The Washington times., 1901-06-30
TO Save WESTERN RUINS.
Congress Will Preserve Cliff
DWellers' Homes in Colorado.
Mesn Verde to BE Set Aside as n Nm
tionuI Park and Commercial Ex-
ploitntiOn of the HnndiwOrk of
the Ancients VIII Be Prevented.

Action by Congress in the closing days
of the session which ended March 4 last
renders certain the preservation of the
most interesting cliff ruins in this coun-
! try, and their protection from further spo-
liation. The region known as the Mesa
/ Verde. in Colorado. in which there are
hundreds Of ruins, is to be set aside as
public park, and steps are TO be taken TO
put a stop to the commercial exploitation
oE the works of the ancient cliff dwellers.
Discovered some twenty-five years ago,
! the ruins on the Mesa Verde and in the
Maneos Canyon, which cuts through the
heart of the elevated tableland, rested for
1 long time undisturbed and even unyisit-
! ed, owing to the inaccessibility Of the
| place. Within the past ten years, how
/ ever, ranchmen living in the vicinity
! found that specimens from the ruins had
! commercial value, and active work began
| in the stripping of the remains Of every
! thing which could be carried off. Under
the act of Congress this destruction will
| soon cease. The Mesa Verde is an elevat-
ed t9bleland of the type which character
! ICES southwestern Colorado and northern
New Mexico and Arizona. 1t is Irregular
] in form, comprising about 100 square
miles. approximately fiat on top, but cut
, the Mancos River and its tributaries. The
great development OF the art of building
among the ancient cliff dwellers was due
in a large measure to the peculiar geo.
/ logical features Of the country: nowhere
better illustrated than in the Mesa Verde.
The Mancos Canyon is about thirty
miles long and from 200 to 1000 feet in
! depth, the narrow, irregular river bottom
! being bounded by long, steep slopes of
debris, which merge into a succession of
steps and slopes eliminating above in a
| series of lofty cliffs. Traces of the old
cliff dwellers are to be found throughout
! the region, along the bottoms, in the cliffs
and on the high tabelands. Taken alto
gether, there is no region which surpasses
the Mesa Verde country in its archaeo-
logical interest, or which is better worth
preservation. although it should be noted
that the Indians have a tradition of an
other and better region to the south.
Practically all the more important types
of ancient dwellings are represented in
the remains found in the Mesa Verde re-
gion, and, in addition, there are others
which reach a development there not at
tanned elsewhere. Even the large valley
settlements, comprising several hundred
rooms, and located without reference to
defence, tEe nlgneSt type OF the ancient
builders architecture, are found here and
there in favorable sites on the canyon
bottom.
These valley settlements merge almost
insensibly into the cliff dwellings proper
through another type which might be
termed cliff villages, type which appears
to have reached its highest development
In the Mesa Verde region. One of the
most imposing Of these cliff villages, dis
covered in comparatively recent times, is
ruin which has been called the cliff
Palace" found in the upper part of Cliff
Canyon, one of the principal gorges which
join the Mancos Canyon from the north.
The ruin is 425 feet long and occupies
cove in the cliff about eighty feet high
and about the same in depth. Some of the
rooms were circular, some oval in shape,
but most of them were rectangular, and
in places the structure was at least three
stories high. Access to the settlement