On the rubbish in front of this mine was standing the stump of a

pine tree ten feet in circumference. These ancient mines are

found not only on the main-land, but on the islands off the coast

as well. The only helps they seem to have employed was fire,

traces of which are found everywhere, and stone mauls and axes.

The mauls consist of oblong water-worn bowlders of hard tough

rock, nature having done every thing in fashioning them except to

form the groove, which was chiseled out around the middle. Some

copper implements were also found.

Col. Whittlesey, from whose writings we have drawn the foregoing,

concludes that these mines were worked by the Mound Builders. As

he finds no traces of graves or houses, or other evidence of a

protracted stay, he thinks they were worked only through the

Summer season of the year by bands of workmen from the south.

As to what caused the abandonment of the works we do not know. It

might have been an impulse of their race hurrying them on to some

distant migration; or, more probably, pressed by foes from

without, they were compelled to abandon their ancient homes.

Whatever the cause was, nature resumed her sway. Forest trees

crept up to and grew around the mouths of the deserted mines.

Col. Whittlesey concludes from the group of trees growing on the

top of the rubbish heap that at least five hundred years passed

away before the white man came from the south to resume the work

of his ancient predecessor.90

It is not, however, proven that the Mound Builders were the sole

workers of these ancient mines. It is known that the Indians

mined for flint. Some of the excavations for this purpose, in

what is known as Flint Ridge, in Muskingum County, Ohio, are as

marked as the traces of ancient mining in Michigan. Similar

appearances are recorded in Missouri. As copper was in demand

among the Indians, and as it is probable that they obtained much

of it from the North, they may have continued to work the ancient

copper mines until comparatively recent times. Mr. Lapham

believes that the progenitors of the Indian tribes found dwelling

in the regions near these mines, carried on mining operations

there. Dr. Rau thinks it probable that small bands of various

Northern tribes made periodical excursions to the locality,

returning to their homes when they had supplied themselves with

sufficient quantities of the much-desired metal. The fact that

many of the modern Indian tribes knew nothing about these mines

is not of much weight, when we reflect how easily a barbarian

people forget events, even those of a striking nature.

We are apt to judge the culture of a people by the skill they

display in works of arts. The article on which the Mound Builder

lavished most of his skill was the pipe. This would show that

with them, as with the modern Indians, the use of the pipe was

largely interwoven with their civil and religious observances. In

making war and in concluding peace, it probably played a very

important part. “To know the whole history of tobacco, of the

custom of smoking, and of the origin of the pipe, would be to

solve many of the most interesting problems of American

ethnology.”91

The general decoration consisted in carving the bowl of the pipe

into the shape of some animal or bird. In some instances we have

carved representations of the human head. Such as these are of

particular interest and value, as they are probably faithful

representations of the features of the Mound Builders. This is a

fine specimen found in one of the altar mounds in Ohio. The

method of wearing the hair is worthy of notice. The holes placed

in a row encircling the forehead and coming down as low as the

ears, were once filled with pearls. In some they still remained

when found, though they had been burned in the fire. The lines

upon the face obviously imitate the custom of tattooing the

countenance.

Sculptured Face and Face of a Female.

Scholars have called attention to the fact that Humboldt

discovered in Mexico a small statue which he supposed represented

an Aztec priestess. This statue had sculptured upon its forehead

a row of pearls, worn in the same manner as is represented in

this pipe. This is another pipe of great interest, and is

supposed to represent the head of a woman. The countenance is

expressive, the eyes prominent, and the lips full and rounded. We

must notice again the headdress. While the faces are of Indian

type, the method of wearing the hair is different from that of

the typical Indian of the North.

Beaver.

The animal forms into which the pipe-bowls are carved, are also

full of interest. This is not so much on account of animal forms

themselves as the insight we gain as to the artistic skill of the

people who fashioned the pipes, and in various ways learn of bits

of customs and manners peculiar to them. Here we have figured a

pipe, the bowl of which is carved to represent a beaver. No one

need hesitate as to the animal which the carver had in mind. It

is represented in a characteristic attitude, and has the broad,

flat tail of its species. It must have required no little skill

and patient labor to work a rough stone into this finished pipe,

especially when we remember that the maker had no edged tools

with which to work.

Otter.

We can not always determine the animal which the artist had in

mind. In this illustration we have figured such a pipe.

Considerable discussion has arisen as to the animal represented.

Some cases of this nature have been thought to show either

migration from a distant country on the part of the maker or else

an extended system of trade.

Squier and Davis, who first figured it, supposed it to represent

a manatee, or sea-cow. This animal is essentially a tropical

species, the only known place where it was found in the United

States being Florida. From the presence of this carved specimen,

found a thousand miles to the north, some interesting queries, as

the origin of the mound-building tribes, and the state of life

among them, were raised. It is almost certain, however, that the

animal intended to be represented was the otter.92

Birds on Pipes.

The most general form of sculpture was that of birds, and we find

specimens of almost all the common varieties. In this group we

recognize the tufted heron striking a fish; the eagle, or hawk,

tearing a smaller bird; the swallow, apparently just ready to

fly; and in the last figure, one that has given rise to a good

deal of discussion. Some think from the circumstance of its

having a very large bill, toes pointing behind as well as before,

that it represents a toucan, which, if true, would make it a most

interesting specimen. But cautious scholars conclude that the

“figure is not of sufficient distinctness to identify the

original that was before the artist’s mind.” And therefore it is

not wise to make this specimen the subject of a far-reaching

speculation.93

It may be of interest to inquire whether the Indians made pipes

as tastefully ornamented as those we have described. We should

notice that all the pipes here described are from one very

limited locality in Ohio, and that is the valley of the Scioto,

the same section of country where were found the great inclosures

of a mathematical shape. We have no reason for supposing that the

Mound Builders generally throughout the Mississippi Valley had

this artistic skill. We have seen nowhere any thing to show a

superiority for them in this respect. Whatever conclusion can be

drawn from those pipes, applies only to the tribe in the Scioto

Valley. It is believed they do constitute a peculiar class by

themselves. As works of art, there are but few aboriginal relics

of North American origin their equal.94

We would also refer to the fact that most of these specimens were

obtained from one altar-mound.95 We do not know what ceremonies

were performed around this altar, but if it were a place of

burial or cremation, they might have been the obsequies of some

distinguished maker of pipes. That such a person would be the

recipient of honor, is not singular, for “the manufacture of

stone pipes, necessarily a painful and tedious labor, may have

formed a branch of aboriginal industry, and the skillful pipe

carver probably occupied among the former Indians a rank equal to

that of the experienced sculptor in our times.” Among the Ojibway

Indians, we are told, are persons who possess peculiar skill in

the carving of pipes, and make it their profession, or at least

the means of gaining, in part, their livelihood. One “inlaid his

pipes very tastefully with figures of stars, and flowers of black

and white stones. But his work proceeded very slowly, and he sold

his pipes at high prices.”96 So we see how cautious we must be

about drawing inferences from this peculiar class of pipes found

in one limited locality.

The knowledge of how to manufacture pottery is justly regarded as

a turning point in the advance of primitive man along the weary

road that brings him at last to civilization. At this point he

ceases to be a savage, and enters the confines of Barbarism.97

The skill shown in using this knowledge is one of the many things

we have to take into consideration in determining the rank of a

people in the scale of enlightenment. The Mound Builders were

evidently quite well along in the potter’s art; and as they have

left behind them many examples of their work, we must try and

acquaint ourselves with some of the more important varieties.

Group of Clay Vessels.

This illustration is of a group of clay vessels of the bowl

pattern, found in mounds in different parts of the Mississippi

Valley. In one of these we see a good example of the style of

ornamentation by means of incised lines. In the duck-headed

vessel we have a representation of a class of vessels common in

Missouri and Tennessee. Not unfrequently one or both of the

handles of vessels of this class is in the form of a human head

instead of that of an animal. Our next illustrations represent a

group of such specimens. Judging from the skill with which they

imitated animals, it is not unreasonable to believe that in these

faces we have rude likenesses of the people who made them.

Bowls with Human Faces.

The two bottle-shaped vessels here figured, are from mounds in

Louisiana. As will be noticed, the ornamentation is quite

artistic. The ware is of a good quality, and they are good

examples of the Mound Builders’ art. The form with the long neck

is perhaps a water-cooler. When filled with water, and allowed to

stand, some of the water passes through the pores, and

evaporating, keeps the surface of the vessel cool.

They also made some vessels of large size to serve for cooking

purposes. On some of the larger vessels the imprint of woven

weeds and willows of a basket on the outer surface leads to the

belief that such vessels were formed or moulded within baskets.

Many large pots and urns, however, were made without this aid.

Some large urns were used for burial purposes. In a Michigan

mound an urn about three feet in height had been so used. It was

standing upright, and into it the whole skeleton of a man had

been compressed, and a closely-fitting lid covered the top.98

Very large, shallow vessels were used to manufacture salt—that

is, they were filled from some salt-spring, and then the water

was evaporated, leaving the salt. In localities near

salt-springs, thick fragments of rude earthenware have been found

that must have come from vessels as large as barrels.

Bottle-shaped Vessels. (Smith. Inst.)

Water Cooler.

In the next group we have representations of a singular class of

vessels. In some cases the mouth and neck of the vessel is shaped

in imitation of animals. In the smallest one we recognize the

head of a man, with an opening in the back of the head. Many

vessels of this form are known, and a great many different animal

heads are represented. The fish-shaped vessel is a curious one.

The one figured evidently represents a sun-fish. The long vase or

jug is in the shape of a child’s leg, with an opening in the

heel.

Pottery Vessels. (Smith. Inst.)

Some very beautiful vessels of the character of those we have

figured, have been found in Missouri. One enthusiastic explorer

says, “Perhaps we have very few modern artists who could equal

those ancient pottery makers in taste, skill, curious design, and

wonderful imitation of nature. Birds, beasts, fishes, even the

shells on the river shore, have an exact counterpart in their

domestic utensils.” “While digging in one of these pottery mounds

in Missouri, we unearthed a large tortoise. We thought it was

alive, and seizing it, to cast it into the woods for its liberty,

we were suddenly surprised to find our tortoise was an earthen

vessel in that shape. In the same mound we uncovered a huge

shell—the single valve of a unio. Closer inspection revealed that

it was a perfect earthen vessel. Following these came a perfect

fish, exhibiting, to our astonishment, the scales, fins, and

peculiarities of that species of fish in detail.”99

We must leave this interesting part of our subject. An entire

volume would scarcely do justice to it, but for the sake of

comparison, we must inquire as to the state of this art among the

Indian tribes. It seems that before the arrival of the whites,

the Indian tribes throughout North America, with few exceptions,

were apt potters. The whites, however, soon supplied them with

superior utensils of metal, so, that the majority of the Eastern

tribes soon lost the knowledge of the art. It lingered longer

among the tribes of the South, and of the interior, and even to

this day the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and Arizona make an

excellent article of pottery. Early travelers wrote in high terms

of the skill of the Southern Indians in this matter. Du-Pratz

thought so highly of the work of the Natchez Indians that he had

them make him an entire dinner set.

Catlin, speaking of the Mandan Indians, says the women of that

tribe made great quantities of dishes and bowls, modeled after

many forms. He says they are so strong and serviceable that they

cook food in them by hanging them over the fire, as we would an

iron pot. “I have seen specimens,” he continues, “which have been

dug up in Indian mounds and tombs in the Southern and Middle

States, placed in our Eastern museums, and looked upon as a great

wonder, when here this novelty is at once done away with, and the

whole mystery: where women can be seen handling and using them by

hundreds, and they can be seen every day in the summer, also,

moulding into many fanciful forms, and passing them through the

kilns, where they are hardened.”

Dr. Rau, speaking of the artistic skill of the Indian potters, as

shown by numerous remains gathered in Illinois, does not hesitate

to assert, after personal examination of Mound Builders’ pottery,

that the Indian relics were in every respect equal to those

specimens exhumed from the mounds of the Mississippi Valley.100

Lapham, speaking of fragments of Mound Builders’ pottery in

Wisconsin, says, “They agree in every respect with fragments

found about the old Indian villages.”

The culture of a people is also determined by their knowledge of

agriculture. The savage depends entirely upon hunting and fishing

for subsistence. A knowledge of horticulture, of domestic

animals, and of agriculture, even though rude, are each and all

potent factors in advancing man in culture. So we must inquire as

to the traces of agricultural knowledge observable among the

remains of the Mound Builders. Some writers speak in quite

glowing terms of the enormous crops they must have raised for

their populous cities. The fact is, that while it is doubtless

true that they practiced agriculture, yet we have no reason to

suppose it was any thing more than a rude tillage, such as was

practiced among the village Indian tribes. This is evident from

the tools with which they worked.

Agricultural Implements. (Smith. Inst.)

In a few cases copper tools have been recovered which may have

served for digging in the ground, but in most cases their art

furnished them nothing higher than spades, shovels, picks, and

hoes made of stone, horn, bone, and probably wood. In this cut

are specimens of such agricultural tools. These were doubtless

furnished with handles of wood. The notched one was perhaps

provided with a handle at right angles to it, so as to constitute

a hoe. That we are right in regarding these implements as

agricultural tools, is shown not only by their large size, but

also by the traces of wear discovered on them. We must admit,

however, that agriculture carried on with such tools as these,

must have been in a comparatively rude state.

In this connection we must refer to the garden beds noticed in

some places. We read that in Western Michigan the so-called

garden beds are a distinguishing feature of the ancient

occupation, often covering many acres in a place, in a great

variety of forms, both regular and grotesque.101 These seem from

the above account to be very similar to the garden beds of

Wisconsin. Dr. Lapham tells us that in the latter State they

consist of low, broad, parallel ridges, as if corn had been

planted in drills.

The average four feet in width, and the depth of the walk between

them is six inches. Traces of this kind of cultivation are found

in various parts of the State. We are also referred to the

presence of garden mounds in Missouri, but in this case the low

mounds are of the same mysterious class that Prof. Forshey says

occur by millions in the South-west, and may not be the work of

man. Just what the connection is between the garden beds and the

Mound Builders is hard to determine. Mr. Lapham thinks that those

in Wisconsin were certainly later in date than the mounds. He

observed that they were frequently constructed right across the

works of the Mound Builders. This would seem to imply that the

makers were not one and the same people.

As to the government and religion of the Mound Builders, all is

conjecture. On both of these points a great deal has been

assumed, but when we try to find out the grounds on which these

theories rest we quickly see how little real foundation there is

for any knowledge on this subject. If we are right in our views

as to the effigy mounds of Wisconsin, then a sort of animal

worship prevailed. Whether the great inclosures in the Scioto

Valley were of a religious nature or not is very doubtful. The

great serpent mound was probably an object of worship. The

assertion is quite frequently made that the Mound Builders were

sun worshipers, which may be correct, but we must observe that we

have no proofs of it in the works they have left. We judge it to

be true only because sun-worship was probably a part of the

religion of a large proportion of the Indian race, and because we

find special proofs of its existence among some of the Southern

Indians who are supposed to be closely related to the Mound

Builders.

Idols. (Smith. Inst.)

As we approach the South, we meet with what are supposed to be

rude and uncouth idols, but they have not been found under such

circumstances as to make it positive that they belonged to the

Mound Builders. In this illustration we have two idols,

considered to be genuine relics of the stone-grave people of

Tennessee. The first one is an Aztec idol found at Cholula, and

introduced here simply for comparison. What position these idols

held in connection with the religion of the race, we are not

prepared to say.

Similar remarks might be made as to the system of government. A

number of writers, taking into account the immense labor involved

in constructing some of the works, have insisted that the people

must have lived under a despotic form of government, one in which

the state had unlimited power over the lives and fortunes of its

subjects.102

There is no real foundation for such views, and we think they are

misleading. No one doubts but that the Mound Builders were living

in a tribal state of society. If so, they doubtless had the usual

subdivisions of a tribe. This point we remember afforded us some

insight into the meaning of the effigy mounds of Wisconsin.

This would imply the government by the council, and while the

rulers may have been hereditary, the officers of the tribe were

probably elective, and could be deposed for cause. We do not mean

to assert that this is an exact picture of the state of

government of the Mound Builders, because our knowledge on this

point is not sufficient to make such a positive statement, but it

is far more likely to be true than the picture of a despotic

government, ruling from some capital seat a large extent of

country, holding a court with barbaric pomp and circumstances

such as some writers would have us believe.

We hope our readers have not been wearied by this somewhat

extended investigation of the Mound Builders. Every storm that

beats upon their works tends to level them. The demands of our

modern life are fast obliterating the remaining monuments and,

indeed, it is now only those which are situated in favorable

localities, or are massive in construction, that are left for our

inspection. But these nearly obliterated records of the past are

of more than passing interest to us as monuments of the

prehistoric times of our own country. We wander over these ruins

and find much to interest us, much to excite our curiosity. The

purposes of many are utterly unknown. Some, by their great

proportions, awaken in us feelings of admiration for the

perseverance and energy of their builders. But when we

investigate the objects of stone, of clay, and of copper this

people left behind them, we notice how hard it is to draw a

dividing line between them and the Indians.

In fact, there is no good reason for separating them from the

Indian race as a whole. We do not mean to say that they were not,

in many respects, different from the tribes found in the same

section of the country by the early explorers, though, we ought,

perhaps, to confine this remark to the central portion of the

country occupied by these ancient remains. But the American of

to-day differs from the American of early Colonial times. The

miserable natives of Southern California were Indians, but very

different indeed from the ambitious, warlike Iroquois, who

displayed so much statesmanship in the formation of their

celebrated league. In another chapter we shall discuss this part

of our subject, as well as the question of the antiquity of the

ruins.

REFERENCES

(1) The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. F. W.

Putnam, curator of the Peabody Museum of Archæology and

Ethnology, Harvard University, for criticism.

(2) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 122.

(3) Force: “Some Considerations on the Mound Builders,” p. 64;

“Am. Antiquarian,” March, 1884, pp. 93-4; “10th Annual Report,

Peabody Museum,” p. 11.

(4) Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity”, p. 28.

(5) Squier and Davis’s “Ancient Monuments,” p. 105.

(6) Foster’s “Prehistoric Paces,” p. 148.

(7) Squier’s “Aboriginal Monuments of New York,” Smithsonia

Contribution No. 11, p. 83.

(8) Squier’s “Aboriginal Monuments of New York,” Smithsonia

Contribution No. 11, p. 87.

(9) Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 121.

(10) “They are numbered by millions.” Ibid.

(11) Prof. Forshey could frame no satisfactory hypothesis of

their origin. Ibid, p. 122.

(12) “Native Races,” Vol. IV, pp. 739 and 740.

(13) Smithsonian Rep., 1870, p. 406.

(14) Narrative of U.S. exploring expedition during the years

1838-42, Vol. IV, p. 334.

(15) Prof. Gibbs in Frank Leslie’s Monthly, August, 1883.

(16) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 139.

(17) Jones’s “Explorations in Tennessee,” p. 15.

(18) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 143. Explorers for Bureau of

Ethnology so report it in the South. Prof. Putnam, who has

certainly had great experience, says he has always found the

layers to be horizontal.

(19) “Sixteenth Annual Report Peabody Museum,” p, 171. An

ornament shaped to resemble the head of a wood-pecker, made of

gold, derived from some Spanish source, was found in a mound in

Florida. This particular mound must have been erected after the

discovery of America. (“Smithsonian Report,” 1877, p. 298, _et

seq._)

(20) “Sixteenth and Seventeenth Report Peabody Museum.” These

ornaments were made of hammered iron. This is the first time

that native iron has been found in the mounds. (Putnam.)

(21) “Prehistoric Races,” p. 178.

(22) J. E. Stevens’s Paper, read before the Muscatine Academy

of Science, Dec., 1878.

(23) That this was at any rate sometimes the case See “Ancient

Monuments,” p. 159.

(24) “Peabody Museum Reports,” Vol. II, p. 58.

(25) Jones’s “Explorations in Tennessee,” p. 15. See also

“First An. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,” p. 198.

(26) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 169. See also note on same page

for another account of a larger number of skeletons.

(27) Short’s “North Americans of Antiquity,” App. A.

(28) James’s “Popular Science,” File 1883, p. 445.

(29) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 173.

(30) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 74.

(31) “Views of Louisiana.”

(32) This cut represents the mound as it probably was before

the outlines were destroyed by cultivation. It is based on a

model prepared by Dr. Patrick for the Peabody Museum.

(33) “Peabody Museum Report,” Vol. II, p.473. As this may

include some of the wash from the mound, perhaps it would be

better to give the real area of the base as over twelve acres.

(34) That is, if we follow the plan.

(35) “Prehistoric Races,” p. 107.

(36) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 174.

(37) Pickett’s “History of Alabama,” Vol. I., p. 301.

(38) Carr’s “Mounds of the Mississippi Valley,” pp. 91, 92;

note, 103.

(39) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 117. Note.—For the statement made

in this text we are under obligation to Prof. Thomas, of the

Bureau of Ethnology, who, in answer to a letter of inquiry,

kindly furnished the information.

(40) _“Am. Antiquarian,”_ March, 1884, p. 99.

(41) It may be that no mounds were built for signaling purposes

alone. The work of erecting mounds was so great that it is

quite likely they were always erected for some other purpose,

and used only secondarily for signal purposes. Such is shown to

be the case with many of the signal mounds in Ohio. Such is the

opinion of Mr. MacLean, who has made extensive researches.

(42) Force’s “Some Consideration of the Mound Builders,” p. 65.

(43) Similar effigy mounds have been recently observed in

Minnesota, but they have not yet been described. (Putnam.)

(44) Peet’s _American Antiquarian,_ May, 1884, p. 184.

(45) Peet’s _American Antiquarian,_ January, 1884. We are

indebted to the writings of Mr. Peet in this periodical for the

months of January, May, and July, 1884, for many interesting

facts in reference to the effigy mounds. He has studied them

more than any other person, and his conclusions are

consequently of great value.

(46) Peet’s “Emblematic Mounds and Totem System of the Indian

Tribes.”

(47) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 40.

(48) _American Antiquarian,_ January, 1883.

(49) Putnam, in “Proceedings of American Antiquarian Society,”

1884.

(50) Peet’s “Emblematic Mounds and Totem System of the Indian

Tribes.”

(51) Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 383.

(52) Peet’s “Military Architecture of the Emblematic Mound

Builders.”

(53) “Smithsonian Report,” 1877, p. 278, _et seq._

(54) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 97; _American Antiquarian,_

January, 1883, p. 77.

(55) This information is communicated by Mr. L. N. Tower, a

gentleman in the employ of C. “&” N. W. E. R., at Tracy, Minn.,

who, at the request of the writer visited this locality, made

measurements, etc.

(56) _American Antiquarian,_ November, 1884, p. 403.

(57) The dimensions of this figure vary. Mr. MacLean’s survey

makes the entire length of the serpent part eleven hundred and

sixteen feet; the distance between the extended jaws, one

hundred feet. The oval figure is one hundred and thirteen feet

long by fifty feet wide. The frog or head portion is fifty-five

feet. Mr. Squier says, “The entire length, if extended, would

be not less than one thousand feet.” Mr. Putnam’s measurements

make it fourteen hundred and fifteen feet. The writer would

state that he visited this effigy in the summer of 1884. Though

there but a very short time, and not prepared to make careful

measurements, he did notice some points in which the

illustrations, previously given, are certainly wrong. The oval

is not at the very extremity of the cliff. The little

projections generally called ears of the serpent are not at

right angles to the body, but incline backwards. The

convolutions of the serpent’s body bend back and forth quite

across the surface of the ridge.

(58) Schmuckers.

(59) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 47.

(60) Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 175.

(61) “Contributions North American Ethnology,” Vol. IV, p. 210.

A cut of this “restored” pueblo is there given.

(62) See discussion of this subject in “Proceedings of Am.

Antiq. Society,” Oct., 1883.

(63) “Peabody Museum Reports,” Vol. II, p. 205.

(64) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 47.

(65) Peet: “The Mound Builders.”

(66) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 53.

(67) Force: “Some Considerations on the Mound Builders,” p. 64.

(68) “Archæologia Americana,” Vol. I, p. 129.

(69) For words at Newark, consult “Ancient Monuments,” p. 67,

_et seq. “American Antiquarian,”_ July, 1882.

(70) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 74.

(71) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 88.

(72) Mr. Putnam visited the work a few years since, and came to

the conclusion that the larger and old openings were part of

the original design, and that they were places where it was

easier to put up log structures than earthen walls. Just such

openings occur in the massive stone wall around Fort Hill, in

Highland County. A few of the openings at Fort Ancient he

thinks are unquestionably of recent origin, in order to drain

the holes inside the embankments.

(73) _Cincinnati Quart. Journal Science,_ 1874, p. 294.

(74) Peet: “The Mound Builders.”

(75) Peet’s “Mound Builders:” “If the reader will compare some

of these last cuts with that of the fortified camp at Cissbury,

Eng., p. 183, he will see how similar this last work is to

those just mentioned. Perhaps the real lesson to be learned is

that rude people, whether Indians, Mound Builders, or Celts,

resorted to about the same method of defense.”

(76) “Antiquarian Research,” p. 89.

(77) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 15, _et seq._

Mr. Conant refers to Mr. Pidgeon’s work in such a way as to

give the impression that he was convinced of the genuineness of

his account.

(78) “Traditions of Decodah,” p. 89, _et seq._

(79) “Antiquarian Research,” p. 190.

(80) “The American Indian, so far as known, without the

exception of a single tribe, worshiped the sun.” Carr’s “Mounds

of the Mississippi Valley,” p. 56.

(81) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 60.

(82) Ibid., p. 32. If the explorers are really satisfied this

was a walled town, it ought to throw some light on the

inclosures in the Ohio Valley.

(83) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 35.

(84) Conant’s “Footprints of Vanished Races,” p. 77.

(85) Vol. III, p. 290, _et seq._

(86) Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 11.

(87) “Ancient Monuments,” p. 210; also Peet: “The Mound

Builders.” “Their relics are marked by a peculiar finish.”

(88) Rau’s “Anthropological Research.”

(89) “Proceedings Am. Antiq. Society,” April, 1877, p. 61.

(90) “Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge,” Vol. XIII.

(91) Abbott’s “Primitive Industry,” p. 315.

(92) “Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology,” 1880-1, p. 123,

_et seq._

(93) In the “Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology,” for 1880-1,

Mr. Henshaw has very fully discussed these mound-pipes, and

shown that Messrs. Squier and Davis wore mistaken in a number

of their identifications of the animal forms. He concludes

there “are no representations of birds or animals not

indigenous to the Mississippi Valley.”

(94) The recent discoveries by Putnam and Metz, in the

Altar-mounds in the Little Miami Valley, have brought to light

many interesting and important sculptures in stone and

terra-cotta, which, as works of art, are in some respects

superior to those from the Scioto Valley, but as they have not

yet been figured, we can only refer to them here in this brief

note.

(95) “Number Eight,” Mound City, near Chillicothe, Ohio.

“Ancient Monuments,” p. 152.

(96) Rau: “Anthropological Subjects,” p. 130.

(97) Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 12.

(98) _American Antiquarian,_ 1879, p. 64.

(99) McAdams: _American Antiquarian,_ 1880, p. 140.

(100) “Smithsonian Report,” 1866. We have gathered these points

for comparison from Dr. Rau’s article in that report.

(101) Bella Hubbard, _American Antiquarian,_ 1876, p. 219.

(102) Foster’s “Prehistoric Races,” p. 346.

Chapter XI

THE PUEBLO COUNTRY.1

Description of the Pueblo Country—Historical outline—Description

of Zuñi—Definition of a Pueblo—Old Zuñi—Inscription Rock—Pueblo

of Jemez—Historical notice of Pecos —Description of the Moqui

tribes—The Estufa—Description of the San Juan country—Aztec

Springs—In the cañon of the McElmo—The Ruins of the Rio Mancos—On

Hovenweep Creek—Description of a Cliff-house—Cliff Town—Cave

houses—Ruins on the San Juan—Cave Town—The Significance of

Cliff-houses—Moqui traditions—Ruins in Northern New Mexico—Ruins

in the Chaco cañon—Pueblo Bonito—Ruins in South-western

Arizona—The Rio Verde Valley—Casa Grande—Ruins on the

Gila—Culture of the Pueblo Tribes—Their Pottery—Superiority of

the Ancient pottery—Conclusion.

We have hitherto been describing people and tribes that have

completely vanished. We have peered into the mysterious past and

sought as best we could to conjure back the scenes of many years

ago. The line between the known and the unknown, between the

historic and prehistoric, is not far removed from us in the new

world. Not yet four centuries have passed since the veil was

lifted, and America, with her savage tribes of the North, and her

rude civilization of the South, was revealed to the wondering

eyes of Europe. But with a knowledge of this new land came also

wondrous stories of wealth, and in consequence an army of

adventurers were soon on her shores. Then follows a short period

of war and conquest. The Indian race could not withstand the

whites. European civilization, transplanted to America, has

thriven. But whatever advance the native tribes have made since

the discovery, has been by reason of contact with the whites.

Map of the Pueblo Country.

There was no single birthplace of American culture. Advance took

place wherever the climate was mild and the soil fertile, and

thus an abundant supply of food could be obtained. One such

locality was the valley of the San Juan, in what is now the

southwestern part of the United States. It is quite allowable to

suppose that here the mild climate and bountiful soil suggested

agriculture, and with a knowledge of this, rude though it was, a

beginning was made in a culture which subsequently excited the

admiration of the Spaniards. However that may be, we know this

section contains abundant ruins of former inhabitants. And yet

again we find in this same country the remnants of this former

people, doubtless living much the same sort of life as did their

forefathers. American scholars, with the best of reason, think

this section affords the best vantage ground from which to study

the question of native American culture. It presents us not only

with ruins of past greatness, but in the inhabited pueblos, gives

us a picture of primitive times, and invites us, by a careful

study of their institutions, to become acquainted with primitive

society.

Travelers and explorers describe the scenery of the Pueblo

country as a very peculiar one. It is bleak without being

absolutely barren. The great mountain chains form picturesque

profiles, which in a measure compensate for the lack of

vegetation. No country on the face of the globe bears such

testimony to the power of running water to wear away the surface.

The rivers commenced by wearing down great cañons. They occur

here on a grand scale. The cañon of the Colorado River, having a

length of two hundred miles, and through the whole, nearly

vertical walls of rock, three to six thousand feet in height.

Nearly all the tributary streams of the Colorado empty into it by

means of gorges nearly as profound. What is true of the Colorado

is true, though in a lesser degree of the Rio Grande and of the

Pecos, as only portions of these streams are cañon-born. But,

besides digging out these cañons, the entire surface of the

country has in places been removed to the depth of several

hundred feet, leaving large extent of table-lands, called mesas,

with generally steep, or even precipitous, sides, standing

isolated here and there.

Though thus bearing evidence of more extended rainfall, and of

the action of water in the past, it is essentially an arid

country now. Most of the minor water-courses laid down on the map

are dry half of the year, or have but scattered pools of water;

so a description of the surface of the country would tell us of

deep river valleys, in many cases narrow and running through

rocky beds, in which case we call them cañons; in other cases

very wide, but having generally precipitous sides; the country

often mountainous and great stretches of table-land, but

generally dry and desolate, except in the immediate vicinity of

rivers. The river valleys themselves are generally very fertile.

Such is the country where we are to investigate native American

culture. The history of the country since its first occupation by

the Spaniards is not devoid of interest. It did not take the

Indians of Mexico long to learn that what the Spaniards most

prized was gold, and that the surest way to curry favor with them

was to relate to them exaggerated stories of wonderful wealth to

be gained in distant provinces. About 1530 the viceroy of New

Spain (Mexico) learned from an Indian slave of seven great cities

somewhere to the north; and of their wealth it was said they had

streets exclusively occupied by workers in gold and silver.

Though expeditions to the northern provinces of Mexico speedily

dispelled the illusions in regard to them, the wonderful story of

the Seven Cities flitted further north. Six years later these

stories were invested with new life by the arrival in Mexico of

Cabeza De Vaca and three companions. The story of their

remarkable wanderings reads like an extract from a work of

fiction. They were members of the unfortunate Spanish expeditions

to the coast of Florida in 1528. After the shipwreck and final

overthrow of the expedition, these four men had wandered from

somewhere on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, first north, and

then west, passing through, probably, portions of Texas and New

Mexico, until finally they were so fortunate as to meet with

their own countrymen near Culiacan, in Mexico. The story they had

to tell fell on willing ears. They stated to the viceroy that

they had carefully observed the country through which they had

passed, and had been told of great and powerful cities containing

houses of four and five stories, with the usual accompaniments of

great wealth.

The next incident was the journey of three Franciscan friars and

a negro (who, by the way, had been with De Vaca in his

wanderings), sent out by the Governor Coronado, with orders to

return and report to him all they could learn by personal

observation of the Seven Cities. This expedition did not

accomplish much. Arriving near Cibola (the Spanish name for the

country of the Seven Cities), they sent the negro on ahead to

gain the good will of the Indians. Instead of this, he was killed

by them. On hearing which, the monks contented themselves with

gazing on the pueblo (which they describe as “more considerable

than Mexico”) from a safe distance, and then hurriedly returned

to Culiacan. They gave Coronado a most glowing account of all

they had discovered.

Coronado now thought the time had come for decisive action.

Accordingly, with the viceroy’s permission, he organized his

forces, and in 1540 set out on his memorable march in search of

the Seven Cities of Cibola. We do not propose to give in detail

the series of conquests beginning with this expedition and

finally ending with the subjection of New Mexico in 1598. It is

needless to say that the Spanish forces found no cities teeming

with wealth. What they did find was a country much the same as at

present. The cities were the communal houses, or combination of

houses, known as pueblos. The pueblo of Zuñi is the remaining one

of the mystical seven. The ruins of at least six other pueblos

are known to be in the immediate vicinity.2

\ Pueblo of Zuñi.

This historical account, short and imperfect as it is, introduces

us to a most interesting people. If we would know more of them we

can not do better than to adopt the advice of Hosta, ex governor

of Jemez, to Dr. Loew: “If you wish to see what a great people we

once were you must go upon the mesas and into the cañons of the

vicinity, where ruins of our forefathers are numerous.”

One of the most important pueblos yet remaining inhabited, and

one of the first that Coronado encountered in his expedition, is

Zuñi. The present pueblo is considered as the remaining one of

the Seven Cities—at least, by the majority of Americanists.

Whipple describes Zuñi as follows: “Treading an opening between

rocky bluffs, . . . we entered the valley, several miles in

width, which leads to Zuñi. The soil seemed light, but where

cultivated it produced fine crops without the aid of irrigation.

. . . Within the valley appeared occasional towers, where herders

and, laborers watch to prevent a surprise from Apaches. Near the

center of this apparent plain stood, upon an eminence, the

compact city of Zuñi.3 By its side flowed the river which bears

the same name. It is now but a rivulet of humble dimensions,

though sometimes said to be a large stream. . . . Passing beneath

an arch, we entered a court, . . . entirely surrounded by houses

of several receding stories, which were attained by means of

ladders loading from one to another. . . . From the top the

pueblo reminds one of an immense ant-hill, from its similar form

and dense population. . . . Going down from its outer side into

the street, we encounter five stories of descent.”4

In order to prevent confusion, we will state that a pueblo, which

is the Spanish name for these old Indian towns, may be one of

several different types. A common form of village consists of but

one or two, seldom three, large buildings, so arranged as to

surround an interior court. Sometimes there is but one large

building, which is nearly in the shape of a half circle; instead

of being really circular, it has a number of different sides. In

some cases a village consists of a number of these large houses

irregularly arranged. But the tendency is always to inclose a

square.5

In the modern villages the buildings forming the square do not

meet, but in some cases are connected by bridges or covered

gangways, and in some instances the houses project over the

streets below, which, being narrow, are thus given an underground

appearance.6

Ground Plan and End View. The buildings, or communal houses, for

one house contained sometimes five hundred rooms, are generally

from three to four hundred feet long and about one hundred and

fifty feet in width at the base. The lower story is divided by

cross-walls into a mass of cell-like rooms, as shown in the

illustrations which represents the ground plan of a pueblo having

four ranges of rooms. Each story in height has one less range of

rooms, so that, looking directly at the end of this building, it

would present the appearance shown by this cut: The only means of

getting from one terrace to the other is by the aid of ladders.

In some cases these terraces run from both sides of the building;

in others they face the inclosed space; and in others still they

face outside. Most of the inhabited pueblos are built of

adobe—that is, sun-dried bricks. The majority of the ancient

ruins were built of stone set in adobe mortar. With this

digression, we will now return to Zuñi.

Old Zuñi.

Ruins testifying to the former greatness of these people are

scattered around them. Three miles to the east of the present

pueblo of Zuñi, on the bluff seen in the cut, are the ruins of a

larger pueblo, which is called Old Zuñi. Mr. Whipple, who

explored this field of ruins, thus describes his visit: “The

projecting summit of the cliffs seemed inaccessible. . . . We

followed a trail which, with great labor, had been hammered out

from seam to seam of the rocks along the side of the precipice.

At various points of the ascent, where a projecting rock

permitted, were barricades of stone walls, from which the old

man7 told us they had hurled rocks upon the invading Spaniards.

Having ascended one thousand feet, we found ourselves upon a

level surface, covered with thick cedars. . . . The top of the

mesa was of an irregular figure, a mile in width, bounded upon

all sides by perpendicular bluffs. . . . The guide hurried us on

half a mile further, where appeared the ruins of a city, indeed.

Crumbling walls, from two to twelve feet in height, were crowded

together in confused heaps, over several acres of ground. . . .

Upon examining the pueblo, we found the standing walls rested

upon ruins of greater antiquity.8 The primitive masonry, as well

as we could judge, must have been about six feet thick. The more

recent was not more than a foot or a foot and a half, but the

small sandstone blocks had been laid in mud mortar with

considerable care.”9

The descriptions of ruins have so much that is similar that

repetitions become tiresome. We will not, therefore, delay much

longer with Zuñi. A few miles east of Old Zuñi we come to Pescado

Springs, near which are the ruins of several pueblos. “This

spring bursts from a broken point of the lava bed, and at once

becomes a pretty stream, glittering with great numbers of the

finny tribe, which gives name to it. The circular wall which once

inclosed the fountainhead is now partly broken down. Upon each

side, and almost tangent, are ruins of pueblos so ancient that

the traditions of present races do not reach them. They are

nearly circular in form, and of equal dimension. One measured

three hundred and fifteen short paces, about eight hundred feet,

in circumference. They were of stone; but the walls have

crumbled, leaving only a heap of rubbish.”10

Following up this stream, other ruins were found. It seems, then,

that in the pueblo of Zuñi we have left a pitiful remnant of a

numerous people. When the Spaniards first appeared on the scene

they were apparently prosperous. The rapid decrease of the Pueblo

tribes was owing to several causes. In 1680 they made an attempt

to throw off the Spanish yoke. At first this was successful. But

inter-tribal warfare at once set in. At this time also the

inroads of the Apaches and Navajos became so troublesome that the

Pueblo tribes could not successfully cultivate their land. At

this time also a succession of dry years set in, and famine was

the result. Their customs and manners we will describe in another

place. There are many reasons for supposing that the country had

been inhabited for a very long period, even before the Spaniards

invaded it. Some places must have been even then in ruins, or, if

inhabited, it is very strange that the Spanish records do not

mention them. Such, for instance, is Inscription Rock, about

fifteen miles east of Old Zuñi, which the Spaniards must have

passed when on their way back and forth to Zuñi.

Inscriptionn Rock.

The small mesa here ends with a bold front of white sandstone

rock, rising almost vertically two hundred and fifty feet high.

This cut gives us a view on the top of the table-rock. We see

here the foundations of two old buildings. A deep ravine nearly

divides this little plateau into two portions. As we have said,

this rises with a bold, precipitous front from the plain. At one

place this front is completely covered with inscriptions. Here

the Indians, unknown years ago, made their strange hieroglyphics

which, presenting to our eyes only a senseless combination of

forms of animals and men and meaningless figures, may have

conveyed to them knowledge of important events. A great many

Spanish inscriptions have also been carved on the rock. Whipple

calls attention to the fact that though Spanish inscriptions

placed there nearly two hundred years ago, seem but slightly

affected by atmospheric action, still some of the Indian

hieroglyphics are “almost wiped out by the fingers of time.” A

number of centuries have probably rolled away since they were

inscribed.

It may be interesting to know the reading of some of these old

inscriptions. A translation of one of the earliest and longest is

here given, with the exception of a few words which could not be

made out: “Bartolome Narrso, Governor and Captain-general of the

province of New Mexico, for our lord, the king, passed by this

place on his return from the pueblo of Zuñi, on the 29th of July,

of the year 1620, and put them in peace, at their petition,

asking the favor to become subjects of his majesty, and anew they

gave obedience; all of which they did with free consent, knowing

it prudent as well as very Christian, . . . to so distinguished

and gallant a soldier, indomitable and famed; we love . . .”11

It is somewhat strange to meet thus in the interior of the United

States with the record of a military expedition some months

before the Puritans landed at Plymouth. There seems to be nothing

especial to describe about the ruins. Both Simpson and Whipple

notice that the masonry seems to be unusually good. As it must

have been very difficult to procure water, the location must have

been chosen solely for the protection it afforded. The early

Spanish accounts contain the names of one hundred and twenty-six

pueblos. Some are, however, mentioned two or three times. Mr.

Bandelier has succeeded in identifying every one. The Rio Puerco

Valley was never a very prosperous one, and the river is scarcely

a permanent one. At present a few ruins at Poblazon, for

instance, are to be seen, and the valley looks poor and barren.

The valley of the Rio Grande River was occupied by a number of

Pueblo tribes, and there are at present eight inhabited pueblos

along this river, in New Mexico, and one in Texas. The region

around Bernalillo was a prosperous section. At intervals, up and

down the river, and along its tributaries, we can still trace low

crumbling ruins, evidence of an old pueblo. If the statements of

the Spanish writers are to be believed, the number of inhabited

towns, at the time of the conquest, was at least ten times that

now existing. The population could never have exceeded forty

thousand. At present it contains about nine thousand. Still

making all allowance for Spanish exaggeration, we are convinced

that it was a thickly populated country at the time of the

conquest.

One of the most interesting pueblos in New Mexico is Jemez, on a

river of that name, sixty miles west of Santa Fe. We speak of it

here because it is the center of a most interesting group of

ruins. Like the pueblo of Zuñi, it is a remnant only of a

prosperous people. The reports of Coronado’s expedition

frequently mention Jemez, though it may be doubtful whether they

refer to the pueblo of that name now, or to one of the numerous

ruined ones in the immediate vicinity. Jemez is a prosperous

pueblo, having fine fields, large irrigating ditches, and

extensive flocks of sheep.

Simpson describes it in 1849 as follows: “The pueblo of Jemez is

an Indian town of between four and five hundred inhabitants, . .

. and is built upon two or three parallel streets, the houses

being of adobe construction, and having second stories disposed

retreatingly upon the first, to which access is had by means of

ladders. . . . About the premises are probably a dozen acres

covered with apricot and peach trees. . . . The Rio de Jemez,

upon which the pave lies, is an affluent of the Rio Grande,

varies from thirty to fifty feet in breadth, is of a rapid

current. . . . Patches of good corn and wheat skirt it here and

there along its banks, and the extent of cultivable land

bordering it may be estimated at about a mile in breadth.”

We are more interested, however, in ruins testifying to past

greatness. “Six miles up the river you come to the union of two

cañons—the Guadalupe and San Diego. Where the mesa between these

cañons narrows itself to a point, are the ruins of two pueblos,

one upon the lower prominence of the mesa, the other upon the

mesa proper, and only approachable by two narrow, steep trails,

the mesa everywhere else being nearly perpendicular, and seven

hundred and fifty feet high. The view from the mesa is

picturesque and imposing in the extreme. Far beneath, to the

right and left, a stream makes its way between the colossal walls

of the sandstone upon the narrow width of the mesa; near

frightful precipices are the ruins of a town of eighty houses,

partly in parallel rows, partly in squares, and partly perched

between overhanging rocks, the rim and surfaces of which formed

the walls of rooms, the gaps and interstices being filled in

artificially.”

“Nearly every house had one story and two rooms. The building

material was trachytic rock as found upon the mesa. Broken

pottery, charred corn, and millstones for grinding corn, were

found in some of the rooms. The roofs had all fallen in, and so

also had many of the side walls, in the construction of which

wood was but little used. Piñon trees have taken root within many

of the former rooms. Upon asking my Indian guide whether the

former inhabitants of this town were obliged to descend the steep

and dangerous pathway every day to the creek to procure water, he

replied there were cisterns upon the mesa, in which rain,

formerly plentiful, was caught. He then called my attention to

some conical heaps of stones along the rim of the precipice which

was the material for defense.”12

This description introduces us to another class of ruins—that is,

detached separate houses, different from the great communal

structures we have already described. What connection exists

between these two forms of houses will be studied in another

place. As a rule, the rooms in the detached houses are larger

than in the communal houses. Exceptions occur in some of the

inhabited pueblos.13 This is only one of many towns in ruins

thereabouts. According to Dr. Loew there are no less than

twenty-five or thirty.

It is not our purpose to describe any more of the pueblos of this

section of New Mexico than is required to enable us to understand

the customs, manners, and habits of the Pueblo tribes. We learn

that in New Mexico we are brought face to face with feeble

remnants of former tribes, and that these were probably in their

most flourishing condition when the Spaniards first invaded the

country, and though in a few instances the ruins imply a great

antiquity, as at Inscription Rock, still we may be reasonably

sure that the majority of them date but a few centuries back. The

ruins of Catholic churches established by the Franciscan monks in

the sixteenth century occur in several places, five being found

around Jemez.

The story of the decline of the Pueblo tribes may be illustrated

by the history of Pecos. This pueblo was situated on the Rio

Pecos, about twenty-five miles south-east of Santa Fe. With the

exception of the present inhabited town of Taos, it was the most

eastern point reached by the pueblo building tribes. This, though

a very large pueblo, has nothing especial to attract attention,

except that the entire mesa was inclosed by a stone wall about

six feet and a half high, and twenty inches thick, having a total

length of three thousand, two hundred and twenty feet.14 Its

history is, however, interesting and instructive. Coronado, with

his army, visited Pecos before he abandoned the country in 1543.

His reports mention it as a prosperous pueblo. Several raids were

made into New Mexico by Spanish parties, but the conquest proper

occurred in 1598, when the Pecos pledged fidelity to the crown of

Spain.

The Catholic Church at once set about establishing missions at

various pueblos. The Pecos Church was established in 1629, though

missionary work had been done here before that time. One of the

priests who accompanied Coronado remained behind at Pecos. He was

never afterwards heard from. This church became one of the most

renowned in New Mexico. The inhabitants became herders as well as

agriculturists. It was prosperous. In 1680 the Pueblo of Pecos

sheltered two thousand Indians. “But a storm was brewing from

whose effects the Pueblo tribes never recovered.” In 1680 the

Indians rose against the Spanish and drove them from New Mexico.

The priests were murdered, the churches were sacked. From this

time doubtless date the ruins of the churches seen around Jemez.

At Pecos and many other places intertribal warfare set in. Bloody

battles were fought.

Neither were the Spaniards idle. In 1682 one expedition was made,

and at least two pueblo towns were destroyed by them. In 1689 the

entire country was reconquered. Some tribes were nearly

exterminated, and all more or less weakened and a great many

ruins date from that time. It was the beginning of a decline for

the Pueblo tribes, and this decline was hastened by intertribal

warfare, by drought, and by ravages from wild Indians. As to the

drought, it is sufficient to state that some ruins are now

fifteen, and even twenty, miles from permanent water. The

Comanches were the scourge of the Pecos. On one occasion they

slaughtered all the young men but one. This was a blow from which

they never recovered. Finally reduced by sickness to but five

adults, the Pecos sold their lands and, at the invitation of

their brethren at Jemez, went to live with them, and the pueblo

of Pecos speedily became the ruins we now find it.15

No doubt a similar history could be written of many other ruins.

“Our people,” said Hosta, “were a warlike race, and had many

fights, not only with the Spaniards, but also with other Indian

tribes the Navajos and Taos, for instance and were thus reduced

to this pueblo of Jemez, which now forms the last remnant.” New

Mexico is now becoming rapidly “Americanized,” and it will soon

be brought to a test whether the Pueblo tribes can withstand this

new influence and retain their peculiar civilization, or whether,

like many other races, their life force is nearly spent, in which

case they will live only in history.

We must not overlook the Moki Pueblos in Arizona. They are

situated one hundred miles northwest of Zuñi. The Spaniards

discovered them, and called their province Tusayan. They are much

like the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico, only they have been much

less disturbed by outside influence. There are a number of ruined

towns in this vicinity. We wish to refer to them because of their

intimate connection with the ruins to the North. Their houses are

built of stone on precipitous mesas.

Wolpi. (Maj. Powell)

Lieut. Ives, who visited them in 1858, has left quite a full

description of them. He states that “each pueblo is built around

a rectangular court, in which, we suppose, are the springs that

furnished the supply to the reservoirs. The exterior walls, which

are of stone, have no openings, and would have to be scaled or

battered down before access could be gained to the interior. The

successive stories are set back, one behind the other. The lower

rooms are reached through trap-doors from the first landing. The

houses are three rooms deep, and open upon the interior court.”16

He was much pleased with the manner in which they had terraced

off the bluff of the mesas into little garden patches, irrigating

them from the large reservoirs from the top.

There is one feature common to all the Pueblo tribes which is

necessary to refer to here, from its connection with the ruined

structures further north. In all of the inhabited pueblos there

is a structure known as an Estafa, some pueblos having several.

They are usually circular, but occasionally (as at Jemez)

rectangular. They are generally subterranean, or mostly so. They

are great institutions among the Pueblos. “In these subterranean

temples the old men met in secret council, or assembled in

worship of their gods. Here are held dances, festivities, and

social intercourse.”

Another common feature, represented in this cut, is the

watch-tower. It is either round, as in this case, or rectangular.

It may be interesting to recall in this connection the signal

mounds of the Mound Builders. They were not always in the

immediate vicinity of other ruins. Neither can we state that

there was a system in their arrangement, one answering to another

at a distance, and yet it was noticed where the rains were

numerous that several were in view from one point.17 In

dimensions these towers range from ten to fifteen feet in

diameter, and from five to fifteen feet in height, while the

walls are from one to two feet thick. They are in many cases

connected with structures rectangular in form.

Watch Tower.

We will now leave the inhabited pueblos and the ruins in their

immediate vicinity and, going to the north, explore a section of

country that shows every evidence of having sustained a

considerable population some time in the past. To understand this

fact clearly, it will be necessary to fix the location of the

places named by means of the map. From time to time confused

reports of the wonders to be seen in the San Juan section of

Colorado had appeared in the East, but the first clear and

satisfactory account is contained in the reports of Messrs.

Jackson and Holmes, members of the U.S. Geographical and

Geological survey of the territories under Dr. Hayden for 1874

and 1876.

In the south-western portion of Colorado is a range of mountains

known as the San Juan. Stretching from their base west to the

Sierras is a great plateau region, drained by the numerous

tributaries of the San Juan River. It would, perhaps, be more in

keeping with the facts of the case to say “had been drained some

time in the past,” for this is now such an arid, semi-desert

country that the majority of the streams are dry, or have but

scattered pools of water in them, during a large portion of the

year; and yet, at times, great volumes of water go sweeping

through them. This whole plateau is cut up with long, cañoned

valleys, presenting, in effect, the same surface features that we

have already described in New Mexico. Yet this precipitous,

cañon-marked section of country is literally filled with the

crumbling ruins of a former people. The situation in which they

occur is in many cases very singular, and the whole subject is

invested with great interest to us, because we see in them the

remains of a people evidently the same as the Pueblo people

to-day.

One of the most extensive ruins in this section is situated at

Aztec Springs. This, it will be seen, is about midway between the

Rio Mancos and the McElmo. Mr. Holmes found the site of the

spring, but it contained no water. He was told, however, by those

familiar with the locality that there had been a living spring

there up to within a few years. It was evidently a place of

considerable importance once. Mr. Holmes describes the ruins as

forming the most imposing pile of masonry found in Colorado. They

cover an area of over ten acres. This includes only the ruins

around the springs. But all about this central portion are

scattered and grouped the remnants of smaller structures. So that

nearly a square mile is covered with the ruins of this ancient

pueblo. Most of the stone used was brought from the Mesa Verde

(Green Plateau), a mile away, and must have been a great work for

a people so totally without facilities.

Ruins at Aztec Springs. It will be seen that immediately to the

right of the Springs is a large rectangular ruin in better

preservation than the rest. This now “forms a great mound of

crumbling rock from twelve to twenty feet in height, overgrown

with artemisia, but showing clearly, however, its rectangular

structure, adjusted approximately to the four points of the

compass.” This house, from its massive walls, must have had an

original height of at least forty feet. “The walls seem to have

been doubled, with a space of seven feet between; a number of

cross-walls at regular intervals indicate that this space has

been divided into apartments, as seen in the plan.” Two low lines

of rubbish cross the square, probably partition walls.

Surrounding this house is a net-work of fallen walls, so

completely reduced that none of the stones seem to remain in

place. Mr. Holmes was at a loss to know whether to call them a

cluster of irregular apartments, having low, loosely built walls,

or whether they are the remains of imposing pueblos. In the group

of ruins to the left of the spring are two well-defined circular

estufas. Below the main mass of ruins, connected by low walls of

ruins, is another great square, nearly two hundred feet in

dimensions. One wall seems to have consisted of a row of

apartments; the other walls served to simply inclose the square,

near the center of which was another large estufa.

Several important conclusions can be drawn from a study of this

locality. The spring, now dry, was once evidently the source of a

considerable stream. Whether the group of low ruins were

collections of small houses, or remains of imposing pueblos, we

need not doubt that the walls of the square inclosures were

composed of pueblo houses. The estufas were probably in all

respects similar to those of the present inhabited pueblos. The

country around, now so dry and barren, must once have supported

considerable population. As to the period of abandonment, we have

nothing to guide us. Being an agricultural settlement, it was

probably abandoned at an earlier date than the cave-dwellings and

cliff-houses of the cañons of the vicinity. The reason for this

will appear subsequently. The site of this ruin, as well as for a

long distance around, is covered with pieces of broken pottery.

We notice that the spring has only lately gone dry. This

illustrates the changes now taking place all through the country.

It is drying up, and this process has been in operation for a

long while.

Ruins in the McElmo Cañon. Many groups of ruins are now in

localities where the people could not hope for subsistence. About

six miles to the north of these ruins, about a mile from the

McElmo, is the group of ruins here represented, which may throw

some light on the remains at Aztec Springs. The principal feature

is the triple walled tower, of which a plan is given. The tower

has a diameter of about forty-three feet, and a circumference of

about one hundred and thirty-five feet. The walls are traceable

nearly all the way around, and the space between the two outer

ones, which is about five feet, contains fourteen apartments or

cells. The walls about one of these cells were still standing at

the time of Mr. Holmes’s visit, but the cell was filled with

rubbish from the fallen walls. A door-way, opening into this

apartment, could still be seen. The inner wall was probably never

very high. It simply inclosed the estufa.

The ruins surrounding this tower consist of low, fallen walls,

scarcely traceable. The apartments number nearly one hundred, and

were generally rectangular. They are not of a uniform size, and

were certainly not arranged in regular order. Now, as Mr. Holmes

observes, it would certainly seem that, if they are the ruins of

such structures as the pueblos of the south, there would be some

regularity of size, and some systematic arrangement. He says

that, in reality, they are more like a cluster of pens, such as

are used by the Moqui tribes for keeping sheep and goats.

Since these surveys were made, Mr. Bandelier, as agent for the

Archæological Institute, has made important researches. He finds

that the small, detached houses, such as we described in the

ruined village near Jemez, are found in Arizona, with a small

court-yard or inclosure attached to them. If we understand the

description of the ruins just mentioned, and those at Apache

Springs, they are villages of these small houses and their

inclosures. In such villages the inclosures meet each other, so

as to form a checker-board of irregularly alternating houses and

courts. The houses are easily discernible from the fact of little

rubbish mounds having accumulated where they stood. Around these

parts of the wall can still be traced. This combination makes a

strong, easily defended position. Each of such villages contains

one or more open spaces of large size, but they are irregularly

located.

We must notice one point more: Each village of this nature, that

was of any size, contained a larger ruin in the center. This was

noticed in the ruins at Aztec Springs. This larger building was

in the nature of a citadel, and there the inhabitants could

retire when the approaches were carried by the enemy. This

central building ultimately swallowed up all the others, and so

developed into the pueblo structures we have noticed. The little

walled inclosures surrounding the houses were largely in the

nature of defenses. Tradition asserts that in many cases they

were garden plats, and appearances sometimes confirm this. “They

may also have been the yard proper for each family, in which the

latter slept, cooked—in fact, lived—during the heat of the Summer

months.”18

Referring once more to the ruins near the McElmo, we are told

that every isolated rock and bit of mesa within a circle of miles

of this place is strewn with remnants of ancient dwellings. We

presume these were small, separate houses. They may have been

outlying settlements of the tribe whose main village was at Aztec

Springs. We must also notice the small tower in the corner. This

was a watch tower. It was fifteen feet in diameter, walls three

and a half feet thick, and in 1876 was still five feet high, It

overlooked the surrounding country. The rainfall in the past must

have been more abundant, to support the population we are

justified in thinking once lived there. The nearest water is now

a mile away, and during the dry season some fifteen miles to the

north, in the Rio Dolores, and yet we have every reason to

believe these old inhabitants were very saving of water. They

built cisterns and reservoirs to store it up against the time of

need.

Tower on the Rio Mancos. We give a cut of the tower of the ruins

of a similar village, or settlement, to the one just described,

which occurs twenty miles to the southeast in the cañon of the

Rio Mancos. Being so similar, we will mention it here. In this

case the tower had only two walls. Mr. Holmes says the diameter

of the outer wall is forty-three feet, that of the inner

twenty-five feet. The space between the two circles is divided by

cross-walls into ten apartments. This tower is placed also in the

midst of a group of more dimly marked ruins or foundations,

extending some distance in each direction from it. Mr. Holmes,

however, states that there are no ruins of importance in

connection with this tower, but that there are a number of ruins

in the immediate vicinity. In this case, then, the citadel (if

such it was) was not directly connected with other ruins.

The Rio Mancos, that we have just mentioned, was a favorite place

of resort for these old people. This stream, rising in the La

Platte Mountains, flows through beautiful valleys to a great

table-land known as the Mesa Verde. Mr. Jackson explored this

valley in 1874, and he reports as follows: “Commencing our

observation in the park-like valley of the Mancos, between the

mesa and the mountains, we find that the low benches which border

the stream upon either side bear faint vestiges of having at some

far away time been covered with dwellings, grouped in communities

apparently, but so indistinct as to present to the eye little

more than unintelligible mounds. By a little careful

investigation, however, the foundation of great square blocks of

single buildings and of circular inclosures can be made out, the

latter generally of a depressed center, showing an excavation for

some purpose.”

From this description we can not quite make out whether these

ruins are great communal buildings, like the modern pueblo, or

clusters of separate houses. We incline to the latter opinion,

however. The circular depressed area was doubtless used as an

Estufa, the place of religious meetings for men alone. “The

greater portion of these mounds are now overgrown with artemisia,

pinion-pine, and cedar, concealing them almost entirely from

casual observation.” “We found the surest indication of their

proximity in the great quantity of broken pottery which covered

the ground in their neighborhood. The same curiously indented,

painted, and glazed ware, was found throughout New Mexico and

Arizona. It was all broken into very small pieces, none that we

could find being larger than a silver dollar.” Specimens of this

pottery will be figured in its appropriate place.

“Nowhere among these open plane habitations could we discover any

vestige of stone-work, either in building material or implements.

It is very evident that the houses were all of adobe, the

mound-like character of the remains justifying that belief.” In

this last respect we note a difference between these remains and

those already described. The mesa verde is one of those elevated

plateaus we have so often described. Through this the Mancos has

cut a cañon nearly thirty miles in length, and from one to two

thousand feet deep. The description we have already given is of

the valley of the river before coming to the cañon.

Entering the cañon, Mr. Jackson continues: “Grouped along in

clusters, and singly, were indications of former habitations,

very nearly obliterated, and consisting mostly, in the first four

or five miles, of the same mound-like forms noticed above, and

accompanied always by the scattered, broken pottery. Among them

we find one building of squared and carefully laid sandstone, one

face only exposed of three or four courses, above the mass of

_debris_ which covered every thing. This building lay within a

few yards of the banks of the stream, was apparently about ten

feet by eight, the usual size, as near as we could determine, of

nearly all the separate rooms or houses in the larger blocks,

none larger, and many not more than five feet square. The stones

exposed are each about seven by twelve inches square, and four

inches thick, those in their original position retaining correct

angles, but, when thrown down, worn away by attrition to

shapeless bowlders.”

“As we progressed down the cañon the same general characteristics

held good. The great majority of the ruins consisting of heaps of

_debris_ a central mass considerably higher and more massive than

the surrounding lines of sub-divided squares. Small buildings,

not more than eight feet square, were often found standing alone

apparently, no trace of any other being detected in their

immediate neighborhood.” We would call especial attention in this

description to the character of the ruins, the central, higher

mass surrounded by other ruins; also to the houses found

occasionally standing alone. We notice they are of the same

general character as the ruins at Aztec Springs.

We are finding abundant evidence that this section was once

thickly settled. Going back to the triple-walled tower on the

McElmo, Mr. Jackson says of the immediate vicinity: “On the mesa

is group after group upon the same general plan, a great central

tower and smaller surrounding buildings. They cover the whole

breadth and length of the land, and, turn which way we would, we

stumbled over the old mound and into the cellars, as we might

call them, of these truly aborigines.” We believe, however, that

no excavation for cellar purposes are found in the entire region

covered by these ancient ruins.

“Starting down the cañon (the McElmo), which gradually deepened

as the table-land rose above us, we found upon either hand very

old and faint vestiges of the homes of a forgotten people, but

could give them no more attention than merely noting their

existence.”

Mr. Morgan has shown the existence of regular large houses in the

valley of Aminas River, east of the Mancos;19 and he also speaks

of the ruins at the commencement of McElmo cañon as being large

communal buildings. We should judge from Mr. Jackson’s report

just given that these ruins were rather small clusters of houses

of the same design as the ruins at Apache Springs.

Near the Utah boundary line we notice the Hovenweep Creek joining

the McElmo from the north. The mesa, narrowing to a point where

the two cañons meet, is covered with ruins much like what we have

described already. The Hovenweep is appropriately named, meaning

“deserted valley.”

Ruins in the Hovenweeep Cañon.

Further west still is the Montezuma Valley. Mr. Jackson’s party

found the ruins so numerous as to excite surprise at the numbers

this narrow valley must have supported. He says, “We camped at

the intersection of a large cañon coming in from the west. . . .

At this point the bottoms widen out to from two to three hundred

yards in width, and are literally covered with ruins, evidently

those of an extensive settlement or community, although at the

present time water was so scarce (there not being a drop within a

radius of six miles) that we were compelled to make a dry camp.

The ruins consist evidently of great solid mounds of rock

_debris,_ piled up in rectangular masses, covered with earth and

a brush growth, bearing every indication of extreme age—just how

old is about as impossible to tell as to say how old the rocks of

this cañon are. This group is a mile in length, in the middle of

the valley space, and upon both sides of the wash. Each separate

building would cover a space, generally, of one hundred feet

square; they are seldom subdivided into more than two or four

apartments. Relics were abundant, broken pottery and arrow-points

being especially plenty. At one place, where the wash held

partially undermined the foundation of ore of the large

buildings, it exposed a wall of regularly laid masonry, extending

down six feet beneath the superincumbent rubbish to the old

floor-level, covered with ashes and the remains of half-charred

sticks of juniper.”

Lower down, the valley was noted for little projecting tongues of

rock extending out into the cañon, sometimes connected with the

main walls of the cañon by narrow ledges of rock, and in cases

even this had disappeared, leaving detached masses of rock

standing quite alone. “Within a distance of fifteen miles there

are some sixteen or eighteen of these promontories and isolated

mesas of different height, every one of them covered with ruins

of old and massive stone-built structures.”

We have been somewhat full in our description of these ruins, yet

their importance justifies this course. So far we see but very

little to remind us of the pueblo towns. On the other hand, the

buildings seem to be often single houses, or a few houses grouped

together. In some locations they were built of stone, in others

of adobe. It is to be observed, however, that the houses are very

small—not larger than the rooms in the modern pueblos. We

evidently have here quiet scenes of agricultural life. They of

course had enemies, and guarded against their attacks by the

watch-towers, of which an example is given in the McElmo ruins.

The country must have been better watered than now, the soil

productive the seasons kind; and who can tell how long these

agricultural tribes held the land? Under these conditions, time

must have been rapidly bringing them civilization. But we must

now turn to a sorrowful chapter in their history, and trace the

dispersion of these tribes, their unavailing attempts to hold

their own against a savage foe, and the desperate chances they

took before leaving the land of their fathers.

This brings us to a consideration of cliff-houses—that is, houses

so placed that manifestly the only reason the people would have

for putting them where found would be of a defensive nature; and,

for a similar reason, we may be very sure they are of a later

date than the majority of the ruins in the valley or in the

cañons. People would never have settled in the valley in the

first place if they had felt the necessity of seeking

inaccessible places in which to build shelters as a resort in

time of need. We can not do better than to refer once more to Mr.

Jackson’s exploration in the valley of the Rio Mancos. We have

already referred to it in reference to the larger ruins.

Two-storied House in the Mancos Cañon.

This cut gives us a general view of the first cliff-house

discovered in this valley. This was far up on the cliff. Mr.

Jackson says, “We had no field-glass with the party, and to this

fact is probably due the reason we had not seen others during the

day in this same line, for there is no doubt that ruins exist

throughout the entire length of the cañon, far above and out of

the way of ordinary observation.” Subsequently Mr. Holmes proved

this supposition to be true. The sides of this cañon have nearly

all their ledges occupied by these houses.

Every advantage was taken, both natural and artificial, to

conceal them from view. “Cedars and pines grew thickly along the

ledges upon which they are built, hiding completely any thing

behind them. All that we did find were built of the same

materials as the cliffs themselves with but few, and then only

the smallest, appertures toward the cañon, the surface being

dressed very smooth, and showing no lines of masonry. It was only

on the very closest inspection that the houses could be separated

from the cliff.”

View of Cliff in which the House is situated. To illustrate the

singular position in which this house was located, we introduce

this cut. It is seven hundred feet above the valley. “Whether

viewed from below or from the heights above, the effect is almost

startling, and one can not but feel that no ordinary

circumstances could have driven a people to such places of

resort.” As showing the difficulty an enemy would have to

approach such a house, we give Mr. Jackson’s account of his climb

to it:

“The first five hundred feet of ascent were over a long, steep

slope of _debris,_ overgrown with cedar, then came alternately

perpendiculars and slopes. Immediately below the house was a

nearly perpendicular ascent of one hundred feet, that puzzled us

for a while, and which we were only able to surmount by finding

cracks and crevices into which fingers and toes could be

inserted. From the little ledges occasionally found, and by

stepping upon each other’s shoulders, and grasping tufts of

yucca, one would draw himself up to another shelf, and then, by

letting down a stick of cedar or a hand, would assist the

others.”

“Soon we reached a slope, smooth and steep, in which there had

been cut a series of steps, now weathered away into a series of

undulating hummocks, by which it was easy to ascend, and without

them almost an impossibility. Another short, steep slope, and we

were under the ledge on which stood our house.” By referring to

the first cut, we see that the house stands on a very narrow

ledge, and that the rocks overhang it so as to furnish a roof. It

will also be noticed that the ledge is rounding, so that the

outer walls of the house rise from an incline. Piers, or

abutments, had also been built along the ledge, so as to form an

esplanade.

Plan of the House.

The house itself was only about twelve feet high, but this had

been divided into two stories. Whether it ever had any other roof

than the overhanging walls of rock is doubtful. The plan is shown

in the preceding cut. The curved apartment at the right is a

reservoir, capable of holding about five barrels. A series of

pegs were inserted in the wall, so as to form a means of descent

from a window to the bottom. A number of doorways are seen in the

plan; a cut of one is presented in this figure.

Doorway of the House.

We are, however, warned that the artist has represented the

stonework a little too regularly. The support for the top of the

doorway is not clearly shown; a number of small beams of wood

were laid across, on these the stones. This cut gives us a view

of the front room. Looking in from the end window, we can see

where the second story commenced. The doorway we have been

describing was not a very handy mode of entrance. Its builders,

however, did the best they could in their limited space. The

house displays perseverance, ingenuity, and taste. It was

plastered, both within and without, so as to resemble the walls

of the cañon, but an ornamental border was added to the

plastering of the interior rooms.

Room of the House. This cliff house could only have been used as

a place of refuge in a time of need. We must observe the care

with which it was hidden away. The walls were plastered on the

outside, so as to resemble the cañon-walls. Then we must notice

what a secure place of retreat it afforded the people. No

invading party could hope to storm this castle as long as there

was any one to defend it. This house, with its four small rooms,

could give shelter to quite a band of Indians. Then, besides, it

was not alone. Ruins of half a dozen smaller houses were found

near by. Some had been crushed by the overhanging walls falling

upon them, and others had lost their foothold and tumbled down

the precipice.

It needs but a glance to satisfy any one that only dire necessity

would have driven a people to such resorts. When we consider how

much labor it must have required to convey the materials to the

almost inaccessible place, the many inconveniences the people

must have been put to when they were occupied, we may imagine how

the people clung to their old home. It is altogether likely that

such resorts would be only used now and then. During seasons of

war and invasion probably the women and old the men, with the

little ones, went thither for protection.

Mr. Holmes calls attention to one point bearing on the antiquity

of this ruin. The buttresses, which probably support a

balustrade, noticed in the figure on the house, were built on the

sloping surface of the rock. It would take but very little

weathering of the rocks to throw them to the bottom of the cañon;

and, furthermore, the rock is a rough sandstone, and hence easily

crumbles; and it is not well protected by the overhanging cliff;

but no perceptible change has taken place since the buttresses

were first built. The thickness of a sheet of paper has hardly

been washed from the surface, and the mortar, almost as hard as

the rock itself, lies upon it as if placed there within a dozen

years. This structure is, evidently, not as old as the low mounds

of crumbling ruins we have heretofore described. It is more than

probable that such retreats as this were not provided until near

the close of their stay in the country.

A ruin further down the cañon, described by Mr. Holmes, is of

great interest, as it shows how necessary the people considered

it to be to construct an estufa. It will be observed that there

are two houses. So nicely are these hidden away that Mr. Holmes

had almost completed a sketch of the upper house before he

noticed the lower one. They are both overhung by the rocks above

so as to be protected from the weather. The upper house can only

be approached by means of steps cut in the rock. It appears to be

in an unfinished state, and, when we consider the great labor

required for its construction, we can not wonder that they grew

tired before its completion.

The lower house is some eight hundred feet above the bottom of

the cañon, but is comparatively easy of approach. The interesting

feature about it is the estufa. It was situated near the center

of the main portion of the house. The entrance to this chamber

shows the peculiar importance attached to it by the builders. Mr.

Holmes says: “A walled and covered passage-way of solid masonry,

ten feet of which is still intact, leads from an outer chamber

through the small intervening apartments into the circular one.

It is possible that this originally extended to the outer wall,

and was entered from the outside. If so, the person desiring to

visit the estufa would have to enter the aperture about

twenty-two inches high by thirty wide, and crawl, in the the most

abject manner possible, through a tube-like passage-way nearly

twenty feet in length.”

“My first impression was that this peculiarly constructed way was

a precaution against enemies, and that it was probably the only

means of entrance to the interior of the house, but I am now

inclined to think this is hardly probable, and conclude that this

was rather designed to render a sacred chamber as free as

possible from profane intrusion.” This illustrates the peculiar

regard in which it was held. Even when sore pressed by their

enemies, and obliged to flee to inaccessible heights, they still

constructed their sacred place.

Cliff-Town, Rio Mancos.

These cliff-houses, of which we give illustrations, are quite

common in the Mancos. Our frontispiece shows an interesting

group, about ten miles from the foot of the cañon. These are

situated only about forty feet above the bed of the creek, but

still in a secure position. Here a bed of shale had been

weathered out of the sandstone, leaving a sort of horizontal

groove four feet high and from four to six feet deep. In this a

row of minute houses had been built. They had been made to occupy

the full height and depth of the crevice, so that when one

reaches it at the only accessible point he is between two houses,

and must pass through these to get at the others.

Besides the cliff-houses, the explorers found that these people

had made use of little cave-like openings in the cliffs, and, by

walling up the openings, had converted them into houses. These

were very common in the Mancos, and of all sizes. Some were

evidently merely little hiding places, in which to store away

provisions or other articles. In some places the cliffs were

literally honey-combed with these little habitations. Sometimes

the walls were quite well preserved and new-looking, while all

about were others in all stages of decay.

“In one place in particular a picturesque outstanding promontory

has been full of dwellings. . . . As one from below views the

ragged, window-pierced crags, he is unconsciously led to wonder

if they are not the ruins of some ancient castle, behind whose

mouldering walls are hidden the dread secrets of a long-forgotten

people; but a nearer approach quickly dispels such fancies, for

the windows prove to be only the doorways to shallow and

irregular apartments hardly sufficiently commodious for a race of

pigmies. Neither the outer openings nor the apertures that

communicate between the caves are large enough to allow a person

of large stature to pass, and one is led to suspect that these

nests were not the dwellings proper of these people, but

occasional resorts for women and children, and that the somewhat

extensive ruins of the valley below were their ordinary dwelling

places.”20

Caves used as Houses, Rio Mancos.

On the San Juan, about ten miles above the mouth of the Mancos,

is a significant combination of cave-dwellings and towers. In

this case, about half-way up the cliff, which is not more than

forty feet high, excavations had been made in a soft bed of

shale. They are now quite shallow, but were probably once deeper

and walled up in front. Directly above these cave-openings, on

the very brink of the cliffs, were the remains of two circular

towers, in each case double-walled, and probably divided by

cross-walls into partitions. The towers were probably their

council chambers and places of worship. The caves, directly

below, down a steep bank, were their fortresses, whither in times

of danger they could flee. The little community, by means of

ladders, could freely pass from their cave resorts to the towers

and back.

Ruins in the San Juan Cañon.

The San Juan River does not seem to be as rich in ruins as some

of its tributaries. Yet near the mouth of the Montezuma we came

upon a ruin which shows considerable analogy to the pueblos. Mr.

Jackson says upon the top of the bench (fifty feet high)

overlooking the river are the ruins of a quadrangular structure

of a peculiar design. It is arranged very nearly at right angles

to the river. We see from the plan that we have the ruins of a

larger building arranged around an open court—at least, Mr.

Jackson could detect no trace of a wall in front. We must notice

the seven apartments, arranged in the form of a semicircle, back

of the court. Extreme massiveness is indicated throughout the

whole structure.

In the immediate vicinity of this ruin were found a number of

little, cave-like dwellings. They were so small that doubts were

raised as to whether they were suitable for human habitations,

but the majority of them bore ample evidence in smoke-begrimed

walls that such was their use. Twelve miles below the mouth of

the Montezuma this group of ruins was discovered. These were

situated in a cave that was almost exactly a hemisphere in shape.

Where the curve of the roof met the curve from the bottom a

little projecting bench had been utilized as a foundation for a

row of houses.

Cave-Town.

The little community that built their houses here seem to have

practised all the industries of a savage life. In one place there

was evidence that on that spot had been carried on the

manufacture of stone implements. At another place holes had been

drilled, as if for a loom. In the main building there were

fourteen rooms or apartments, ranging from sixteen to nine feet

in width. “In the central room of the main building we found a

circular, basin-like depression, that had served as a fireplace,

being still filled with the ashes and cinders of aboriginal

fires, the surrounding walls being blackened with smoke and soot.

This room was undoubtedly the kitchen of the house. Some of the

smaller rooms appear to have been used for the same purpose, the

fires having been made in the corner against the back wall, the

smoke escaping overhead. The masonry displayed in the

construction of the walls is very creditable. A symmetrical curve

is preserved throughout the whole line, and every portion

perfectly plumb. The subdivisions are at right angles to the

front. The whole appearance of the place and its surroundings

indicate that the family or little community who inhabited it

were in good circumstances, and the lords of the surrounding

country. Looking out from one of their houses, with a great dome

of solid rock overhead that echoed and re-echoed every word

uttered with marvelous distinctness, and below them a steep

descent of one hundred feet to the broad, fertile valley of the

Rio San Juan, covered with waving fields of maize and scattered

groves of majestic cotton-woods, these old people, whom even the

imagination can hardly clothe with reality, must have felt a

sense of security that even the incursions of their barbarian

foes could hardly have disturbed.”21

To describe the defensive ruins on Epsom Creek, Montezuma Creek,

and the McElmo is simply to repeat descriptions already given. We

meet with cave-houses, cliff-houses, and sentinel-towers in

abundance. The whole section appears to have been thickly

settled. Further explorations will doubtless make known many more

ruins, but probably nothing differing in kind from what is

already known. We think the defensive ruins belong to a later

period of their existence than do the old and time-worn

structures we have hitherto described along the river valleys and

open plains, as at Aztec Springs. These structures plainly show

that at the time they were built the people were subject to an

invasion from a stronger foe, one before whose approach they had

to fly for protection to the almost inaccessible cliffs.

They would obviously never have settled there had they always had

to contend with these savage tribes. It needs no great skill to

read the story of the dispersion of these old people from the

ruins we have described; the many watch-towers, which were also

used as fortresses or citadels in which to find protection,

testifying to the need of increased watchfulness. The cave-houses

and cliff-fortresses, cunningly hidden away to escape detection,

or so placed as to defy the assault of their enemies, show to

what desperate straits they were driven; and imagination only can

picture the despair that must have filled their hearts when the

hour of final defeat came, and they must have realized that even

these shifts would not allow them to stay in the lands of their

fathers.

That this is the explanation of these ruins, we will cite the

legendary stories given by an old man among the Moquis concerning

some ruins in the cañon of the McElmo, just over the line in

Utah. At this point the cañon widens out considerably, and in the

center of the valley is still standing a portion of the old mesa,

once filling the entire valley. It is now a mass of dark red

sandstone, about one hundred feet high, and three hundred feet

around, seamed and cracked, and gradually disappearing, as the

rock has gone all around it. The top of this rock is covered with

the ruins of some building; there are also ruins at the base and

all around the immediate vicinity. There were watch towers and

estufas, showing that this was a place of great interest.

Battle Rock, McElmo Cañon.

The story is as follows: “Formerly the aborigines inhabited all

this country as far east as the headwaters of the San Juan, as

far north as the Rio Dolores, west some distance into Utah, and

south and south-west throughout Arizona, and on down into Mexico.

They had lived there from time immemorial, since the earth was a

small island, which augmented as its inhabitants multiplied. They

cultivated the valley, fashioned whatever utensils and tools they

needed very neatly and handsomely out of clay, and wood, and

stone, not knowing any of the useful metals; built their homes

and kept their flocks and herds in the fertile river bottoms, and

worshiped the sun. They were an eminently peaceful and prosperous

people, living by agriculture rather than by the chase. About a

thousand years ago, however, they were visited by savage

strangers from the north, whom they treated hospitably. Soon

these visits became more frequent and annoying. Then their

troublesome neighbors, ancestors of the present Utes, began to

forage upon them, and at last to massacre them and devastate

their farms. So, to save their lives at least, they built houses

high up on the cliffs, where they could store food and hide away

until the raiders left.

“But one Summer the invaders did not go back to their mountains,

as the people expected, but brought their families with them and

settled down. So, driven from their homes and lands, starving in

their little niches on the high cites they could only steal away

during the night and wander across the cheerless uplands. To one

who has traveled these steppes such a flight seems terrible, and

the mind hesitates to picture the sufferings of the sad

fugitives. At the ‘Creston’ (name of the ruin) they halted, and

probably found friends, for the rocks and caves are full of the

nests of these human wrens and swallows. Here they collected,

erected stone fortifications and watch-towers, dug reservoirs in

the rocks to hold a supply of water, which in all cases is

precarious in this latitude, and once more stood at bay. Their

foes came, and for one long month fought, and were beaten back,

and returned day after day to the attack as merciless and

inevitable as the tide. Meanwhile the families of the defenders

were evacuating and moving south, and bravely did their defenders

shield them till they were all safely a hundred miles away.

“The besiegers were beaten back and went away. But the narrative

tells us that the hollows of the rocks were filled to the brim

with the mingled blood of conquerors and, conquered, and red

veins of it ran down the cañon. It was such a victory as they

could not afford to gain again, and they were glad, when the long

flight was over, to follow their wives and little ones to the

south. There, in the deserts of Arizona, on well-nigh

unapproachable, isolated bluffs, they built new towns, and their

few descendants, the Moquis, live in them to this day, preserving

more carefully and purely the history and veneration of their

forefathers than their skill or wisdom.”22

Mr. Jackson thinks this legend arises from the appearance of the

rocks. The bare floor of nearly white sandstone, upon which the

butte stands, is stained in gory streaks and blotches by the

action of an iron constituent in the rocks of another portion of

the adjoining bluffs. That may well be true, but we believe that

there are germs of truth in the story. Driven from their homes,

where did the fugitives go? Some of them may have gone east, but

probably the body of the migration was to the south. It has been

the tendency of all tribes, but especially of the sedentary

tribes, to pass to the south and east, and this is also the

traditions among the inhabitants of still existing pueblos.23 We

find that every available portion of New Mexico and Arizona bears

evidence of having been once populated by tribes of Indians, who

built houses in all respects like those already described. In

northern New Mexico, Prof. Cope has described a whole section of

country as being at one time more densely populated than the

thickly inhabited portions of the Eastern States. He says: “The

number of buildings in a square mile of that region is equal to,

if not greater than the number now existing in the more densely

populated rural districts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.”24

In one location he found a village of thirty houses, built of

stone, and all in ruins. He found, over a large extent of

country, that every little conical hill and eminence was crowned

with ruins of old houses. We, of course, can not say that these

ruins are necessarily younger than those to the north of the San

Juan, and yet we think from Prof. Cope’s description that they do

not present such evidence of antiquity as do the crumbling ruins

previously described. And then, besides, they were always located

in easily defended positions.

The village spoken of was really a Cliff Village, being arranged

along the very edge of a precipitous mesa, the only access to it

being along a narrow causeway. Then again, although we have

described many ruins near which no water is to be had, at least,

in dry seasons, yet we have every reason to suppose water was

formerly more plentiful and easily attained. But in this section

it must always have been a serious question with them to obtain

enough water for necessary purposes. They must have had to store

away water in vessels of pottery, whose ruins are now so

abundant. It is not such a country as we would suppose a people

to choose for a place to settle in, only that they knew not where

else to go.

It is also considered settled that all the inhabited pueblos, as

well as those in ruins near the inhabited ones, were built by the

descendants of these people whose houses we have described. This

is proven by the similarity of pottery. Though some styles of

ancient corrugated ware are found in the San Juan section not

found near the inhabited pueblos, yet vast quantities of ware,

similar to that now found in the inhabited pueblos, can be picked

up all over the ruins to the north. Again, their religion must

have been the same, as ruined estufas are common, in all respects

similar to those now in use. In the modern pueblos we are struck

with the small cell-like rooms, yet they are but little smaller

than the ordinary single houses plentifully found over the entire

field of ruins. All the Pueblo tribes are agricultural, so were

these old people. In fact, all evidence confirms the conclusion

that the remnants of the Pueblo people that we have already

described, are also the descendants of the people driven by

hostile bands from north of the San Juan.

This statement may give false impressions, however. The

traditions of the Pueblo Indians, of New Mexico, are to the

effect that they came from the north, and also that their

ancestors formerly lived in the small houses we have described.

But we do not mean to say that all the small houses and pueblos

in Arizona and New Mexico are later in date than the

cliff-houses. The pressure has always been from the north to the

south. Neither would we be understood as saying that all the

sedentary tribes, both ancient and modern, belong to the same

stock of people. There are several different stocks of people

even among the present Pueblos.25

In the valley of the Rio Chaco, about midway between the Rio

Grande and the San Juan, we meet a group of ruined pueblos whose

style of masonry is thought to indicate a greater antiquity than

the inhabited pueblo towns; these probably indicate another

settlement of these people. As these are really remarkable ruins,

we must briefly describe them. In the Chaco cañon, as indicated

on the map, within the space of ten miles are the ruins of eight

larger pueblos. Another is located at the very beginning of the

cañon, and two more on the edge of the mesas just outside of the

cañon. These are large communal houses of regular pueblo type,

and, theoretically at least, they should be later in date than

the majority of ruins throughout the area represented on the map.

We think the development has been from small, separate houses, to

a closely connected cluster, with a central citadel, which

finally drew to itself all the other buildings, and became the

communal building we call a pueblo.26

We give a restoration of, one—the Pueble Bonito—one of the

largest and most important of the ruins. We can not doubt but

what the restoration is substantially correct. It shows the open

court, the terraced structure, and the system of defense. The

circle itself is not as near a half-circle as we would imagine.

The ground plan shows that it was really a many-sided building.

This pueblo must have presented a striking appearance when it was

in a complete state.

Restoration of Pueblo Bonito.

By comparing this structure with the views of some of the present

pueblo towns, we will understand the remarks made earlier, as to

the different styles of pueblo structures. This building must

have had not far from six hundred and fifty rooms. “No single

edifice of equal accommodations has ever been found in any part

of North America. It would shelter three thousand Indians.”27

This pueblo will compare favorably with some of the structures of

Yucatan; though not so ornamental, yet for practical convenience

it must have met the wants of the builders fully as well. This

may be given as a fair example of the entire class.

The evident plan on which they started to build their structures,

is shown in the following plan of the pueblo. But some of them

were not fully completed. Two of them had but one wing. In the

restoration the court is seen to be closed by a straight row of

small buildings, but in most cases the wall inclosing the court

was more or less circular. In one case the court was left open.

We will only give general descriptions. It is now believed that

these great structures were built only a part at a time; perhaps

the main body, or a part of it, first. Afterwards, as the number

of inhabitants increased, a wing would be added, and then the

other; and so, many years would elapse before the pueblo would

assume its completed form.

Plan of Pueblo Bonito.

These structures ranged in extent from about four hundred to

twelve hundred feet in external measurement and could furnish a

home to from two hundred to eight hundred or a thousand Indians,

and, in one case at least, many more.

In the next cut we have represented the different styles of

masonry employed in the pueblos of this valley. It varied all the

way from careful piling of big and little stones, and of

alternate layers of such materials, to very good masonry indeed.

Speaking of it, Mr. Jackson says, “It is the most wonderful

feature in these ancient habitations, and is in striking contrast

to the careless and rude methods shown in the dwellings of the

present pueblos. The material, a grayish-yellow sandstone,

breaking readily into thin laminae, and was quarried from the

adjacent exposures of that rock. The stones employed average

about the size of an ordinary brick, but as the larger pieces

were irregular in size, the interstices were filled in with very

thin plates of sandstone, or rather built in during its

construction; for by no other means could they be placed with

such regularity and compactness. So closely are the individual

pieces fitted to each other that at a little distance no jointage

appears, and the wall bears every indication of being a plain,

solid surface.”

Different Styles of Masonry.

Besides these important ruins, there are a great many others not

especially different from those previously described. We can not

state positively that these ruins are of a later date than those

of the North; we think they are. From the character of the

structures, we are more inclined to class them with the great

pueblos of the Rio Grande, Puerco, and Zuñi. By examining the map

we see that the Rio Chaco would afford a convenient route for

them in their migration from the San Juan Valley.

Room in Pueblo Bonito.

It may be of some interest to notice one of the rooms in this

pueblo. Simpson says it is walled up with alternate layers of

large and small stones, the regularity of the combination

producing a very pleasant effect. Mr. Morgan thinks this room

will compare not unfavorably with any of equal size to be found

in the more imposing ruins of the South. We must notice the

ceiling. The probabilities are that the Rio Chelly, further to

the west, afforded another line of retreat. Some ruins are found

scattered up and down the river or cañon, which we will not stop

to describe. Off to the south-west are the inhabited towns or

pueblos of the Moquis, who, as we have seen, have a tradition

that they came from the north.

There are some ruins found in the south-western part of Arizona

which must be described in a general survey of the ruins of the

Pueblo country. The river Gila, with numerous tributaries, is the

most important stream in that portion of the State. It is in just

such a section as we would expect to find ruins, if anywhere.

Coronado, as we have seen, invaded the country about three

hundred and fifty years ago. At the time of his visit this was

then a ruin, for his historian describes one ruin as “a single

ruined and roofless house . . . the work of civilized people who

had come from afar.”28 This gives us a point as to the antiquity

of some of the ruins in the Gila Valley. As we shall see, there

is every reason to suppose that this section was at one time a

thickly inhabited one.

From the similar character of the remains, we conclude the

original inhabitants to be of the same race of people as those we

have already described, but what was the exact relation between

them we can not tell, but we think a study of the ruins will only

confirm the general truth of the traditions of the Pueblo tribes.

In any one tradition there is doubtless much that is distorted.

One form in which the traditions find expression is: “That they

proceeded from the north-west to the upper waters of the Rio

Colorado. There they divided, portions ascended by the San Juan,

cañon De Chelly, or the more easterly branches of that stream

towards the center of New Mexico. Others, passing over the waters

of the Rio Verde (see map), descended its valley to the Rio

Gila.”29

One hundred and fifty miles southwest of Zuñi we notice the Verde

River flowing into the Rio Salado, and the latter into the Gila.

Besides those streams, there are other smaller ones, not marked

on the map.30 Mr. Bandelier found near the cañon del Tule an

improvement on the irrigating ditches, that was a lining of

concrete; and in this section also was noticed the ruins of both

pueblos and the small houses. Near Ft. Apache he found the ruins

of the largest villages discovered in Arizona, but we have no

details of it. The valley of the Rio Verde and Salado seems to

have been a favorite resort.

As early as 1854 attention was called to ruins in the Rio Verde.

Mr. Leroux reported to Mr. Whipple that the “river banks were

covered with ruins of stone houses and regular fortifications,

which appeared to have been the work of civilized men, but had

not been occupied for centuries. They were built upon the most

fertile tracts of the valley, where were signs of acequias

(irrigating ditches) and of cultivation. The walls were of solid

masonry, of rectangular form, some twenty or thirty paces in

length, were of solid masonry, and yet remaining ten or fifteen

feet in height. The buildings were of two stories, with small

apertures or loop-holes for defence, when besieged.”31

Mr. Bandelier confirms this account as to the number of ruins.

The entire valley of the Verde is filled with ruins of every

description. From the account of the valley itself, we can see

how well suited it was to the needs of village Indians. Mr.

Leroux speaks in high praise of its fertility. Wood, water, and

grass were abundant. In the neighborhood of Fort Reno Mr.

Bandelier discovered a new architectural feature of great

interest to us. This is a raised platform, on which the buildings

were supported. This raised platform is a very important feature,

as we shall learn in the ruins of Mexico and Central America. We

have already seen how it was employed by the Mound Builders.

In other words, the detached houses are seen to form villages,

with a central stronghold, and the tendency is observed to raise

an artificial foundation for this central house, which draws into

itself the surrounding houses. This is but another modification

of the same idea which, in other sections of this area developed

into the communal pueblo. Near Tempe a still more significant

arrangement was noticed. Here was a four-sided platform, three

hundred and forty feet long by two hundred and eighty feet wide,

and five feet high, supported a second platform measuring two

hundred and forty by two hundred feet, and six feet high.

Elevated platforms, as a general rule, were not very distinct.

Mr. Bandelier thinks that, owing to the peculiar drainage of the

country, these artificial foundations were required to preserve

the buildings from being swept away by a sudden torrent. The

settlement of the sedentary tribes in this region cluster on the

triangle formed by the Rio Verde, Salado, and Gila Rivers. “This

is a warm region, with a scanty rainfall, and but little timber,

and the soil is very fertile when irrigated, and two crops a year

can be readily raised. Mr. Bandelier regards it as exceedingly

well adapted to the wants of a horticultural people, and even

traces in it some resemblance to Lower Egypt.”

A very celebrated ruin on the Gila River gives us a fair idea of

what this central stronghold of the village cluster, sometimes

supported on a raised foundation, was like. This cut is a view of

the principal ruin in this section, which, however, is only a

portion of an extensive settlement, covering some five acres in

all. The building is not very large, only fifty by forty feet,

and four stories, of ten feet each, in height, with a possibility

that the central portion of the building rose ten feet higher.

The walls are built of adobe, five feet thick at the base, but

tapering slightly at the top.

Casa Grandes, on the Gila.

This house was surrounded by a court-yard which inclosed about

two acres. Shapeless mounds, presumably the ruins of houses, are

to be seen in various parts of this inclosure. “If the ground

plan of this great house,” says Mr. Bandelier, “with its

surroundings of minor edifices, courts and inclosures is placed

by the side of the ground plan of other typical ruins, the

resemblance is almost perfect except in materials used.” This

settlement was separated into two divisions. In one place was

noticed a large elliptical tank with heavy embankments, nearly

eight feet deep.

As to other ruins on the Gila, Mr. Bartlett tells us: “One thing

is evident, that at some former period the valley of the Gila was

densely populated. The ruined buildings, the irrigating canals,

and the vast quantities of pottery of a superior quality, show,

that while they were an agricultural people, they were much in

advance of the present semi-civilized tribes of the Gila.”

Speaking of the ruins of the Gila east of the San Pedro River,

Emory says: “Whenever the mountains did not infringe too closely

on the river and shut out the valley, they were seen in great

abundance, enough, I should think, to indicate a former

population of at least one hundred thousand; and in one place

there is a long wide valley, twenty miles in length, much of

which is covered with the ruins of buildings and broken pottery.

Most of these outlines are rectangular, and vary from forty to

fifty feet to two hundred by four hundred feet.”32

It is, however, necessary to be very cautious in judging

population by the number of ancient ruins. Prehistoric people

were naturally of a roving disposition. The multitude of ruins in

Western New York is not regarded as evidence of dense population,

but they were occasioned by the known customs of the Indians in

changing the sites of their villages “every ten, fifteen, or

thirty years; or, in fact, whenever the scarcity of firewood, the

exhaustion of their fields, or the prevalence of an epidemic made

such a step desirable.”33 Doubtless a similar remark may explain

the difference of opinion as to the numbers of the Mound

Builders.34 And, finally, Mr. Bandelier concludes that the great

number of ruins scattered through New Mexico and its neighboring

territories is by no means evidence of a large population. The

evidence of tradition is to the effect that a large number of

villages were successively, and not simultaneously, occupied by

the same people.35

We have about completed our survey of the Pueblo country. We

might state that the large communal houses, known as pueblos, are

found as far south on the Rio Grande as Valverde. Clusters of

separate houses occur as far south as Dona Ana. A range of low

mountains lies to the west of the Rio Grande; between it and the

headwaters of the Gila evidences of ancient habitations were

observed on the small streams. Though these occur sometimes in

little groups, the court-yards are not connected so as to form a

defensive village. Small inclosed surfaces, with no evidence that

a house ever was connected with them, were also observed. Mr.

Bandelier could only surmise that these were garden-plots,

something like the ancient terrace garden-plots in Peru.

Take it all in all, this is, indeed, a singular region, and the

Pueblo tribes were a singular people. Their architecture shows us

a people in the Middle Status of Barbarism. That they practised

agriculture is shown by the presence of old irrigating ditches.

Corn and corn-cobs are found in the rubbish-heaps of old

settlements. Mr. Morgan thinks that the valley of the San Juan

and its numerous tributaries was the place where the Indian race

first rose to the dignity of cultivators of the soil.36 Cotton

cloth has been found in the ruins on the Salado River. “At the

time of the Spanish conquests the Pueblo Indians along the Rio

Grande used cotton mantles.”37

As we have devoted considerable time to the pottery of the Mound

Builders, we must see how it compares with the pottery of this

region. Fragments of pottery are very numerous all over the field

of ruins. All explorers mention their abundance. Mr. Holmes on

one occasion counted the pieces of pottery that by their shape

evidently belonged to different vessels that he found in an area

ten feet square. They numbered fifty-five, and we are led to

believe they were not more numerous here than in other

localities.

We recall that the ornamentations on the vessels of clay made by

Mound Builders were either incised lines or indentations on the

surface of the vessels. And, still further, the clay vessels

themselves were frequently molded in the shape of animals or

heads of animals. In this plate we have fragments of indented and

corrugated ware, from the San Juan valley. This ware is only

found under such circumstances indented and that we are justified

in considering it very ancient. The ware made at the time of the

conquest was always painted.

Indented and Corrugated Ware.