| Show CLIFF DWELLERS PALACE according to acknowledged author stieg a vast region extending extend tug into ed colorado lorado new utah and arizona was waa once the home of cliff dw debere de Here eners says apfl the denver news the rul retae ne of their remarkable structures remain as aa a mute witness of f one of the most moat interesting races that has ever inhabited any part of the globe the greatest of all the ruins ore cre clitee to the cliff chaft dwellers is found in cliff canyon three and a half miles above its entrance to the gancos nyon in southwestern colorado the ie ruins were diso discovered six or seven years ago and have been visited by a aum berof explorer the last party to make the trip returned to denver deliver a few weeks since the perty party consisted of C E hooper of the denver and rio bio grande pu husenger department W H jack son eon E C braman miss braman mr and anat mrs W P F crosby and three guides the journey through the rugged regions of the mancos valley was wag full of interest and will long be vividly impressed on the minds ml ads of all who were so fortunate as to visit the ancient home of an extinct race face u under iader bob such favorable auspices many ruins were passed in the valley which are supposed opposed up posed to be older than any in tile the lif fi the stone houses have crumble I 1 into dust and heaps ot of earth anti and broken pottery murk mark the sites of towns that were once the abodes of hundreds bund redi of poop the country seems full of arrow heads notwithstanding the large number that has haa been carried way away by sightseers sight eight seers for a quarter of a century past at one place in the valley an ancient reservoir bed seven ty five teet feet in diameter and ten feet deep is pointed out in the vicinity is a graveyard with three or four acres thickly with human bom bouts s the gr grinding iDding stones used by the abe p primitive inhabitants in grinding their corn are scattered over the liao surface these tonea stones are too heavy to be easily carried away and may be collected by the wagon load in the valley mr hoeper ho aper describes the cliff palace as an by lar the most striking of the ruins in the manoos mancos jeglor the palaie halwe stands under a projecting ledge seventy five leet above the bottom ot the canyon the structure Is more than feet long and 60 feet deep the crumbling towers indicate that thai it w WB a i oce two to three st stariet oriet sto high the ground floor contains rooms the rooms are square quare wito with the exception of ten rooms which are round rounal and are supposed to have been used as secret chambers by the abe leading men of the tribe in tile center of the 11 or round eu closures olo the party found round hole full fuh of ashes ous oue of the holes was cleaned out aut to the depth ot of six feet without finding any bottom the inhabitants of the palace appeared to have hail had very imperfect ideas as to atit utility of u us he nearly sli too dyora doors are entered through small mall square windows the roo ot of cedar logs jogs sul bojt grass long since crumbled into decay excavations have been made in various parts of the ruins and bones pottery wicker baskets stone utensils and a rude kind of matting made of willow sticks have ibsen brought to light mr hooper vAl estimates wates that could hadj J airily lly comons peca he states that th the masonry work to la varied some of the work being as por per foot feet as if laid by the most moot expert tone stone mason of the present day the coram corn jera are perfectly square and the mortar Is ie me a enduring as aa the natural rook rock it requires require a a person of strong nerve to make the aident of the ruins the holes boles in the cliff bear no evidence ol of having been made by the original inhabitants it Is ia thought they lot let themselves down the perpendicular cliff from above by mea a of rope lad dere dem on the return journey the party visited the sandal bandal house eighteen miles from the town of mancha the house has baa twenty seven rooms mud aud the walls of the projecting cliff are covered with thousands of names of visitors who have left an enduring registry of their presence |
