936 



MONTEZUMA WELL MONTOUR 



[ B. A. E. 



building, which is accessible only b}' 

 means of ladders, consists of 5 stories, and 

 in the same cliff are several cave-dwell- 

 ings. The foundation of Monte/.uma 

 Castle rests on cedar timbers laid longi- 

 tudinally on flat stones on the ledge. 

 The front wall is about 2 ft thick at the 

 bottom and 13 in. at the top, and leans 

 slightly toward the cliff. The first story 

 consists of two small .living rooms and a 

 storeroom. The second floor, access to 

 which is gained through a small opening 

 in the ceiling of the first story, is more 

 extensive, consisting of 4 apartments, 

 bounded behind by the most massive 

 wall of masonry in the entire structure, 

 and resting on a 

 ledge even with 

 the floor of the 

 second story. It 

 is 28 ft in height, 

 rising to the fifth 

 story, around the 

 front of which it 

 forms a l)attle- 

 ment 4j ft high. 

 It leans slightly 

 toward the cliff, 

 and is strongly 

 but not symmet- 

 rically curved 

 inward. The 

 chord of the arc 

 described by the 

 top of the wall 

 measures 43 ft, 

 and the greatest 

 distance from 

 chord to circum- 

 ference 8 ft. 

 The third floor 

 comprises the 

 most extensive 

 tier of rooms in 

 the structure, 

 extending across 

 the entire alcove 

 in the cliff in 

 which the house 

 is built. There 

 are 8 of these 



MONTEZUMA CASTLE. (mearns) 



tering bears finger-marks and impressions 

 of the thumb and hand. The rooms are 

 ceiled with willows laid horizontally 

 across rafters of ash and black alder; 

 upon this is a thick layer of reeds placed 

 transversely, and the whole plastered on 

 top with mortar, forming a floor to the 

 chamber above. The ends of the rafters 

 exhi);)it hacking with stone im])lements. 

 The building, which threatened to col- 

 lapse, was repaired by the Arizona An- 

 tiquarian Association about 1895, and in 

 1906 it was declared a national monu- 

 ment by proclamation of the President of 

 the United States. Its origin is unknown. 

 See Mearns in Pop. Sci. Month., Oct. 1890 

 ( from whose de- 

 s c r i p t i o n the 

 above details 

 are extracted); 

 Hewett in Am. 

 Anthrop., vi, 

 637, 1904; Land 

 of Sunshine, Los 

 Angeles, x, 44, 

 1898. 



Mon te zu m a 

 Well. A large 

 depression in the 

 form of a "tank" 

 or well in the 

 summit of a low 

 mesa on Beaver 

 IT., about 9 m. 

 X. of old Camp 

 N'erde, Ariz., in 

 which are the 

 w e 1 1-preserved 

 remains of sev- 

 eral cliff-dwell- 

 ings. 



M u 1 chtana 

 ('a corner in the 

 l>ack i^art of the 

 hut'). A Knai- 

 akhotana clan 

 of Cook inlet, 

 Alaska. ■ — Eich- 

 ardson, A r c t . 

 Exped., I, 407, 

 1851. 



rooms, in addition to 2 porches. The 

 fourth floor consists of 3 rooms, neatly 

 constructed, through the ceiling of one 

 of which access is gained to the flfth 

 or uppermost floor, which consists of a 

 long porch or gallery having a battle- 

 ment in front and an elevated backward 

 extension on the right, with 2 rooms 

 filling the corresponding space on the 

 left. These 2 rooms are roofed by the 

 rocky arch of the cliff, and are loftier 

 than the lower chambers. Montezuma 

 Castle, or Casa Montezuma, shows evi- 

 dence of long occupancy in prehistoric 

 times. Some of the rooms are smoothly 

 plastered and smoke-blackened; the plas- 



Montour. About 1665 a French noble- 

 man named jNIontour settled in Can- 

 ada, where, by an Indian woman, 

 probably a Huron, he became the 

 father of a son and two daughters. 

 This son of Montour grew up among 

 those Indianfi, who were at that time 

 in alliance with the French. In 1685, 

 wliile in the French service, he was 

 wounded in a fight with two Mohawk 

 warriors on L. Champlain. Subsequently 

 he deserted the French cause to live with 

 the "uppernations" of Indians. Through 

 him, in 1708, Lord Cornbury succeeded 

 in persuading 12 of these western tribes, 

 including the Miami and the Hurons, to 



