Indians of the Mesa Verde

by Don Watson

The ruin was in a sad state of repair. Roofs had fallen; walls had partially crumbled. Courts and passageways were choked with fallen stones, adobe mortar and broken roof beams. Rat nests filled the darker corners and a mantle of dust and cobwebs lay over all. Out of this jumble the once-proud city raised an unbowed head. Only minor parts had fallen. The greater part of it remained as the Indians had left it. The crumbled parts spoke of age and the forces of decay; the unbroken walls gave mute evidence of the skill of a vanished people.

In order to see the great ruin as it was on the day of discovery we must go again to Charles Mason’s description, published in the Denver Post in 1917, for, because of its condition, he developed a strange theory.

“The final tragedy of the cliff dwellers probably occurred at Cliff Palace. There is scarcely room to doubt that the place withstood an extended siege. In the entire building only two timbers were found by us. All of the joists on which floors and roofs were laid had been wrenched out. These timbers are built into the walls and are difficult to remove, even the little willows on which the mud roofs and upper floors are laid were carefully taken out. No plausible reason for this has been advanced except that it was used as fuel.

“Another strange circumstance is that so many of their valuable possessions were left in the rooms and covered with the clay of which the roofs and upper floors were made, not to mention many of the walls broken down in tearing out the timbers. It would seem that the intention was to conceal their valuables, so their enemies might not secure them, or perhaps the people were in such despair that property was not considered.

“There were many human bones scattered about, as though several people had been killed and left unburied. Had Cliff Palace been abandoned, as has been suggested, and the timbers used in other buildings, all movable articles of value would have been taken away, instead of being covered and much of it broken and destroyed unnecessarily.

“It seems to me that there can be no doubt that the Cliff Dwellers were exterminated by their more savage and warlike neighbors, the men being killed and the women being adopted into the tribe of the conquerors, though in some cases migrations may have become necessary as a result of drouth or pressure from outside tribes.”

While it would be difficult to prove Charles Mason’s theory that “The final tragedy of the cliff dwellers probably occurred at Cliff Palace,” some of his other ideas were sound. The results of many years of intensive research by leading scientists show that he did a shrewd bit of forecasting when he suggested that “migrations may have become necessary as a result of drouth or pressure from outside tribes.”

After exploring Cliff Palace for several hours, the two cowboys, flushed with excitement over their discovery, decided to search for more ruins. Climbing out of the great cave, they mounted their horses and, in order to cover more territory, separated. Mason rode off to the north, while Wetherill went to the north and west. Mason’s search was fruitless but to Richard Wetherill goes credit for the second discovery of the day. After a short ride he came to a small canyon and, seeing no ruins along its western wall, rode around the head of the canyon and turned back to examine the eastern cliffs.

Immediately the discovery came. Within a hundred yards of the head of the canyon was a long, low cave and in it was another great cliff dwelling. While not as large as Cliff Palace, it was in a better state of preservation. This ruin, later named Spruce Tree House, has since proved to be the best-preserved large cliff dwelling in the Mesa Verde.

Night was approaching so Richard made no attempt to enter the ruin. Turning back, he met Mason at a prearranged spot near Cliff Palace and they camped for the night.