Although the Spaniards were in the Mesa Verde region as early as 1765 and
the Americans as early as 1859, it was not until 1872 that the first
settlement was made. In that year the Mancos Valley, lying at the foot of
the Mesa Verde, was settled, but because of the fact that the mesa itself
was a stronghold of the warlike Ute Indians, many years passed before the
cliff dwellings were discovered.
[Illustration: Spruce Tree House, a community dwelling of 114 rooms.]
The ruins in the Mancos Canyon were discovered as early as 1874 when W.
H. Jackson, who led a Government party, found there many small dwellings
broken down by the weather. The next year he was followed by Prof. W. H.
Holmes, later chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, who drew
attention to the remarkable stone towers also found in this region. Had
either of the explorers followed up the side canyons of the Mancos they
would have then discovered ruins which, in the words of Baron Gustav
Nordenskiöld, the talented Swedish explorer, are “so magnificent that
they surpass anything of the kind known in the United States.”
The largest cliff ruin, known as Cliff Palace, was discovered by Richard
Wetherill and Charlie Mason while hunting cattle one December day in
1888. Coming to the edge of a small canyon they first caught sight of a
village under the overhanging cliff on the opposite side, placed like a
picture in its rocky frame. In their enthusiasm they thought it was a
palace. With the same enthusiasm the visitors of today involuntarily
express their pleasure and surprise as the spectacle breaks on their
astonished vision.
Later these two men explored this ruin and gave it the name of Cliff
Palace, an unfortunate designation, for it is in no respect a palace, but
a community house, containing over 200 living rooms, former abodes of
families, and 23 ceremonial rooms or kivas. They also discovered other
community dwellings, one of which was called Spruce Tree House, from a
large spruce tree, since cut down, growing in front of it. This had 8
ceremonial rooms and probably housed 300 inhabitants.
The findings of these two ruins did not complete the discoveries of
ancient buildings in the Mesa Verde; many other ruins were found by the
Wetherills, and others who need not now be mentioned. They mark the
oldest and most congested region of the park, but the whole number of
archeological sites may reach into the thousands.
Only a few of the different types of ruins that have already been
excavated and repaired and are now accessible to the visitor are
considered herein. This excavation and repair was the work of the late
Dr. J. Walter Fewkes, formerly chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology,
with the exception of Balcony House, which was done by Jesse L. Nusbaum.
Hundreds of sites await scientific investigation, being accessible now
only on foot or horseback mainly by means of trails.