Gunnison news-champion., 1916-07-14
LECTURE ON PREHISTORIC
COLORADO BY EMINENT
STATE AUTHORITY

Prof. Eugene Parsons Of Denver, has
been giving a number OF lectures to the
students Of the Normal school. On
Thursday morning he spoke on .'Prehis-
toric Colorado, describing the Gilt
Dwellers and the ruins Of southern
Colorado Mr. Parsons was formerly
one Of the editors Of The World To-
Day" magazine Of Chicago. Since COM
ing to our state in 1904, he has special
lied in matters relating to Colorado.
past and present, having done Colorado
schools. He is the anthor Of Making
of Colorado" and Guide TO Colorado"
Some OF the principal points of his lee
ture are given:
The term Prehistoric Colorado. as
used in this lecture, does not mean .
period of remote antiquity. but time
previous to the discovery of America by
Columbus. The Colorado of five hum
dred years ago or thousand years ago
is prehistoric because of the lack Of
written documents left by the natives.
We know that gentle, sedentary peo.
pie occupied the Southwest and settled
southwestern Colorado centuries before
the coming of the white man. Who
they were and how they lived. are PROB
lens that vex US. The men of that far
off time are variously called Aztecs,
Pueblos. Cliff Dwellers, and "town-
building Indians. 1t may be doubted
if they had an alphabet and did any
writing. The hieroglyphics that they
scratched on the rocks are only plcto-
graphs. They tell US but little. So
ancient America is a mystery.
The magnificent mesa to the south
west of Durango and the region lying
to the north of it is the Oldest part Of
Colorado. The Cliff Dwellers of the
Mesa Verde, however, were not the
first Americans in Colorado.
1t is supposed that the San Juan coun-
try and contiguous territory was the
habitat of the first human inhabitants
of primeval Colorado. These old-timers
may have lived here five thousand years
ago or longer We do not know much
about them. All We can say is that
this page of Colorado's faraway past is
blank. One thing is certain, the
dwellers of these lofty places were
rather low down in the scale of human
ity. They managed some way to live,
to find shelter, food and clothing, but
they were savages. So were the Utes,
who probably occupied the mountain
valleys of central Colorado thousand
years ago. The Apaches sometimes
raided into Southwestern Colorado, but
this was never their habitat proper
They roved for the most part in Arizona
and New Mexico. The Kiowas are com
paratively recent corners to Colorado
They hunted on the plains perhaps 200
years ago. The Arapahoes and Chey-
ennes had their stamping ground in the
Platte Valley more than a century ago.
These tribes are popularity known as
wild Indians.
A thousand years ago strange peo-
pie lived in southern Colorado. They
generally go by the name of Cliff Dwell
lers. but they might better be called
Pueblos, for they lived in villages in
much the same way as did the Pueblo
Indians of New Mexico. Indeed, they
may be looked upon as cousins of the
Pueblos of New Mexico. They lived in
the northern outskirts of the Aztec EN-
pire, which was ruled over by Montezu-
ma when Cortez invaded Mexico in 1919.
They vanished from the face of the
esrth and left no written records of
themselves that we have today or know
of except the merest fragments in the
shape of photographs. A pathetic in
terest attaches to their fate. The cause
Of their disappearance is shrouded in
mystery. Perhaps they received sud-
den call from Montexuma for help and
loyalty responded. Traditions Of the
Hopis and Navajoes tell of fierce on
slaughts oh the Axtecs by the Utes and
other warlike tribes. They made an in