East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-05-11
CLIFF JEWELLERS.
REMARKABLE DISCOVER
les IN THE SOUTHWEST.
William l.. Finley Writes q Fascinat-
ing Article for Pacific Monthly for
May on the Marvellous Palaces of
the Cliffs In the Southwestern
States and Territories.

The history of the great American
continent as 1t was before white men
came, is an ever fascinating subject
Especially is the tradition and history
of the American desert a subject of
vital interest to all. In the Pacific
Monthly for May, William L. Finley
has an excellent article on the cliff
Dwellers of the Southwest" giving mi
nute descriptions of the marvellous
palaces found in Colorado, Arizona
and New Mexico.
OF these dwellings, Mr.. Finley says:
Two groups of ruins are most re-
markable because of their extent and
marvellous architecture. These are
the ruins of the Mesa Verde of south
western Colorado and the ruins Of the
canyons de Chelly and Del Muerto,
in New Mexico and Arizona.
The Mesa Verde, the green mesa or
table land. overlooks the valley of the
Rio Mancos, and is scanned, with sew
eral canyons in all of which cliff
dwellings of more or less Importance
have been found. While Jackson and
Holmes, members of the Hayden sur
vey, in 1874 and 1875 discovered and
described some ruins of this region,
it was left TO a cowboy named Richard
Wetherill to find the most important.
He came upon them while after a
band of stray cattle. The discovery
that many a scientist would have trav-
eled thousands of miles to have had
the honor Of finding, was the village
settlement named by Wetherill. THE
Cliff Palace" on account of its strik-
ing magnificence and its wonderful
state of preservation.
Another important set of ruins in
the southwest is that of the Chaco
canyon, in New Mexico, about SIS
miles off the main line of the Santa
Fe. The chief ruin here is that of
the Pueblo Bonita. This pueblo is
built in approximately a semi-circu-
lar shape, with a total perimeter of
1900 feet. 1t was undoubtedly an or
binary pueblo community house, and
had in its complete condition 1900
rooms. This is the estimate made by
Richard Wetherill. who located upon
the Pueblo Bonita and took it up
as homestead.
Near many of he cliff dwellings
and other ruins, interesting picture
graphs are to be found; indeed some
of them are actually on the walls of
the buildings themselves. There is no
known method of interpreting these
picturegraphs except by gaining their
meaning from the traditions of the In
dians whose ancestors made them. On
page $50 men are clearly to be seen
as we'll as the wavy lines, which often
symbolic water.
1t is not inappropriate in closing
this cursory survey of so large and
important field, to ask who were the
cliff-dwellers and where have they
gone? Many theories have been pro-
pounded, chief among which was that
they were AZtecs who were on their
way to their southern home in Mexico.
Hubert Howe Bancroft has done more
than any one else to explode this the
ory. After having disposed of the
claim that they were Aztecs, Mr.. Ban
| croft goes on to argue who they were.
After thorough study OF the re-
mains found in the ruins and more
particularly the legends of the Pueblo
Indians, Navajos and others, as to
their own origin, Mr.. Bancroft has
concluded that the cliff dwellers and
the present day Pueblos are one and
the same.