Evening star., 1935-07-21

buffalo hide. devoured squash seeds
from the garbage of a vanished race.
At some time during the delirious
days of his captivity his distorted mind
had an inspiration. He cut his clothes
into strips, braided rope and let him
self down to safety.
From the bottom Of the canyon It
must have taken him at least a day
and night to climb to the surface,
where he was discovered by his COM
rades. babbling idiot.
When he told about the cliff dwell
tngs his reScuerS' interest was
aroused: but when he added tales of
seeing little men with chin whiskers
carrying water In jars up and down
the ropes to their houses they believed
the whole recital the hallucinations
of a lunatic. A few riders followed
his trail as far as they dared and
with field glasses located what ap-
peared to be the ruins of cliff dwell
ings, but cowboys are not archeologists
and the discovery was not reported
to the outside world.
Two years later-during the Sum
mer Of 1914 small party of cowboys
followed some rustlers into the can
yon several miles below the place
where Lynch had had his accident.
They camped one afternoon on Bear
River, and after being exhilarated by
a swim. proceeded to climb the almost
precipitous walls surrounding them. A
faint path was noticed, leading by
devious turns up what appeared to be
a sheer precipice. Did it lead to an
outlaws cache--a hiding place for
treasure?
Cowboys Find Ruins.
The cowboys followed the trail to
the base of a 30-foot ledge Here the
trail stopped and steps had been cut
across the face of the bluff. The steps
we're worn almost smooth and were
impossible. A ruined wall was visible
above, and the cowboys realized that
they would not find any hidden treas
ure, but had, instead, discovered cliff
house. A pinnacle on the ledge was
soon lassoed and the cowboys climbed
into the ruins. Interested, but dis
appointed by finding no treasure, the
men returned to their work and none
of them considered the discovery
worth mentioning
Then came years Of prosperity for
cattlemen. The depression that fol-
lowed was fully as acute on the open
ranges as it was in the cities. The
stockmen found themselves hard run
for the mere necessities of life. and one
of them, endeavoring to interest a
boys school in a pack trip through the
canyon, described the weird. compel
ling beauty of the country and men,
toned as an afterthought that the
boys might experience the novelty of
| hunting for cliff houses. The stock
mans letter came to the hands of the
president of the Colorado Biological
Survey, who realized that an archeo-
logical discovery had been made.
A small expedition was sent into the
| field in 1888, headed by F. Martin
Brown of Colorado Springs, mainly to
determine whether the rumors of cliff
dwellings were authentic. The archeol-
ogists had neither time nor equip
ment for extensive research.
New Culture Discovered.
This preliminary expedition meas
ured and photographed a few dwell
ings and collected samples Of broken
baskets and potsherdS. The type OF
pots and baskets found do not conform
with the cliff-dweller cultures in the
Southwest. Evidently a new culture
has been discovered. Archeologists
| Immediately propounded two expla1a-
tions for the new discovery: The cliff
dweIlers> in the Southwest, abandoning
their homes, moved to this northern
site, or the cliff jewellers civilization
started in Yampa Canyon and mi
grated to the Southwest. Either view
is logical. Cautious. scientific observers
say, "Waitl These houses have not
| been sufficiently explored"
The few houses that have been In
spected have contained masonry SINH
lar to the walls built by the Basket
Continued onaSeventh Pase2