Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-06-23

after. He may go out for fossils, but
they are only incidental. They are but
of intrinsic value in that they could
prove when man had lived.
1t is week now since Captain Deane
started out on the trail of the house as
hunted up by the party in it's five weeks
of exploration. The Coloradoans
thought the Smithsonian institution had
a man out looking for the same house
and hence the rush.
ut must be at the edge of the lava
field" explained Professor Cutler, who
holds the geological chair at the Denver
university, because toward the center
of the field no walls could have with
stood the flow of lava. Away from the
edge it is in many places 100 feet deep"
THE MONTEzUMA MESA.
Professor Cutler says there are evil
dences of three lava flows, though most
people would see but two, so faint are
the traces Of the first flow. OF the other
|
able, one having evidently been of a
more liquid character the other vis-
cous, thick and utterly irresistible In its
flow. 1t is in the second flow he be-
lieves the house will be found. Because
of its proximity to the lava beds, be-
cause of it's most interesting veins, and
because it has been but little explored,
the Denver men were chiefly attracted
by a sandstone plateau known as the
Montezuma mesa. Here were found the
greatest evidences of the age that the
party discovered, though they went
among the ruins of the Chaco canon,
| into the Grand canon Of the Colorado.
to the village of Acoma and the En-
chanted mesa.
The Montezuma mesa tells many a
| tale. At it's foot, on the plains, are
dwellings, but it's ancient fortified cita-
del is it's main attraction. Its extensive
! dwellings and accommodations for liv-
! ing show it to have been sometime a
dwelling place.
figure s. One-half has no ruins on it.
and is of comparatively easy approach
from the plains below. The other half
is sharp bluff, up which no foe could
climb. Here are found the dwellings
and across the narrow neck, dividing
the two portions of the mesa, is a de-
fensive wall. 1t must have been very
good WALL for it's stones are thick, and
they are laid together with wonderful
precision. And there was uniformity
in the laying that, according to Mr..
Gullette, who took pictures of hun
dreds of ruins, is not found anywhere
else. If stone at the beginning of the
wall was inches high, every stone in
that layer was inches high. The next
layer would perhaps be Of stones of
greater height, but every one would be
the same.
Perhaps the most novel feature of the
wall is it's rounded corners. Nowhere
else has that ever been found, and it in
dicates race of good builders.
ANCIENT WORKS.
There are in reality two defensive
walls, one a few feet within the other.
To the inner one was attached a double
row of rooms. 1t is easy to imagine they
were used as barracks. Professor Cut
Ter discovered on the mesa a spring, the
only one at present for five miles
around. 1t lies to the north side of the
plateau, and descending to it he saw
cut in the rock number of steps, al
most oblterated by the lapse of time.
Those ancient persons also knew
about storing water, for they had re-
servoirs, three of them. and one, the
largest, perhaps GO feet long, still
catches and holds water.
The great age of the ruins Of this
mesa was best shown by the absence of
wood. Timbers were used, it was finally
discovered, but in all that mesa only
one piece remains. That. like the rest,
would not have been preserved except
that it was in an alright place, sealed
up with mortar, in wall that happened
to remain standing. 1t is piece of red
cedar over 8 feet long, and with the ex-
ception of one end Is perfectly sound.
The story of the sandstone house is
not thought to be a new one. In fact,
as long ago as 1895 there was published
in Frank Halls history Of Colorado an
account which indicates that there
might be many such houses. Present.
day scientists claim there has been no
authentic discovery of ruins covered
with lava. Nevertheless, George A.
Jackson, a veteran prospector, Is quoted
in General Halls book as follows:
I'm New Mexico, near group of
mountains, is a section designated as
lava or 'unsurveyed.' There I found
cliff dwellings that were unquestionably
inhabited before this lava flow, as the
houses can now be plainly seen, some
half covered with lava, others no doubt
entirely buried, while some are still
standing, with floors of obsidian or vol
canc glass thrown in on top Of the Sec
ond flow of lava by the last eruption"
Miss Breen Dead.