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Show CAVE DWELLERS. Relics of Prehistoric Races Found in Arizona Mountains. (New York Tribune.) In the Sierra Ancha mountains of Gila county, in the central part of Arizona, Ari-zona, a region of remarkable scenic beauty, are abundant evidences of the occupation of races that far antedated any of the tribes now known in the southwest. Far up on the sides of fully a score of canyons are the ruins of veritable cities, built in limestone clefts and shallow caves, where defense could readily be made against the' marauder. In the pure, dry air of the region much of the timber flooring of the several storied cement-built homes of these ancient peoples is still preserved, though of wood that now is practically practical-ly extinct in the southwest a species of cypress, not one tree of which can be found today in the region for 100 miles around. Far above the cliff dwellings, on the very ridges of the pine-covered mountains, moun-tains, have been discovered a number of caves, probably of natural origin, yet enlarged and hollowed by the hands of men of a race now extinct. One of these caves, of L shape; appears to have been a sacrificial temple, for the walls are scorched and in some places the rock is almost fused by the fierce flames kindled long ago. Beneath the sand-covered floor were found a large number of small urns filled with carbonized car-bonized bones of human beings, who. possibly, had been offered in sacrifice to some Molochlike demon deity. Another cave, practically a tunnel of cylindrical shape, has been discovered, running 100 feet or more into the mountain, ending in a well that the explorers did not care to investigate, save by demonstrating its considerable depth by means of dropping stones into it. The latest discovery was made only a few weeks ago by William McFadden, a well known cattleman. Behind a large clump of bushes he found the entrance to a cave of immense size, which had been subdivided by the ancient an-cient people into eighteen large rooms. At the extreme end an airshaft of artificial arti-ficial construction rose to a connection with some natural crevices far above. The floors are of clay, hard packed and smooth. In one of the rooms was found a numan skull, possibly carried thither by some wild beast in later times. The Apaches, the oldest of the present pres-ent tribes in Arizona, are well acquainted ac-quainted with the location of many of these caves of pre-historic occupation, but fear to linger in their neighborhood, neighbor-hood, telling weird tales of spirit firp dances by night and of ghosts that issue is-sue from the caverns and vanish before the dawn. |