In the face of the bluff immediately under this ruin and upon a recessed bench three hundred feet long was a row of little rock-shelters, with just enough room on the ledge in front of them to admit of a promenade the entire length of the shelf. All down the valley of the San Juan, rock shelters and dwellings similar to the group shown in the cut, were met with.
In this instance the houses were situated sixty feet above the trail without any visible means of access. If ladders were used, they were made of timber taller than any of the trees now growing in the valley. Twelve miles below the Montezuma the party discovered really one of the most picturesque and wonderful of all the cliff-dwellings. On the opposite side of the river, where the bluff was two hundred feet high, near the top of the cliff, they observed a deeply receding cave with an opening nearly circular “two hundred feet in diameter, divided equally between the two kinds of rocks, reaching, within a few feet, the top of the bluff above and the level of the valley below. It runs back in a semicircular sweep to a depth of one hundred feet; the top is a perfect half dome, and the lower half only less so from the accumulation of débris and the thick brushy foliage, the cool dampness of its shadowed interior, where the sun never touches, favoring a luxuriant growth. A stratum of harder rock across the central line of the cave has left a bench running around its entire half circle, upon which is built the row of buildings which caught our attention half a mile away.”
Row of 11 Rooms, one story in height, from 4 to 10 feet in width, by 130 feet.
HORIZONTAL SECTION of the
GREAT ECHO CAVE
on the
RIO SAN JUAN
“It will be seen that the houses occupy the left-hand or eastern half of the cave, for the reason, probably, that the ledge was wider on that side, and the wall back of it receded in such a manner as to give considerable additional room for the second floor, or for the upper part of the one-story rooms. It is about fifty feet from the outer edge in to the first building, a small structure sixteen feet long, three feet wide at the outer end, and four at the opposite end; the walls, standing only four feet on the highest remaining corner, were nearly all tumbled in. Then came an open space eleven feet wide and nine deep, that served probably as a sort of workshop. Four holes were drilled into the smooth rock floor, about six feet equidistantly apart, each from six to ten inches deep and five in diameter, as perfectly round as though drilled by machinery. We can reasonably assume that these people were familiar with the art of weaving, and that it was here they worked at the loom, the drilled holes supporting its posts. At b, in this open space, are a number of grooves worn into the rock in various places, caused by the artificers of the little town in shaping and polishing their stone implements. The main building comes next, occupying the widest portion of the ledge, which gives an average width of ten feet inside; it is forty-eight feet long outside, and twelve high, divided inside into three rooms, the first two thirteen and a half feet each in length, and the third sixteen feet, divided into two stories, the lower and upper five feet in height. The joist holes did not penetrate through the walls, being inserted about six inches, half the thickness. The beams rested upon the sloping back-wall, which receded far enough to make the upper rooms about square. Window-like apertures afforded communication between each room, all through the second story, excepting that which opened out to the back of the cave. There was also one window in each lower room, about twelve inches square, looking out toward the open country, and in the upper rooms several small apertures not more than three inches wide were pierced through the wall, hardly more than peep-holes. The walls of the large building continued back in an unbroken line one hundred and thirty feet farther, with an average height of eight feet, and divided into eleven apartments, with communicating apertures through all. The first room was nine and a half feet wide, the others dwindling down gradually to only four feet in width at the other extremity. The rooms were of unequal length, the following being their inside measurements, commencing from the outer end, viz.: 12½, 9½, 8, 7½, 9, 10, 8, 7, 7, 8, 31 feet; the ledge then runs along, gradually narrowing, fifty feet farther, where another wall occurs across it, after which it soon merges into the smooth wall of the cave. The first of these rooms had an aperture leading outward large enough to crawl through; the wall around it had been broken away so that its exact size could not be determined; all the others, of which there were about two to each room, were mere peep-holes, about three inches in diameter, and generally pierced through the wall at a downward angle.” The apartments were well plastered, and in one or two places even the delicate lines on the thumbs and fingers of the plasterers had been plainly retained. At one point an entire hand had left its impress in the cement.
Great Echo Cave.
All these marks indicated that the hands of these people were much smaller than those of the explorers, and it is supposed that they were those of women and children. A circular hollow place, all begrimed and blackened by smoke, seemed to indicate the locality of a common kitchen. The surroundings of this little community of that ancient people indicated that they were well-to-do, and were probably the lords of the neighboring country. From their home in this elevated gallery, under nature’s arching roof of rock, they were in a position to give defiance to their enemies and enjoy the pursuit of their pastoral occupations. This unique residence was named by the explorers the Casa del Eco. Over the plateau westward, the remains of this ancient people were numerous and of the same general character as already described. The party after reaching the Cañon of the Chelly (the stream flowing, as already stated, into the San Juan from the south) found several circular caves averaging about one hundred feet in diameter and containing the ruins of old houses.
