West Virginia Argus

Western Cliff Dwellers.

One of the most attractive portions of Colorado, if not in the entire West, is that part of the State in which are found the cliff dwellings of a long extinct race. The district in which these ruins are located covers an area of nearly six thousand square miles, chiefly in Colorado, but which includes narrow belts in the adjacent territories of New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.

The ruins of this region, like most others of the extreme West and South, are the remnants in a great measure of stone structures. It is evident, however, that a great portion of the villages and dwellings of the lowlands which comprise this district have been of material other than stone, frequently, doubtless, of rubble and adobe combined.

The cliff houses conform in shape to the floor of the niche or shelf on which they are built. They are of firm, neat masonry, and the manner in which they are attached or cemented to the cliffs is simply marvelous. Their construction has cost a great deal of labor, the rock and mortar of which they are built having been brought hundreds of feet up the most precipitous places. They have a much more modern look than the valley and cave remains, and are probably in general more recent, belonging rather to the close than to the earlier parts of a long period of occupation.

It seems probable that a rich reward awaits the fortunate archaeologist who shall be able to thoroughly investigate the historical records that lie buried in the masses of ruins, the unexplored caves, and the still mysterious burial places of the Southwest. But it is quite improbable that any certain light will ever be thrown on the origin of this curious race which has just been described, or their history.-Cincinnati Commercial.