THE OYERFLOW. 



THE CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

 In Southwestern Colorado there lies a 

 great plateau, thirty miles long and twelve 

 or fifteen wide, called the Mesa Verde. It 

 is situated largely in the Ute reservation, 

 and contains the ruined habitations of a 

 marvelous race of people called the Cliff- 

 Dwellers, who lived, wrought and died 

 thousands of years ago. They existed be- 

 fore the mound-builders, and many traces 

 of their lives can be found iu the south- 

 western part of our country including 

 Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico 

 although the principal remains are 

 found in the Mesa Verde. 



The Cliff-Dweller was a medium-sized, 

 dark-skinned fellow, with coarse black 

 hair, fair teeth, and a skull which was flat- 

 tened at the back. He was a farmer and 

 built his home among the arid canons of 

 the southwest, possibly to defend himself 

 from the attacks of more war-like tribes. 

 High up in the most inaccessible parts of 

 this mountainous region are the crumbling 

 homes of. this strange people. They were 

 not the huts of savages, but exhibit a sur- 

 prising architectural grace. Their castles 

 and- fortresses, now partially buried be- 

 neath the accumulated debris of centuries, 

 were almost impregnable, and travelers of 

 the present day have a weary climb and 

 many difficulties to encounter before reach- 

 ing them. Their buildings were of great 

 size, one in particular being nearly three 

 hundred feet long and two hundred 

 feet wide. It must have contained 

 several thousand rooms, averaging 

 five by twelve feet, arranged in suites of 

 nine rooms each. The walls and floor aie 

 plastered with a hard, gritty cement, and 

 the evidence indicates that it was de- 

 stroyed by fire. The small size of the 

 rooms and their narrow and low entrances 

 are proof that the Cliff- Dwellers were a 



small people; and it is interesting to note 

 that in their various stone work, there 

 have been found no stones of large size. 



Some peculiar names have been given 

 to these half-buried house?, such as Hon- 

 eymoon Cottage, Gibraltar House, Moc- 

 casin House, Cliff Palace and Spruce Tree 

 House. The last named is so called from 

 the fact that a monster spruce tree has 

 grown up through the walls, showing that 

 ages niust have gone since the seed found 

 its home in the crevice of the ruins. 



This is one of the best examples of the 

 Cliff-Dwellers' homes. It stands far back 

 under an over-hanging shelf of rock which 

 affords protection on each side and con- 

 tains an appreciated blessing to the tired 

 traveler a spring of pure, cold water. 



The Cliff Dwellers, like the Egyptians, 

 \rere adepts in designing, and their hiero- 

 glyphics, or picture writing, can be found 

 on many of their dwellings. Some of the 

 houses are colored in places, a dull red. 

 And all about the various ruins are scat- 

 tered relics of their skill and industry. 

 We find bowls, jars, arrow heads, beads 

 shells, amulets, baskets and mats. Un- 

 fortunntely, many of these relics have 

 been destroyed or carried away by the in- 

 satiable relic hunter, but enough remain 

 to show that these, people pessessed a fair 

 degree of civilization. 



An organization has been formed hav- 

 ing for its object the protection and pre- 

 servation of these ancient ruins. It is 

 called the Colorado Cliff Dwelling Associ- 

 ation, was organized in 1899, and is com- 

 posed of fifty women. This organization 

 has prepared a bill to be submitted to con- 

 gress at its coming session, in which it is 

 provided that the region in which these 

 habitations are found shall be set apart iis 

 a national park, to be under the care and 

 control of the government, as the Yellow- 

 stone National Park is today. 



