The Flagstaff sun-democrat., 1897-09-02
THE CLIFF DWELLINGS.
A short Description by . Competen
 Authority.

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 leans, visited among other points. th, Cliff Dwellings during his stay here the past week. He gives us the follow ing description of the curiosilips oi Walnut Canyon:
 At o'cl'@k with good pair oi horses, in a comfortable carriage. and driver competent to' drive and piv, interesting Information. we started for Walnut Canyon, a general nalnr ap. piled io much of the country snu,h- east of Flagstaff which drains in Una, direction. The dip cnlminates in s series of deep box canyons in tn. limestone formation, which ar. rrall, only open examples on a large scale of the sO-callrd bo'ion,less pits. of which two good examples are passed on the way. They have no bottom m the limestone, but the water which runs into them runs along on the surface of the next lower formation, probably a sa ntistone, and at the outcrop of thr junction. fsi to the south, gives rise ,,, boun,rous springs.
 But the gorges ot Walnut Cany on have no recent geological history. Their formation anirdates all written documents and runs parallel with that of the Grand Cany you. with the differ ence of the power of the .rodiug river between the roaring Colorado at work without cessation apd the occasional drainage of the melted suows of the San Francisco range.
 It is not alone the beauty of the canyon, in which rich vegelation charms the eye of ihe plain-weary traveller, but it's treasury of the re- mains oi a race as yel unplaced in the elhnological series, or rather pIa, ed so variousiy l., scientific students. that it is better for lhe lay man 10 wait little before he accepts any conclu- sious. Locking up from ihe bottom are seen iiIst d chasm twenty to forry feet wide plunged through a larger of solid limestone thirty feet hrgh. Above this for 300 feet strata of thickness running from ten to two feet thick and interlaid wIih much broken material. I he chasm Is from rim to rim about 1000 feet. Half way up various eroding agents, natural and human. have scooped from beneath one or two of the thicker lodges enough material to afford room for buildings, eight feet deep from the front of the rock. The roof is the 200 feet of rock above. The walls are of small stones, cemented by adobe, some of which look as if put on few weeks ago. Some twenty dwellings are on the most easily accessible ledge, in size twelve or fourteen feet long by six and eight feet deep. They are so low that if the cliff dwellers were even of moderate height they must have ac. quired decidedly stepping attitude. The floor is of soft, dry earth, in which are found remains of pottery, mostly plain red, but occasionally with incised mountings or diagonal glazed decorations.
 Rarely human remains are discov- cred.
 There is much to be gleaned from | books on these strange dwellings, aud | as it seems to the casual visitor there is still much to be done in the way of | scientific investigation.
 Whether visited before or after the Grand Canyon, the interest and gen. eral character of the trips are so totally different as to make the gorge of the Walnut Canyon a necessary part of the itinerary of the visitor to Flagstaff.