Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-20

Washington, ID. G.. Oct. 17.-The
discovery of tobacco pipes in the ruins
Of the Colorado cliff dwellings this
summer by DR.. j. Walter Fewkes,
chief of the Bureau Of American
Ethnology, adds another bit to the ac-
emulation Of data on which afcheol.
ogists are building up the history Of
the prehistoric people that inha bited
the area now set aside as the Mesa
Verde National park. 1t had not been
known before that the cliff dweilers
knew the solace Of that weed which
Columbus discovered the West In
dian sayages smoking 300 years after
the cliff jewellers attained the summit
of their civilization.
Each summer-the government ex-
plorers excavate in the ruins on
Mesa Verde only during the sum-.
mers-adds more to the knowledge OF
these remarkable people. 1t is pos
sible now to give their civilization an
approximate date. We know fairly
well now how and why they rose to
stand SO much higher in intelligence
and in tribal achievement than the
savage tribes that surrounded them.
We have a good idea of their COM
munal life. What brought them to dis
aster, where they went and whether
they have left descendants, are still
matters of conjecture, but investiga-
ton is going on in a direction that
may some day give a complete picture
of the cliff dwellers.
Enough is known, however, to make
it certain that theirs was much the
highest culture developed in prehis-
toric times on this continent north of
now the Mexican border there were
other Indian civilizations even higher
those of the Aztecs in Mexico, the
Mayas in Central America and the
Incas in South America. But the cul-
ture Of the cliff-dwellers was a de-
velopme emit independent Of these others.
The cliff-dwellers were probably a
timid unadventurous people; and, ac-
cording to DR.. Fewkes, they knew
little of the world outside a radius OF
a hundred miles or SO from their "
narrow province. There was probably
no communication between them and
the Aztecs to the south.
The opening of automobile roads in
the Mesa Verde park and the increase
in recent years of automobile touring
have made the magnificent ruins of the
cliff Jewellers familiar to thousands OF
Americans. We are called a young ma
ton, yet in these ancient structures
we have antiquities which in age rival
those Of northern Europe. Thousands
of Americans looking at the ruins OF
the Cliff Palace, the Sun Temple, the
Spruce Tree House, and other remains
must nave wondered what sort of peo-
ple they were who could build struc-
lures of such durability and imposing
size while all about them stretched a
continent peopled with men of their
own racial blood but who nevertheless
had never been able to rise much
above the plane of naked savagery.
indian Corn a CivilIzing Influence
The spade of the archaeologist is
gradually revealing the cliff people to
us. Year after year the ~excavatlng
goes on, more structures are uncovered,
and the museums at Washington and
elsewhere are further enriched by i'm
Elements, utensils, ornaments, and
other artifacts taken from the sites
of these buildings. Along with these
| discoveries come new deductions about
the cliff dweliers themselves.
According to DR.. Fewkes. the maze
plant-Indian corn-explains the supe-
rior civilization of the cliff dwellers.
A small statured, unwarlike people,
in the first place they found in this
unpromising region of wind-swept can
Won and table land a refuge from the
| stronger and more warlike tribes who
pre-empted the regions of plenty. The
game in the Mesa Verde district was
scarce. The streams were little more
than the channels for periodical fresh
cts. A few fish could be caught, but
not enough to support a population as
large one which dwelt there. There
was not natural food supply at all such
as other Indian tribes enjoyed, and SO
the cliff people were forced to create
a food supply by their own ingenuity.
They grew corn on the mesas.
And this was no easy thing. There
was not enough rainfall at the proper
seasons to insure good crops. So
they turned to irrigation and built
their reservoirs and bitches. By this