CAVE AND CLIFF DWELLINGS OF ARIZONA. 64» 



been occupied by the head chief. It is thought there was originally an under- 

 ground connection between this and the fort. If so, the passage-way has been 

 filled and obliterated. Evidently rude and unfriendly hands have left the marks 

 of destruction upon these unique dwelling places. The mouths of many have 

 been completely stopped with large stones, others partially so. The conquerois 

 did their best to render this city of the cave-dwellers uninhabitable. Major 

 Minor, the original discoverer, three years since, estimates the number of the 

 caves at 200. A more beautiful prospect as seen from this town site cannot well 

 be found. East, west, north and south, mountain ranges clad with snow 7,300 

 feet high, intervening valleys, and detached knobs are commingled in a way to 

 produce one of the most delightful landscapes in the world ! 



By an article in the March number of the Kansas City Review, I see that 

 another village of the cliff-dwellers has been discovered; it is also situated on a 

 volcanic foot-hill of the San Francisco Range, and is some fifteen miles from the 

 cliff-dwellings of Walnut Canon. It numbers sixty-five dwellings. The entrance 

 to each is by a perpendicular square hole or shaft, extending from the surface to 

 the floor of the main room at one side. Foot holes cut at convenient distances 

 on the sides of the shaft, served as a stairway. A groove fifteen inches wide and 

 eighteen inches deep, extended from the floor of the main room up one side of the 

 shaft to the surface of the hill. Ashes at the bottom of the groove and the black- 

 ened sides above marked the fire-place and the chimney of the dwelling. In the 

 cave-dwellings which I visited, the fire was built on one side of the large room and 

 the smoke was left to find its way out of the circular opening wherever it was. 

 We found fine specimens of broken pottery, plain and ornamental, with the 

 metatas, or hand corn-mills, of the inhabitants, but nothing which would give us 

 any insight as to the tools used in excavating the dwellings. On the other hand, 

 in the interesting article referred to, mention is made of stone mauls and axes 

 used in doing the work, with ornamental pottery, corn-mills, bone awls and 

 needles of delicate workmanship, shell and obsidian ornaments, and implements 

 of wood, the uses of which are unknown. Mr. Stevenson found evidences that 

 satisfied him that the inhabitants here held communication with the cliff-dwellers 

 in Walnut Canon, but does not say what they are. 



The preservation of wooden implements in these underground rooms, where 

 they have lain for centuries with other relics undisturbed, demonstrates with 

 marked distinctness the wonderful dry and preservative qualities of the atmos- 

 phere of this strange country. People here ought to live one hundred and fifty 

 years. 



We were particularly fortunate in our guide. In his antiquarian researches 

 he is indefatigable and remarkably successful. One year since, at the great 

 bend of the Colorado, seventy miles north, he found the ruins of a great city, 

 extending along the banks of the river for ten miles. It was originally buried in 

 sand after the fashion of some Egyptian cities, and afterwards brought to light 

 again by the winds blowing from a different direction. The dweUings are of 

 stone, two stories high, plastered with mud, similar to the cliff-dwellings. Major 



