Outside the main building is a circular 
building with walls 4 feet thick which closely 
resembles the base of a tower. This was 
probably intended, like the '“tower” in Cliff 
Palace, for ceremonial rites. 
One of the most interesting features is 
the embellishment of the walls by geomet- 
rical figures cut in their surfaces — a rare 
form of decoration. Several stones with 
incised figures were set in the walls. Gen- 
erally, the designs are geometric, but there 
are others, including the figure of a ladder 
leaning against a wall, turkey tracks, and 
the conventional sign for flowing water. 
“The importance of these incised figures 
on stones set in walls,” says the report, 
“lies in the fact that they seem to indicate 
an advance in architectural decoration not 
represented in other prehistoric buildings 
in the Southwest. They may be regarded 
as first steps in mural sculpture, a form of 
decoration that reached such an advanced 
stage in old ruins in Mexico and Central 
America. Each figure may have had a spe- 
cial meaning or symbolic significance con- 
nected with the room in which it occurs, 
but they seem to me to have been intro- 
duced rather for ornament or decorative 
effect. 
“Their existence would certainly imply 
that it was not intended to plaster the walls 
over them, and I think there is a reason to 
believe they were cut on the stones before 
they were laid. One or two similarly in- 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
cised stones have been reported from walls 
of the Mesa Verde cliff houses, where, 
however, their existence is very rare. 
“The fine masonry, the decorated stones 
that occur in it, and the unity of plan 
stamp Sun Temple as the highest example 
of Mesa Verde architecture.” 
The walls were constructed of the sand- 
stone of the neighborhood. Many stone 
hammers and pecking stones were found in 
the neighborhood. 
One of the most remarkable features of 
the structure is a stone fossil set in the 
outer wall near the southwest corner. Mr. 
F. H. Knowlton, of the United States Na- 
tional Museum, has identified this as the 
fossil leaf of a palm tree of the Cretaceous 
epoch. The point is that the rayed leaf re- 
sembled the sun, and the ancient races were 
sun worshipers. A natural object resem- 
bling the sun would powerfully affect a 
primitive mind. 
“At all events,” says Dr. Fewkes, “they 
have partially inclosed this emblem with 
walls in such a way as to inclose the figure 
on three sides, leaving the inclosure open 
on the fourth or west side. There can be 
no doubt that the walled inclosure was a 
shrine and the figure in it may be a key to 
the purpose of the building. The shape of 
the figure on the rock suggests a symbol of 
the sun, and if this suggestion be correct, 
there can hardly be a doubt that solar rites 
were performed about it.” 
361 
Naturally the two first questions asked 
about this structure concern its age and its 
uses. Both are mysteries. 
“It is impossible,” says the report, “to 
tell when Sun Temple was begun or how 
long it took for its construction or when it 
was deserted. 
“We have, however, knowledge of the 
lapse of time because the mound had accu- 
mulated enough soil on its surface to sup- 
port the growth of large trees. Near the 
summit of the highest wall in the annex 
there grew a juniper or red cedar of great 
antiquity, alive and vigorous when I began 
work. A section of this tree at that point 
was found by Mr. Gordon Parker, super- 
visor of Montezuma National Forest, to 
have 360 annual rings ; its heart is decayed, 
but its size suggests other rings, and that 
a few more years can be added to its age. 
“It is not improbable that this tree began 
to grow on the top of the Sun Temple 
mound shortly after the year 1540, when 
Coronado first entered New Mexico, but 
how great an interval elapsed during which 
the walls fell to form the mound in which 
it grew and how much earlier the founda- 
tions of the ruined walls were laid no one 
can tell. A conservative guess of 250 years 
is allowable for the interval between con- 
struction and the time the cedar began to 
sprout, thus carrying the antiquity of Sun 
Temple back to about 1300 A. D.” 
WHAT THE NATIONAL PARKS NEED 
An address before the American Civic Association by R. B. Mar- 
shall, General Superintendent, National Parks, Washington, D. C. 
Chairman : I think you will know that 
our youngest, our newest and one of our 
most beautiful national parks owes its de- 
velopment mostly to the work of Enos 
Mills — the Rocky Mountain National Park, 
Colorado, newest in years, not in attract- 
iveness and scenery. 
Some years ago I was making an inter- 
esting trip in an untraveled and nearly un- 
known part of the Yosemite National Park. 
It became necessary for me and my neigh- 
bor to soon reach the railroad and get out 
of that wonderland. This man and I 
started, and with us two soldiers to give 
us protection. We had been traveling 
quite a number of miles when my friend 
said, “We’ll save three miles if we go this 
way,” and turned aside. The soldiers 
didn’t like the idea and they demurred, 
but we kept on in what appeared to be a 
trackless way, but which to this man was 
as well known as if he had traveled it but 
yesterday, yet I know positively that he 
had not ; he had not been that way for a 
long time. That man knew all about the 
Yosemite National Park because he had 
topographically surveyed it years ago. It 
is a very great joy to the American Civic 
Association that that man has been made 
the superintendent of the national parks, 
many of which he has topographically 
mapped and all of which he had visited, 
studied and loves. 
It is right hard to introduce him as Mr. 
Robert Bradford Marshall, for it is a 
great deal easier for me to say that here’s 
Bob Marshall, who is going to talk to you 
about the national parks. (Applause.) 
Mr. Marshall : Mr. President, ladies and 
gentlemen : After the glowing remarks of 
Mr. McFarland — and I’ll just call him 
“Mack” for short — and having been pre- 
ceded by the real tenderfoot of the moun- 
tains, Mr. Grosvenor, and by “Mutt” (Enos 
Mills), my side partner on many trips, I 
don’t know just what to say. 
It is a peculiar position that I find my- 
self in. Recently I left a work that I had 
been engaged in for twenty-five years, that 
of topographic surveying in the United 
States Geological Survey, and T loved it 
with all my life. Tt isn’t that I love that 
work less, as that work took me into the 
national parks, but I love the national parks 
more. There are too many things to tell 
you in these few short moments that I 
have before me; in fact, I do not know 
that it would be very safe to talk too much 
about the details of what I think have to 
be done — you might think me egotistical. 
It would take too long, anyway. But 
really, I want to assure you that I have 
the biggest job in the United States. 
(Laughter and applause.) There is no 
doubt about it ; I am the entertainer of a 
hundred million people and more, and that 
is some job. (Laughter.) And I am not 
so sure that it isn't the most popular job in 
the United States. I am assured, for in- 
stance, that I have two million ladies ready 
to vote for me now (Applause) and have 
six thousand members of the American 
Civic Association (if there are not that 
many, there ought to be) ready to back 
me up, and every state in the Union that 
has a national park in it is ready to vote 
for Marshall, and I am sure that no can- 
didate can present himself with such cre- 
dentials next June at either St. Louis or 
Chicago. (Laughter.) 
We have many things to do, and I'm old 
and I’m young; and to do these many 
things we must have assistance all the way 
along the line. We must have legislation. 
Congress in its wisdom has imposed upon 
the Secretary of the Interior great respon- 
sibilities to take care of the national parks 
for the benefit and enjoyment of the peo- 
ple. And yet somehow it has not given the 
Secretary the authority to do what they 
