The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-09-01
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, D. G.
BRANp-NEw ANTIQuITIEs.

The great and only industry in Colo
RADIO Springs is the entertainment of
tourists. A few bricks and brooms
are made somewhere within the city
limits, but such small enterprises fade
into insignificance beside the large
and highly organized bushes of SELL
ing Nature TO the public.
Colorado Springs itself is not spec
tacuIar, but it is attractiyely located
at the base of the mountains;~ is ia
nous for its healthful climate, and is
the most comfortable habitat in the
Pixies Peak region, which also in
Lcludes Colorado City, Manitou, and a
vast stretch of gorgeous scenery.
Where the original supply of scenery
runs short, moreover, a new supply
has been provided by various scenic
production companies, so that there is
enough to keep the sightseer busy as
long as his money holds out.
Among the principal points of in
terest in this region, for example, are
the historic ruins of the Ancient Cliff
DWeilers, located at Phantom Cliff
Canon, at Manitou. These are not
original. In scattering our southwest
with their mysterious dwellings, the
ancients failed to, foresee the future
/ tourist demand of this particular area
and neglected to build here. But
few enterprising twentieth century
business men have. They have re-
produced as accurately as possible the
! cliff dwellings of the Mesa. Verde Ma
tionaI park at an elIeged cost OF
| 100000, and are now gathering large
returns on their investment by ex-
hibiting the new-made ruins at the
price of 50 a glance.
Upon elm bling the steep road lea1-
ing up the Canyon. either by motor,
burro or foot, the tourist first beholds
an adobe Indian dwelling of the type
built by the preSent-day Pueblo
| Indians It consists of two floors,
connected not by stairs but by crude
wooden ladders. The first floor con-
tains the inevitable curio shop. with
some unusually interesting Indian
relics, and the second floor is occupied
by a Pueblo Indian family, which is
| employed by the scenic production
| company TO Indianize the atmosphere
and amuse the tourists.
| Here the visitors are organized into
sightseeing parties. if they are not al
ready so organized, and conducted by
| a guide-a young lady of pedagogical
appearance, carrying a small switch
for a pointer-to the nearby cliff
| dwellings, built under the overhang-
ing ledge of Phantom cliff. There are
eight curious houses in all, connected
| with small. crumbling passa geways
and perforated with tiny, mysterious
| windows and doors. They are built OF
stone. According to the guide, the
| only difference between these modern
ruins and the ancient ones is the pIas-
ter used on the walls. The ancients
| used some sort of an adobe mixture
for mortar which could not be ana
lyzed by the reproducers, so they were
compelled to use cement.
The Guide Holds Forth.
The cliff dwellers," says the guide.
holding up the expedition for brief
historical spiel, were d prehistoric
l ierir &c
left these traces of their existence in
| Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New
Mexico. Archaeologists have solved
many of the leading mysteries con-
corning this long vanished people, but
many battling features are still to be
explained.
Notice the small size of the doors
and windows. These led us to believe
that the cliff jewellers were a piEmy
people, probably not more than two
and half or three and a half feet in
height-an assumption which has
Gently excavated.
ION the wall of this first room, YOU
VIII see an example of their ancient
hieroglyphics- These have never been
translated. The rock containing them,
by the way, is original. having been
brought here with the rest of the ma
teriaIs.
This" contipued the guide, as she
led the party thru small passa geway,
lis the milling ROOM where thew
the specimens on the floor that they
used stone implements. living in the
Stone Age. over here is a niche in the
wall. evidently used to hold their i'm
, derly.''
Again the party lowered its heads in
, proceeding to the next room. which
contained one of the cliff jewellers
curious T-shaped doors.
THE Hopi Indians also use this
same T-shaped door in their dwell
ings," Explained the guide. Here i:
a strange stone box. Scientists think
that it was a fireplace. but when it was
aXcaVated it contained no signs of fire
THE next is a sepulchre, three
stories high. where the ancients buried
, their dead. laying the bodies on theil
right side When the third floor
: which was used first. was filled with
| dead and their personal property, the
aperture was sealed. and the second
Il floor opened as a receiving morgue
! The dry climate and the alright room
are supposed to have had a mummi-
tying effect upon the dead, for many
. of the Cliff Dwellers have been exca
! vacated in, mummy form.
Next We come to the Balcony
House, which is larger than most o,
= the dwellings. When this house wal
exeavated in the Mesa Verde, it con-
I tanned a rough mattress and a crude
? form of bedstead. The cliff jewellers
: were just beginning to make furniture
a when they became extinct
The round watch-tower of Mesa
r Verde is also a part of the Phantom
T Cliff ruins, and the Speakers Hous'
: has likewise been crowded under tht
rockey ledge, porch and all There il
' also a model of one of the prehistoric
: storehouses, where the ancients stored
G their grain.
t The Bones of the Ancients.
S In connection with the ruins is
S small museum containing specimen!
0 of the cliff jewellers handiwork-theil
e baskets, water-pitchers, sandals. tur
key-bone needles, toys and bone but
Y tons much like ours. There is also
l mattress made of rushes of the kinC
that was found in various excavateC
f houses. and a couple of prehistoric
= ~ alc+nrr TIL Ia t+nr- rl,cru- nIif