The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1920-05-21

~ newest OF tne naClOnal park
~ 4 system, established last No
vember-is likely to have many
visitors this season Some will go
because it is new. Others will go be-
cause of the claim of Utah that Zion
equals Yosemite in beauty of form
and far eXcels it in beauty of color.
And still others will go because of the
story OF mysterious cliff-dwelling
that has been discovered-and is be-
heved to be inaccessible and untouch-
ed by the hand of modern man. More
over, a second canon, with many ram
lhcationS, has been discovered in Zion
National park. White men have been
in lt--Or at least have looked down
into 1t from the plateau thousands of
feet above--but they are few. And
who knows what relics of the mysteri-
Gus prehistoric people of the great
American Southwest these unexplored
canons may contain?
Exploration parties are already get
ting ready in Salt Lake City and Los
Angeles. It's no wonder. The story
of the discovery of the inaccessible
cliff-dwellings is one to whet the in
terest of the keenest mountaineer.
Thus the story goes:
Eyre Powell of Venice, Calf, point
ed his telephotO lens at high per-
pendicular cliff in a side canon about
three-quarters of a mile away and
squeezed the bulb A certain quarter
of an inch in the print attracted his at
tention. he enlarged it as much as
possible. 1t then showed what is APP
parently cliff-dwelling something like
400 feet long and so feet wide The
cliff-dWelling is in shallow cave
about 400 feet above the talus at the
foot of the cliff. Below it are appar
emily traces of Lodges once used as an
ascent and now almost erOded by the
elements. Hence it is a fair guess that
this particular cliff dwelling has been
unyisited since modern men entered
this region.
And if this mysterious, long hidden
abode Of the Cliff-dwellers proves to
be a reality and is reached by some
daring climber, will it yield something
new? That of course is the question
that adds zest to the quest For,
though here and there are archaeOlo-
gists who believe they have solved the
mystery of the prehistoric people, it
looks to the common people as if the
scientists were still guessing at the
answers to the questions: Who are
they? How long did they live there?
What became of them? So the pos
sibility that this Zion Cliff-dwellers
inaccessible refuge, untouched by the
hand Of the spoiler, may contain some
thing that will throw light on these I'M
answered questions is fascinating.
Curiously enough, the many relics
of this prehistoric people throw little
or no light on these questions. This
is the more strange, since the village
sites Of the ancient inhabitants with
all the accessories of village life
kivas, shrines, burial places, fields, ir
rigatiOn works, lookouts, stairways-
~ N'o'si w a. phNblS NOLhPiNtC liNIuiC Vi
life in this ancient Southwest. More
over buried under the debris of build
ings and in the graves of the dead are
various artifacts of stone, bone, wood,
fiber and clay, which indicate the in
dustrial and domestic life of the peo-
pie. Ceremonial objects, such as pipes,
fetiches and medicine stones, together
with the symbolic characterization of
domestic and mortuary pottery, give
glimpses of the social and religious
life of the times.
Such structures as are above ground
have been pretty thoroughly examined
and an astonishing variety has been
found. For example there are many
cliff-dwellings, of which those in Mesa
Verde National park in southwestern
Colorado are probably the finest in all
the Southwest.
On the Jemez plateau in the north
ern central part Of New MeXico-a
part of which it. is proposed to set
aside as the national park of the cliff
cities-there are both pueblos and
cliff-dwellings of the excavated type
called "cavate dwellings," The pueblo
ruins are many chambered community
houses, found upon the mesa-tops and
in valleys. The smaller ones are of
one story; the larger ones have from
two to four stories The cavate dwell
ings vary widely. Some are enlarged
oil OF -
tificial excavations In the face Of the
cliff, the front wall being formed of
the natural rock In stu. Some are