The Wetherills were noted for their friendliness toward the Ute Indians who occupied the Mesa Verde and surrounding areas. In the early eighties the Utes began to allow them to winter their cattle in the Mancos Canyon, which bordered the Mesa Verde on the east and south. Immediately the men began to notice small cliff dwellings. They entered a number and even scratched about to see what was buried in the ruins. Rapidly their interest grew, especially when a Ute, named Acowitz, told them that in one of the canyons to the north was a cliff dwelling that was larger than all the others. His description of its size sounded unbelievable but from that time on the Wetherills had it in mind as they worked with their cattle. Once Al thought he saw it. Walking along a canyon bottom one evening he saw in the cliff, far above, the arching roof of a great cave. But darkness was coming and he did not climb up to it.
Actual details of the discovery of the greatest cliff dwelling are somewhat confusing for as the different men told the story in later years there was some variation in the minor details. On one point, however, there was no disagreement. Credit for being the first white men to enter Cliff Palace goes to Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law, Charles Mason. Many years later Mason, in an article in the Denver Post, told of this stirring event which took place on December 18, 1888.
“In December 1888, Richard and I started out to explore. We followed the Indian trail down Chapin Mesa, between Cliff and Navaho Canyons, and camped at the head of a small branch of the Cliff Palace fork of Cliff Canyon.... We rode out to the point of the mesa.... From the rim of the canyon we had our first view of Cliff Palace, just across the canyon from us. To me this is the grandest view of all among the ancient ruins of the Southwest.”
Cliff Palace
On December 18, 1888, two cowboys discovered Cliff Palace, the largest of the cliff dwellings. The picture duplicates the view they had from the opposite canyon rim.
CLIFF PALACE—THE FIRST WHITE MEN ENTER THE RUIN
After first sighting Cliff Palace from the opposite canyon rim, the two cowboys decided to enter the great cliff dwelling. Again we go to the words of Charles Mason for this part of the story.
“We rode around the head of the canyon and found a way down over the cliffs to the level of the building. We spent several hours going from room to room, and picked up several articles of interest, among them a stone axe with the handle still on it. There were also parts of several human skeletons scattered about.”
When archeologists excavated Cliff Palace twenty years later it was impossible to visualize the ruin as it had been at the time of discovery. Time after time it had been dug into by the early explorers and no part was undisturbed. For a picture of the ruin as it was on the day of discovery we must again refer to the story told by Charles Mason. While some of his ideas would be hard to support his impressions as he first walked through the greatest of all cliff dwellings are of interest.