360 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Concrete is a material useful in various 
ways. It is still in the stage of development 
and new uses are being discovered each 
day. It can be cast into a solid wall or 
into thin sections between piers, allowing 
expansion joints at the piers. Another use 
is to cast in the shop standard reinforced 
units from which a fence can be construct- 
ed. An illustration of a graceful and beau- 
tiful concrete picket fence cast in sections 
in a shop and then set upon the ground is 
shown here. 
Without regard to the special form of 
fence or wall used, a border plantation of 
trees, shrubs and evergreens is usually de- 
sirable in addition, if for no other reason 
than beauty. As a general rule, complete 
seclusion from the adjoining property or 
public highway is desirable. There may be 
exceptions to this in the case of specially 
pleasing views or vistas into or out of the 
property. A few choice glimpses from the 
highway into the park-like grounds may be 
of considerable advertising value to the 
cemetery, but for the most part the feeling 
within the grounds for those attending fu- 
nerals or visiting graves should be one of 
quiet, almost sacred seclusion from the 
daily busy life of the outside world. 
Nothing will so completely exclude the 
view and absorb the sound and dirt of the 
surrounding streets as a screen of foliage. 
Many readers may recall how effectively 
the elevated railroad was screened along 
the border of Graceland Cemetery, Chi- 
cago. The possibility of excluding sur- 
rounding noise and scenery is perhaps best 
shown in portions of Central Park, New 
York City. 
UNIQUE RUINS IN MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 
The report just submitted to the Secre- 
tary of the Interior by Dr. J. Walter 
Fewkes, of the Smithsonian Institution, 
who conducted the excavations of last sum- 
mer in the Mesa Verde National Park, 
shows that the ruins then unearthed were 
of extraordinary interest. In fact, Sun 
All his hopes. Dr. Fewkes reports, were 
realized. “The results of three months’ 
work," he says, “were more striking than 
had been expected. 
“There was brought to light a type of 
ruin hitherto unknown in the park, and, as 
was well expressed by a visitor, the build- 
annex. The south wall, which is straight 
and includes both the original building and 
the annex, is 121.7 feet long. The ruin is 
64 feet wide. 
There are about 1,0C0 feet of walls in 
the whole building. These walls average 4 
feet in thickness, and are double, inclosing 
a central core of rubble and adobe. They 
are uniformly well made. 
“The rooms in this building,’’ continues 
the report, “vary in form and type, one kind 
being circular, the other rectangular. The 
PREHISTORIC SUN TEMPLE DISCOVERED UNDER A MOUND IN MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK. 
Temple, as it has been named, is an alto- 
gether new and mysterious type of ruin, 
the discovery of which Dr. Fewkes calls a 
service to American archaeology. 
The mound which Dr. Fewkes, at the re- 
quest of the Interior Department, opened 
last summer lay on a point of the Mesa 
directly across Cliff Canyon, and opposite 
the celebrated prehistoric ruin known as 
Cliff Palace. Stones strewn on its surface 
had shown signs of having been worked 
artificially, indicating the character of the 
masonry of some ancient building undoubt- 
edly buried below. Cedar or pinyon trees 
of great age grew upon the mound. Indi- 
cations pointed to a building of large size. 
Dr. Fewkes had reported these facts as 
long ago as 1909 and it had become his 
great desire to penetrate the mystery. 
During the prosecution of the work last 
summer nothing reached print, although a 
ruin of large size and unknown character 
was rapidly emerging and hundreds of na- 
tional park tourists visited the spot and 
listened to Dr. Fewkes’ camp-fire talks at 
night. During the autumn a few hints of 
the importance of the discovery became 
public; but the official report, here epito- 
mized, contains the first definite informa- 
tion on the subject. 
ing excavated shows the best masonry and 
is the most mysterious ruin yet discovered 
in a region rich in so many prehistoric re- 
mains. Although at first there was some 
doubt as to the use of this building, it was 
early recognized that it was not constructed 
for habitation, and it is now believed that 
it was intended for the performance of rites 
and ceremonies; the first of its type de- 
voted to religious purposes yet recognized 
in the Southwest. 
“The ruin was purposely constructed in a 
commanding situation in the neighborhood 
of large inhabited cliff houses. It sets 
somewhat back from the edge of the can- 
yon, but near enough to present a marked 
object from all sides, especially the neigh- 
boring mesas. It must have presented an 
imposing appearance rising on top of a 
point high above inaccessible, perpendicular 
cliffs. No better place could have been 
chosen for a religious building in which 
the inhabitants of many cliff dwellings 
could gather and together perform their 
great ceremonial dramas.’’ 
The ruin has the form of the letter D. 
The building is in two sections, the larger 
of which, taken separately, is also D-shaped. 
This is considered the original building. 
The addition enlarging it is regarded as an 
former are identified as kivas, or sacred 
rooms; the purpose of the latter is un- 
known. There -are two circular rooms or 
kivas of about equal size in the original 
building, and a third occupies the center of 
the annex. 
“There are 23 other rooms, 14 of which 
are in the original building, the walls of 
which are parallel; several curved, others 
straight. Three of the former had en- 
trances from the roofs, four had lateral 
doors into the plaza, and the remainder are 
arranged in two series, the members of 
which communicate with each other. None 
of the rooms of the annex have lateral 
doorways. 
“Not a single room, either of circular or 
rectangular form, shows any signs of plas- 
tering, but all points between stones, from 
the bottom to the top, are carefully pointed 
with adobe and generally chinked with 
stones. The impression of human fingers 
and palms of small hands of the workmen, 
probably women, still show in the clay 
mortar. 
“The principle of the arch was unknown, 
but the corners were practically perpendic- 
ular, implying the use of a plumb bob. The 
curved walls are among the best in the 
ruin.” 
