National Parks
Portfolio

Cover

Contents

Foreword

Parks vs Monuments

Acadia

Bryce Canyon

Carlsbad Caverns

Crater Lake

General Grant

Glacier

Grand Canyon

Grand Teton

Hawaii

Hot Springs

Lassen Volcanic

Mesa Verde

Mount McKinley

Mount Rainier

Platt

Rocky Mountain

Seqoia

Wind Cave

Yellowstone

Yosemite

Zion

Monuments

National Parks Portfolio

Mesa Verde

MODEL OF FAR VIEW HOUSE

EXCAVATING FAR VIEW HOUSE ON THE TOP OF THE MESA
Photograph by George L. Beam

SPRUCE TREE HOUSE HIDES UNDER A HUGE OVERHANGING CLIFF

THE PRINCIPAL DWELLINGS

CLIFF PALACE is the most celebrated of the Mesa Verde ruins because it is the largest and most prominent. Others are no less interesting and important. Spruce Tree House is next in size; Balcony House and Square Tower House are equally well preserved. There are hundreds of others, some of which have yet to be thoroughly explored; probably some are still undiscovered.

Cliff Palace is three hundred feet long; Spruce Tree House two hundred and sixteen. Cliff Palace contained over two hundred rooms; Spruce Tree House a hundred and fourteen. Spruce Tree House originally had three stories. Its population was probably three hundred and fifty.

The Round Tower in Cliff Palace is an object of unusual interest.

The kivas or ceremonial rooms were usually round, subterranean rooms of more or less uniform size, construction, and arrangement. Except in a few notable cases they were entered by means of a ladder through the roof or hatchway.

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Last Modified: Mon, Oct 31, 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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