Cliff Dwellings of the Mesa Verde: A Study in Pictures

by Don Watson

THE FIRST EXCAVATION

Filled with a desire to tell others of their surprising discoveries they returned to the Wetherill ranch and spread the news of the great ruins they had found. Immediately John Wetherill decided to visit Cliff Palace. With three other men he set out and only four days after the discovery the men entered the ruin and began to excavate.

Near the south end of the ruin a kiva was in perfect condition except that the roof was missing. Stretching a piece of canvas over it the men moved in and for three weeks the ancient ceremonial room served as living quarters as they excavated the great cliff dwelling. This was the beginning of serious excavation by the cowboys. The discovery of the large ruins made them feel that the recovery of articles left behind by the Indians might be a profitable business. As Charles Mason stated later in referring to one of their expeditions, “This time we went at it in a more business-like manner. Our previous work had been carried out more to satisfy our own curiosity than for any other purpose but this time it was a business proposition.”

On this first expedition the men kept no record of what they found. In later years two things stood out in John Wetherill’s memory. Throughout the ruin they found a profusion of baskets and in the low room in the rear of the cave they found fourteen mummies.

Square Tower House

The third large ruin discovered by Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason was Square Tower House. The tower which gave the ruin its name is the tallest structure in the Mesa Verde, one wall measuring thirty-three feet in height. In this ruin, of seven kivas and about seventy rooms, two of the kivas have remarkably well preserved roofs.

LONG HOUSE—DESTRUCTION BY THE EARLY EXPLORERS

THE PERIOD OF EXPLOITATION

Within a short time after the discovery of the major ruins a large number of men were digging in the cliff dwellings of the Mesa Verde. The Wetherills were able to sell several collections, one for $3000, and word spread that digging was profitable.

That the ruins suffered greatly from the work done during the early years is everywhere evident. Below is Long House, probably the saddest example of what careless excavation did to the ruins. Long House was, without doubt, the second largest cliff dwelling in the Mesa Verde, rivaling Cliff Palace in size. Now little remains standing. But careful study of foundations, broken bits of masonry and the outlines of rooms on the cave walls indicates that the cave was once full of high structures. The great mass of stones that can be seen sliding down into the trees all across the front of the cave is an indication of the amount of masonry that once stood in the cave. Tales have come down to us indicating that dynamite was used by some of the early explorers in opening up the ruins. Dynamite fuse found in Long House lends support to these stories.

The work of some of the diggers was careless and ruthless. They had no consideration for the ruins for their only thought was of the sales value of the artifacts recovered. An indication of this can be seen in the fact that a banker in a nearby town “grub staked” men to dig in the ruins. Supplying them with food and equipment he received a percentage of their profits from the sale of artifacts.

The vast wealth of material taken from the ruins was widely scattered and much of it has disappeared. Of all those who excavated in the Mesa Verde during the early years probably only the Wetherill brothers kept records on what they found. Most of their collections were sold to museums and the Wetherills were encouraged by the museums to keep careful notes. These collections, even though they may now be in distant parts of the world, have value because of the records the men kept.

In 1889 and 1890, a writer named F. H. Chapin spent several weeks in the Mesa Verde traveling with the Wetherills. The extent of their excavations is indicated by some of the statements in his famous book, “The Land of the Cliff Dwellers.”

“Up to March 14, 1890, they had examined in all one hundred and eighty-two houses.... They visited one hundred and six houses in Navaho Canyon alone....”

The thoroughness with which the ruins were excavated can be seen by a statement made by Charles Mason in writing about one of their collecting trips. “In spite of the fact that all of the cliff dwellings had been worked two or three times, we succeeded in making a very good showing.”

Long House

Long House is one of the many ruins in the remote western part of the park. It was once the second largest cliff dwelling in the Mesa Verde. Today little is left for much of it was demolished by the early explorers. Fifteen kivas can be counted but because of the tumbled condition it is impossible to estimate how many rooms it once contained. One early writer who saw Long House in 1890, stated that it was the largest cliff dwelling that had been discovered in this region. Perhaps at that time much more of Long House was standing.

THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC EXCAVATION

EXCAVATION AND REPAIR

The larger ruins of the Mesa Verde were discovered in 1888, and for eighteen years they were without protection. Anyone who wished to could excavate in them and since there was a ready sale for the artifacts a large number of men engaged in commercial excavation. The ruins suffered greatly during this period for there was no realization that the area would ever be accessible to the general public.

In 1906, through the efforts of interested people, a portion of the mesa was set aside as Mesa Verde National Park and since that time the ruins have been protected. A superintendent and the first rangers reached the new park in 1907, and the period of commercial excavation came to an end.

At that time there was no road and the park could be reached only by a ride of thirty miles on horseback. In spite of this, visitors began to come and it soon became apparent that in time there would be heavy visitation. Equally apparent was the fact that the ruins were in no condition to receive visitors. Weakened by centuries of neglect and further weakened by the careless work of the early explorers many of the ruins were in poor condition. They could not long survive the impact of the thousands of visitors who would begin to arrive as soon as the first road was built. The answer to this problem was excavation and repair of ruins that were to be visited by the public.

In 1908, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, of the Smithsonian Institution, excavated Spruce Tree House and the picture below shows the ruin as it looks today. First the ruin was cleaned out. When the work began, the courts, passageways, and ground floor rooms were filled, sometimes to a depth of several feet, with fallen stones, caved roofs and trash. As this debris was removed, only a few articles of value were found for the early excavators had been thorough in their work. The repair work consisted simply of strengthening the weak sections so there would be no further deterioration. Crumbling foundations were strengthened; leaning walls were braced; cracks were filled with adobe mortar. In all the work there was no thought of restoration for too much modern work would destroy the spirit of the ancient ruin.

In his report on the work in Spruce Tree House, Dr. Fewkes stated, “The intention of the author has not been the reconstruction but the repair of Spruce Tree House. Walls in danger of falling, especially those that have suffered a thrust from the perpendicular, have been so treated as to prevent their falling. No radical reconstruction of the rooms has been attempted; the walls have not been built up, but the skylines remain practically as they were before the excavations were begun.”

Spruce Tree House

The view of Spruce Tree House shows the ruin after excavation. In 1908, the debris was cleaned out and necessary repairs were made. At the time of excavation, Dr. Fewkes counted eight kivas and 114 rooms. He estimated, however, that it had once contained at least 140 rooms. Large sections of the ruin still stand at their original height and several rooms have their original roofs.