Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-05-29

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ing prehistoric ruins is now a popular
pastime with vacationists who believe
in seeing America first. Out in Colo
RADIO in the Mesa Verde National park
we have prehistoric remains that com
pare favorably with ruins anywhere,
both in picturesqueness and mystery.
The government has for some years
been engaged in ~excavating and repair
ing them and they show promise OF
becoming one of the standard sights
of America, in a class with the Wash
ington monument, Niagara Falls, the
Statue of Liberty, and Pixies Peak.
Only recently have Americans been
awakened to an interest in home
grown antiquities. In 1907 when the
Mesa Verde reservation was estab-
lished by the government. % tourists
came to see its wonderful cliff dwell
ings. Last year $500 visitors were
shown the sights of the park.
Each year more of the Mesa Verde
ruins are in shape for public inspec-
ton. DR.. Fewkes. who is chief of
the bureau of American ethnology of
the Smithsonian Institution, spends his
summers directing excavation and res
toration work, with the two-fold pur-
pose of promoting scientific knowl-
edge and of interesting Americans in
the remarkable past of their country.
Scientists have never been able to
prove definitely whence the cliff
dwellers of southwestern Colorado
came, or how they learned to be stone
masons of such skill. or why they at
last abandoned their stone towers and
temples and disappeared
1t is supposed that they were the
ancestors of some of the modern
southwestern Indians who live in
pueblos. or community houses. At one
| time some scientists thought that the
| Aztecs of New Mexico taught the
| Mesa Verde cliff dwellers to build with
stone. But now it has been prac-
tically agreed that these prehistoric
| Americans developed their own build
ing craft.
At first they were ave men. seek
ing shelter in natural caves in the
sides of the canyons. Then they began
to pull stones about and place them
| for greater protection. What are sup
posed to be their early attempts at
! building are simple shelters made Of
huge stones set on edge. From max
ing these rude huts the builders pro-
crossed until they were constructing
horizontal masonry with stones la
boriously fitted into place. At least,
this is the story read by scientists in
the varied types of ruins which
| plainly illustrate different stages of
skill.
Ancient Communists
Circular. square and semi-circular
towers. some % feet high, were built
by these Indian craftsmen. Rooms
were arranged in tiers to form com
munitv houses. There were temples
with affairs and outlets for smoke.
Then the stone builders vanished, and
so complete was their disappearance
that even the Indians of the region
have only vague traditions as to their
existence.
A clue to the age of the Mesa Verde
cliff dwellers was noted by DR..
Fewkes in excavating the Sun Temple
ruin in 1915. A great red cedar tree
was growing in the annex to the
temple. It's roots had penetrated into
the rooms, so that it was necessary to
cut them off and TO fell the tree in the
work of restoration. A stump of the
tree was left. however. and $50 an
nular rings can be counted.
DIR. Fewkes adds go years as a
conservative guess for the time OF the
temples construction and use before
trees would have grown in its deserted
rooms. From such evidence he thinks 1t
likely that the ancient Pueblos were
in existence about 1900 A. ID.
After the disappearance of these
early communists the rock villages
were left to be gradually worn down
and buried in sand and debris. In 1883
two herdsmen who were hunting lost
cattle discovered among the cliffs what
seemed to be towers and walls of A
city. Closer inspection showed that the
structures we're the remains of an old
cliff dwelling. a community house with
200 family living rooms and - oons
for worshin. The herdsmen named it
Cliff Palace.
Soon after their discovery the Mesa
Verde remains were found to have n
commercial value, and vandals began
looting the rooms of pottery. bones and
bits Of fabric. The walls were badly
damaged and foundations undermined
by the reckless collectors.
In 1907 the government reserved the
tracts of land TO protect it from
further plundering. Congress made ap-
pro~priations. and DR.. Fewkes at once
began to restore the damaged ruins
and to put them into condition for
visitors to see. Horseback trails were
the only way Of reaching the ruins at
first. and few tourists had sufficient
enthusiasm TO make the 80 mile trip
from Mancos. Since Their automobile
roads have been built, and a small hotel
has been opened. Rangers act as guides
and Americans can visit the pre-his-
toric ruins of Colorado in modern COM
fort.
Work Just Begun
Almost every year some new type of
ruin is salvaged from the debris of the