The National Monument was established by proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on November 30, 1915, to protect the ancient cliff dwellings of a vanished people. These remains are of great educational, ethnological, and other scientific interest and it is the purpose of the National Park Service to preserve them as near as possible in their original state. Small sections of fallen walls have been repaired and some of the mud plaster or mortar replaced, but no room is more than 10 per cent repaired.
The cliff dwellings were discovered by pioneers and in 1883 James Stevenson visited Walnut Canyon for the Smithsonian Institution. For many years the main road from Flagstaff to Winslow, now Highway 66, ran within a few rods of Walnut Canyon and brought numerous visitors even in horse and buggy days. Promiscuous digging in Indian ruins, “pot hunting,” was then a popular pastime, and the remains of Walnut Canyon suffered from thoughtless individuals who were seeking relics.
In 1921 Dr. Harold S. Colton, director of the Museum of Northern Arizona, made a survey of the cliff dwellings in Walnut Canyon and located 120 sites, which include more than 400 rooms. Perhaps not all the rooms were occupied at the same time but conservative estimates place the maximum population at 500 to 600 Indians.
WHY THE INDIANS LIVED IN WALNUT CANYON
It is believed that a permanent stream was found in Walnut Canyon when the Indians built their homes. Walnut Canyon is about 400 feet deep and the Indians lived about half way down the side. This required a lot of arduous climbing whenever they went for water, to gather fire wood, to cultivate the fields, or to meet any of their daily needs.
It appears that the Indians’ choice of a homesite in the canyon was guided mainly by where they found natural caves, which might explain why the Indians selected this particular part of the canyon rather than some spot a few miles up or down the stream. Here, too, the main canyon could be entered from a side canyon leading in from the north and emerging practically on the level where most of the cliff dwellings are found. Perhaps the Indians first chose the caves which received the most sunlight in winter, because of the warmth that was gained. As the settlement grew, some families were obliged to live in the less desirable caves which remained shaded throughout the cold days of winter.
Not only was there water and natural shelter in Walnut Canyon, but there was tillable land near the canyon rim where crops would mature without irrigation. The average annual precipitation is about 20 inches and the crops seen from Highways 66 and 89 depend upon rainfall. The cliff dwellers were farmers, as shown by the remains of beans, squash, and the corn cobs found in their homes. Several varieties of both corn and beans were produced.
CLIFF DWELLERS AS FARMERS
Soil near the canyon’s rim is too shallow and rocky to produce good crops, but by traveling two or three miles to the north, land could be found where the soil is deep enough to retain moisture. Here seeds could be planted with a sharpened stick and tended with a stone hoe. No doubt the cliff dwellers had summer camps near these fields where dark-eyed watchers maintained constant vigil to keep away birds and squirrels seeking to dig up the seeds, and later, the deer, rabbits and other animals that came to eat the tender plants. What a struggle it must have been to raise crops without benefit of steel tools, fences, insecticides, and other advantages now considered necessary.
