The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-08-26
Frederic Haskin's Letter
An American City Before Christ.

and chimney holes were du, =.
shelves and cubbies for the ~
ing OF provisions. Then. a
tribe grew strong and uumserss
they made lrafter holes in the e',ss
and built two and three story ~.
houses out in front Of II. ~
built q great circular commnrs,
house on the floor of the cascs
All OF Its walls may still be tr.ess
and some Of them are yet seysrss
feet high. And finally the shamss.
OF the tribe climbed to great ~.
In the cliff nearly 200 feet sho,s {
the stream and there they built -
Of their circular places Of wor,lis
called q khiva. half way botvsss
the silver water and the blue =,
that looked over the rimrnes
Never was a pagan temple NOR
titly set.
The Country Unchanged.
It is the beauty OF this plac.
that the country is just as II has
always been, and that so much n
the ancient city remains. Yd, hays
only to see its walls standing asain
to populate it with brown men Al
women, like the Pueblos Of TODAY
save that they were probably mofs
nearly naked; to hear the thunder
of the drum from the ceremonial
cave, the deep chanting OF the men
as they came home from the felda
the voices OF laughing women
trudging in long lines from thai
stream with tinajas full Of water
on their heads, and you have 1
picture Of the city that was.
1t was a civilization in the mak.
ing. The people were potters q
great ability, making glazed pot.
terry, Of which you may find abund.
ant bits and which the modern In.
dams cannot equal; they wore
nantes OF cotton, probably gotten
in trade; they drew pictures on the
rocks and painted them on the
roofs of caves; they had an organ
ICED government and a religion
with permanent temples. Who can
doubt that they would have evolv-
ed q true civilization had not an
older and stronger one come along
and kicked their pretty playthings
all to pieces?
The cliff dwellings are populous
again these summer DAYS with the
many tourists who come from
Santa Fe to see them, and with
archaeologists, who explore and
expound and even insist on re-
building some of the fallen walls
to show how they used to be- One
cannot help feeling this invasion
as something of a Dissertation. A
strangely incongruous creature
here is the eternal wandering
young woman who snaps her fu-
tile little camera at everything.
and Eho finds antiquity, like every.
thing else, perfectly lovely" r.
ritating, too, is the strayed stock
broker who climbs perspiring to
the ceremonial cave and filings Ia
the echoing walls his oft-repeated
challenge: Say, amt this grand!'
! The cliff dwellings are On na.
tional monument and it is supposed
; to be against the law to carry any
thing away, but all of the visitors
carry as much as they can in tho
way Of broken pottery and Clipped
obsidian.
i One Indian Left.
John Boyd. the proprietor OF 81
Rito ranch, and the host Of all who
come here, is doing his best to pre-
serve the typical appearance OF tn.
place. All of his buildings, which
he is rapidly extending to meet tht
growing invasion Of tourists, arr
, careful limitations Of the Pueblo
architecture, built Of the same roci
i. that the cliff jewellers used, and !!
, the same style.
There was only one Indian OF
the Rito at the time of our visit
, She was a full-blooded Pueol'
suuaw in the employ OF Mr.. BOYD
She answers to the un-lndian nam
of Lena, and regards life on tn
: whole as a joke She displays n
7 interest in the dwellings OF her an
; cient forebears, and gndeed sh'
! takes no pride in her Indian oioo'
as such, but aims to be simply
] good American. Her fayorlte D
e versions are playing the phone
3 graph and looking at the picture
4 in the Saturday Evening Post, U
5 one occasion some tourists sus
e gested that she take off her shoe
g and stockings and dance a wa
e dance so that they could take ne
4 picture; but Lena declined, pleas
e antly. on the ground that the san
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