The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-12-29
The POMPEIIS OF AMERICA.
PROPOSED NATIONAL PARK IN
THE CLIFF DWELLERS' REGION.
Evidence nat This Vanished Race Hay
Have Been Overwhelmed by ~
F1ows-Maybe II Happened Before
the Glacial Period Their Curious
Houses and Relics Remaining

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DENVER. Dec. 2s.-Representative Sha-
froth of Colorado has introduced a bill
at Washington to set aside as a national
park part OF the region In which the abodes
Of the vanished Cliff Dwellers are situated.
Tn following facts about the Cliff Dwellers.
some of them of only recent discovery.
will make plain the considerations upon
which is based the plan OF securing Govern
ment protection for these strange relics
Of a curious people.
The relics are scattered over quite 100 900
square miles in southwestern Colorado,
Arizona and New Mexico. As to their
antiquity, there Is the widest divergence
of opinion. Some men Of science believe
they date back to remote ages. while others
give them an antiquity Of centuries only.
II is a frequent remark Of travellers
from foreign lands that there are no ruins
In the United States. II the theories of
some aroh@olCgists are correct, long
before out skin-clad ancestors followed
the chase in the German forests or gath
cred food from the sea on the coast Of
Britain, a numerous race inhabited what
Is now the great Southwest OF the United
States and had in many respects advanced
beyond even that condition which Is called
CONTEMPLATION
Here we find the standing or fallen walls
of stone structures whose rooms were
greater in number than those contained
in any one residence building ever erected
in the Old World. That these people pos
scssed some knowledge Of architecture
L. evident.
They had no knowledge OF the burning
of lime rock, but from a soil rich in perox-
ide Of iron and infusorial shells they made
mortar. even now almost as hard as cement
where not exposed TO the elements. With
no cutting tools save those made from
igneous rock they dressed the hardest
sandstone, thousands OF cubic yards of
which may be found In q single ruin.
With primitive tools they made hundreds
of miles of bitches, wherever irrigation
was necessary for the cultivation Of crops,
frequently through cemented gravel and
sandstone rock. Without the aid of the
potter's wheel they made pitchers. vases,
urns and bowls, as well as many repre-
sensations of birds and animal life, having
man ornamental designs in colors.
From the pliable stems of the yucca
baskets. With their primitive looms they
wove cloth from cotton, wild fax, and the
fur OF the rabbit, and from var-colored
plumage Of birds made feather cloth which
was used as shrouds for he departed.
They cultivated the melon, squash and
bean; corn, which is indigenous to America.
being their principal agricultural product.
For the support OF a population which
may have numbered millions. great areas
OF fertile lands were required. One of
the most convincing proofs that these
people lived in ages long gone by Is the
evidence that a marked change In climatic
conditions has occurred.
We see their small and isolated ruins
scattered over great tracts OF mesa where
now not a drop OF living water can be found
and where the light rainfall Of to-day will
not permit the cultivation Of grain or plant
food, where there are no traces OF old ace
quias and where. because of the elevation
above present streams II is practically i'm
possible to Introduce running water. Yet
II We dig among these ruins we find pottery,
whole or broken, and articles similar TO
those In the ruins along the river valleys.
While the implements found in their ruins
prove that they were an agricultural people,
the evidence is present that they were
subjected TO the attacks of hostile forces.
The ruins OF their watch towers are seen
near any considerable settlement.
Near the present town Of Aztec. on the
Animas River, are the ruins Of one Of these
signal towers. In plain view Of IL and on a
bench or mesa, which IL about 90 feet above
the lower valley. are the ruins Of two com
nun houses which could have given
shelter 20 fou or five thousand persons
One Of these RUNS IL apparently ~ much
the greater age, and lie surface presents
only a huge heap Of fallen walls and clay
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debris we encounter walls Of stone ~ place
and evidences 81 human occupation
Portions Of the walls Of the other rum
ere still standing 10 a height Of 81 feet,
although quite One-hslf ~ them are buried
by stones which have fallen from stories
Of even greater height. Excavations made
10 th' ba.- reveal exterior and partition
vale having a Thickness - "a feet. and
the Thickness at their broken summit would
Indicate that the building wa originally
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tore 81 rooms, whlrh embraced a quad
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