The Anaconda standard., 1899-12-13
RUINS OF THE CLIFF JEWELLERS
New Discoveries of the Extinct Race IL
Southern Colorado Hills.


More remains of the cliff dwellers
were found recently in Southern Colo
RADIO by Cecil A. Deane, a United States
deputy surveyor. I'VE found" he said,
extensive ruins of the cliff dWellers
and of prehistoric peoples and l doubt
if ever before they have been visited.
1t is in a locality where the scientists
and relic hunters never come and l.
have no doubt that they will prove en-
tirely new to the scientific world. In
one locality west of the La Plata river
we found an area of some 5000 or 7,O0o
acres in one body that was dotted with
the ruins of a people that doubtless sub
sisted by agricultural pursuits solely.
The land was literally covered with the
ruins of stone houses. While the orig
inal inhabitants of this vast tract sub
sisted by means of farming, yet no evil
dences of irrigation were found, and the
nearest water at present is the La Plata
or Mancos river.
I'm other localities we found similar
evidences of a prehistoric race and un-
der the same conditions, indicating that
if they did their farming by means of
Irrigation all traces have long ago van
ished or else there were streams nearer
than at present. 1t may be possible, too,
that in the past generation there was
more rain in that section and that it
was not then, as it is now, an arid
region.
THE surface is now covered with
dense growth of sage brush and of
pinon or cedar trees. In parts it is al
most impossible for man to make his
way. In surveying dense forest we
discovered the ruined walls of one house
that originally must have been several
stories high. The walls We're massive.
indicating that it was more than SIN
gle story The stone that has fallen
out of it's place forms a pile over 10
feet in height and is strcwn about ev-
erywhere. %4#
This house must have been one of
great Importance to the people of that
day. 1t may have been one of their
great temples or it may have been a
| tirely speculative as toEits use, but it's
| immense sizeswould indicate that it was
| not an ordinary dwelling. In places
parts of the walls are exposed, just as
| it was builded, by the people who long
ago passed away leaving only the re-
mains of their buildings to indicate to
| the present generation that, they have
| lived. 1t is probable that systematic
and careful search in the vicinity of
these ruins and an exploration of the
ground would bring to light many evil
dences of the people that would shed
much light on their modes OF life and on
their history. We, of course, had no
time Tor tnlS Work, as We were taken
up entirely by surveying.
Inside of the walls to the house of
which have just spoken large pinon
trees are now growing, which is an
other indication OF the antiquity of the
ruins. Large cedars, too, are growing
within and all about the ruins. The
forest where we found the big house is
dense, the trees being a large growth
and is practically inaccessible.
"In another locality we found the
homes of the cliff dwellers They were
built of stone and perched, eerie-like
on the beetling cliff, hundreds of feet
above the bed of the canyon, and they
can only be reached by means of ropes
reaching down from the top of the al
most vertical cliffs" Denver Republic
! can