings also thrive. Where ami
mails can not abide it is useless for
man to try. To get back to Biblical
times, L believe that the Garden OF
Eden was the world. The word
Adam does not mean one. man liter
ally. 1t means men or mankind. The
fhan of a1rrt;0 nc
made from dust and gradually arose
by successive stages, 1 believe is cor
rect, and when the history of the Gre
alton of mankind was written 1t was
thousands of years after the creation,
as given in the Bible, and was entirely
legendary. 1t began with the starting
of legends, and previous to that time
the earth was probably inhabited
for thousands of years. We find that
when the sons of Cain went abroad
over the world they met with other
men and their works. How long ago
that was is difficult to figure. We can
figure backward, however, to some ex-
tent. The ruins of Silsbury plain and
Asbury, in England, probably ante
date the ruins in Egypt. Those of
India probably were before the Egyp
tan and in regular order the ruins of
the Incas of South and Central Amer
lea came prior to the Toltecs, the Az
tees and similar tribes. while the
mound builders ante-dated these. But
between the Rockies and the Sierras
we have the ruins which probably
ante-dated all the others. The ruins
l refer to are not properly the cliff
dwellings,, but the dwellings, inhabited
by those people before they took to the
cliffs, although the latter are very
much older than the ruins in other
parts of the plains. The cliff jewellers
were originally jewellers and tillers of
the plains. They lived all over Colo
RADIO, Wyoming, Utah and a portion of
Montana and Arizona. One time there
arrived among them a man of strange
color. He came from the north and
was red. After his return to his ma
tive tribe his visits was followed by
visits of other members, who came as
friends. In the course of time these
friendly visits became quite frequent
and finally there brooded trouble for
the agriculturists of Colorado. The
northern tribes having given more at
tention to war and plumber, soon be-
gan to prey upon their friends, and
with the power of superior numbers
soon began to wage battle and drive
the tillers of the soil before them.
Step by step they were moved until
they were finally compelled to build
their houses in the cliffs and reached
by trails precipitous and carefully
guarded. In time the foes found an
opportunity of getting down and eX-
terminating the whole tribe.
LEGEND OF THE MoQUIs.
There is an interesting Moqui leg
end about the reason that no metallic
article, either of use or ornament, has
ever been found among the ruins. 1t
says that at one time there were
great quantities of little yellow and
white bits of metal which were picked
up near the sides of the streams. Their
use was in barter and trade, and
value was regulated by size and num-
Der. 1t was the same old story. The
rich man soon made his appearance
and with his coming came multitude
of poor fellows. The rich kept on get
ting richer and the poor poorer until
there came q great calamity-prob-
ably a famine. This started the peo-
pie thinking, and secretly the poor
men gathered and talked over the
matter. They finally concluded that
the little bits of metal were the cause
of all the trouble, the crimes and the
heartburnings in the nation: Finally
the explosion came AS the people
grew holder they held open meetings.
Then they decided to end the matter
by putting all the metal out of the
way. They compelled everybody to
bring in their metal and then APP
pointed a committee to Secrete the
whole amount. They were told that
they were to take the pile of baubles
and place them all where man would
never again see them. One night the
committee left with, the treasure
They were gone several days and
none knew from whence they would
come on their return. But there
arose clamor that possibly one of
the committee might tell where the
treasure had been Secreted. 1t was
forthwith decided that guards should
be stationed on the face of the cliff
and as soon as the committee made
it's appearance they were to slay the
whole number before they could say
one word. The plan was carried out,
and the Moqui legend says that the
gold and silver were never discovered.
OLDER THAN CHRISTIANITY
Now as to the age of the cliff dwell
ings. Biologists have about decided
that ruins are covered up by the de-
composition of vegetation at the rate
of about an inch in thousand years
Down in Montezuma county, near
Cortez there is ruin which was dis
covered at a depth of twenty-five feet.
The ruin is twelve feet high, or the
bottom is about thirty-four feet from
the surface. Allowing for sandstorms
and the like, it is probable that the
cliff dwellings are not less than $500
years old. This is substantiated by
Navajo legend, which says that about
that length of time they drove race