The Cliff-ruins in Fewkes Canon, Mesa 

 Verde National Park, Colorado 



By Jesse Walter Fewkes 



INTRODUCTION 



N the summer of 1915 the writer was detailed by the 

 Smithsonian Institution, at the request of the Secretary 

 of the Interior, to continue the work of excavation 

 and repair of ruins in the Mesa Verde National Park, 

 Colorado. A report on the general results was made to 

 the Secretary of the Interior and published under the title, "Excava- 

 tion and Repair of Sun Temple." In the course of the season's work 

 the writer also excavated and repaired a cliff-dwelling, called Oak- 

 tree House, in Fewkes canon, west of the Sun Temple. The results 

 of this work are treated in the present article. 1 



The canon referred to is a spur of Cliff canon and extends in a 

 northerly direction, separated from Cliff Palace canon by a high 

 precipice, an extension of Chapin mesa. On the top of this extension, 

 somewhat back from the ruin, stands the mysterious building called 

 the Sun Temple, excavated by the author in the summer of 1915. 

 Fewkes canon is of wonderful scenic beauty; it extends about half a 

 mile in length, its depth is about eight hundred feet, and the walls are 

 perpendicular, with the exception of a talus which covers the canon 

 wall for half its height. The canon is well wooded with pihon, spruce, 

 oak, and other trees. During heavy rains the water that flows over 

 the rim at the head of the canon forms a beautiful cascade. Not far 

 from the canon head, on top of the mesa, are level glades covered 

 with sagebrush; here the cliff-dwellers once had their cornfields. 



Before the summer of 19 15 Fewkes canon was rarely visited by 

 travelers, its ruins being practically inaccessible, save to experienced 

 mountain climbers. Its antiquities were not wholly unknown, how- 

 ever, for the canon rim is in sight of Cliff Palace, — the most impressive 

 cliff-dwelling in the Southwest, — and the ruins in its caves can be 

 fairly well observed from the mesa above Cliff Palace. Prehistoric 

 foot-and-hand holes cut by aborigines in the wall of Cliff Palace canon 



1 Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the Secretary of 

 the Interior. 



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