The Winslow mail., 1925-09-11
Restoration Work On
Montezuma Castle Is
Proceeding Rapidly

of the national monuments in Ar1-
zona, New Mexico, Nevada and
Utah, has been doing wonderful
work of repair and restoration at
Montezuma Castle during the last
two weeks and expects to spend all
this week in completing the sea-
sons work.
81 wish | could do more" he said
last week, ''but our appropriations
are small and have to be spread
around over lot of work; we are
endeavoring to preserve all the
monuments and to do what little
restoration work we can, but OF
course preservation comes first.
However, 1 had few dollars avail
able for the latter purpose at the
castle and we are doing some of the
things that seemed most impera-
lively necessary.
"The more | study the castle, the
more 1 am certain that it is the re-
suit of long growth in population
and the need of room. 1t is pos
sible to say with every certainty
that there are at least three stages
of building; that is, that the struc-
ture was enlarged at least three
times on what you might call
somewhat major scale with, of
course, constant additions in be-
tween. The main walls have been
extended, once on either side of
the first structure, and there is
every evidence of considerable
growth upward.
I'VE found on this trip that many
of the walls were weakened by
storms and rains, some of the roofs
were getting in bad shape and one
or two of the rooms were in dan
ger of absolute collapse. By the
end of the week all these matters
will have been attended to and the
ruin be in better physical condition
than it has been for some years.
There is much work that we would
like to do, but it will have to wait
another year until some more funds
are available. | wish we could
lead congress out here in a body
and show the representatives and
senator's the really wonderful
things we have; 1 am sure that
they would have no hesitation in
giving us at least enough money to
enable us to preserve for the gen.
erations yet unborn these priceless
relics of dead and vanished civ
ilization. However, we are doing
what we can with such funds as
we have and we are gradually get
ting results"
Among the more important
things accomplished this year are
the complete repair of the upper
parapet of the castle, the strength
ening of a number of weakened
walls, the complete repair of sew
eral of the ceilings, the snoring of
two or three weak roofs and a gem
eral "mudding up" of several of
the outer walls which had become
greatly weakened by storms. In
addition, there has been a general
f'house cleaning" and removal of
accumulated rubbish.
Near the foot of the castle, just
alongside the road, a deposit of
the same marly clay that the build
ers used has been opened and Mr..
Pinckley has had a small crew
mixing the mud" and hoisting it
to where it is needed. The work
is of necessity slow, but a really
remarkable showing has been
made and the castle looks ready
to withstand another year of ma
ture's attempts at destruction
The upper parapet has been COM
pletely repaired and is now in prac-
tically the same condition it was
when the original inhabitants
abandoned their home. Incidental
1y Mr.. Pinckley is on the track Of
what promises to be a most fruit
full discovery
Those who have visited the ruin
must have noticed the huge pile of
broken walls that lies just around
the corner to the left as one faces
the castle and which appears to
be just mass of debris. Tt is now
believed that this curve in the cliff
was once occupied by a building
that would be fairly comparable in
size with the present castle. The
holes in the cliff into which many
timbers were set are plainly Wis
ible-when ones attention is called
to them-and there seems every
ground for the belief that the whole
structure collapsed while still oc-
cupied, and this enormous heap of
debris may yield some priceless
relics when it is examined care
fully. Next year it is planned to
excavate the ground thoroughly
and with every possible care.
81 am beginning to believe" said
the custodian, that we may find
here the reason for the abandon
nent of Montezuma Castle by it's
inhabitants. Let us put ourselves
in their place-always a wise thing
to do when you are theorizing as
to what may have happened 400 or
500 years ago.
"The people in Montezuma Cas-
tie were awakened one night or
alarmed one day by a tremendous
crash. When they investigated they
found that the home of their neigh
bors had collapsed and probably
that everybody in the building at
the time had been killed What