Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1914-02-20

vier Stake tabernacle and the Jane
M. Peterson building, leaving still
room for the main building of tn
Sugar factory to be brought under
Even such a busy man as Theodor,
Roosevelt has the time and courag,
to take a trip over some of tn,
worlds toughest areas to see sucl
scenery. Col. Roosevelt with his two
sons visited the country last summer
during the presence Of the Utah ex.
petition in the region. Upon his re.
turn to New York he published a ser.
les of articles in the Outlook Maya.
zine expressing unreserved admira-
ton of this scenic land, the equal OF
which he has not seen elsewhere in
all his expeditions into wild and un-
frequented places.
Scarcely less awe-inspiring than
the bridges are the "Sentinels of the
Desert those slender spires and
mighty rock bluffs which lift their
perpendicular sides five, seven and
even eight hundred feet above the
mgh plateau on which they stand.
Within a radius of twenty miles, near
the Utah-Arizona line are dozens of
these towering obelisks and other
strange, fantastic shapes. The richly
colored sides of the huge rocks
silhoutted against the clear sky make
picture beside which the famous
Garden of the Gods" would sink to
mediocrity.
The Cliff-dwellings of the plateau
have long been the Mystery of
America" Since first found by the
Spanish Conquitsadors in 154O-near-
ly four centuries ago-those places
in the cliffs have yielded no complete
history of the rise and fall of the
strange race that occupied them, per-
haps thousand years ago.
Our party discovered and excavat-
ed some of the most important and
largest of the cliff dwellings that have
yet been found. One of these con-
tains 1O2 rooms; another 148 rooms.
and others from dozen to hundred
rooms. The typical structure of fair
~ good stone masonry with walls and
floors plastered with a hard cement
like plaster. Many of these old cliff
dwellings, are still in almost perfect
condition. Situated several hundred
feet up sheer cliffs and sheltered
from above by the over-hanging rim
rock, they have remained for CEN
turtles free from disturbing influences
both from above and below. Thus
protected from moisture the great
variety of relics in the houses are
found to be very well preserved.
The expedition secured large
quantity of materials from the cliff
dwellings visited. Corn, beans, squash
seeds, strange kinds Of grain and
many varieties of seeds in consider
able quantity were found stored in
the palaces and were in a perfect
state OF preservation. Large ears of
corn that rival the best that Kansas
and Nebraska can produce had been
stored under the floors in large Jars
Of more than bushel capacity. The
seeds must be in the neighborhood of
thousand years old, for when the
Spaniards came nearly four hundred
years ago they found the cliff palaces
deserted and the wild tribe, whose
traditionary history ran back still a
few centuries, had no definite legend
explaining the ancient cliff dwellers.
whose ancient homes seemed as much
mystery to them as to the Span
iards.
Weapons, agricultural implements,
appliances, household
articles, richly made clothing and
articles of adornment are few of the
classes of materials found.
Several shipments of these mater
lals were brought to Salt Lake and
may be seen in the University mu-
scum.