A Monument to Vandalism

"Monument to Vandalism" ARCHAEOLOGIST SOUTHWESTERN NATIONAL MONUMENT

VISIT WALNUT CANYON? Sure, you'll get a whale of a kick out of it. They all do. They come puffing up the trail talking to themselves. They gabble enthusiastically. They exclaim, "Why, I like this so much better than the Grand Canyon." What they don't know is that they are forty years too late.

For the So-and-So's gutted it in the 90's. It was dark in the little rooms with their small doors and no windows. To find the pitiful little hunks of cloth and corncobs and broken tools the cliff dwelling Indians left, the So-and-So's pushed out the front walls. It was fun hearing the rubble smash down the cliff sides.

"Who cares?", the So-and-So's probably would have thought (if they had been think-ing). "What are a few cliff dwellings, more or less?"

What are a few cliff dwellings! Cuss words. Cuss words. Cliff dwellings don't grow any more. Give me three thousand years and I'll grow you some more giant sequoias. Natural bridges are being formed constantly-perhaps ones bigger than Rainbow. Saguaros replenish themselves; new geyser basins occasionally pop up; time could even produce another Grand Canyon.

But Walnut's cliff dwellings were made only once. There never will be any more. That's all there is. When they are gone, they're gone.

So Walnut is a monument to vandalism. It is the place where you can prove to yourself that John Q. Public needs to have his own treasures guarded (in a nice way) from himself. It is the place that shows how heedless we are of the rights of future generations. They never did anything for us? Well, they haven't smashed any ruins for us, either, yet.

Vandalism is confined to no particular country. It isn't just Americans, people all over the world have been and are thoughtless. The people of the United States are perhaps more advanced than most, for they have set up agencies ("services," they are happily called) which are designed to administer our nation's heritage for the common good. We are painfully learning not to despoil ourselves. Walnut Canyon stands as an object lesson, a type ex-ample of what happens when no laws, or toothless laws, are set up without funds to im-plement them and irreplaceable treasures are exposed to the selfish acts of a few unthinking persons.

Perhaps we had better skip this subject before there floods over us a wave of bitterness strong enough to corrode our eyeteeth. Perhaps we'd better temporarily forget the hundreds and thousands of ruins being systematically looted each year in the Southwest by ruthless pothunters. It is really another story, and some-one should write it. But when we see Walnut it would behoove us to think. To look at it and learn a lesson.

Thank the Desert Gods that they could not wreck Walnut entirely, the So-and-So's! After Walnut's discovery in the 80's there was a favorite Sunday pastime to fill a buggy with shovels and beer and drive out along the old Winslow road to dig in the canyon. The stuff you found was not worth anything in money, but it provided a nice picnic outing. Floors were churned up and most of the front walls toppled outward, but it was pretty unproductive work to push down the stout side walls. Enough of the houses remain to give a vivid idea of what was once there. There still may be enough fragments of pottery, cloth, basketry, stone and wood tools to piece out the general outlines of the prehistoric story. Many, many pages and even chapters are missing; others are smudged and spoiled almost beyond deciphering. It is the archaeologist's job to try to recover what is left and fit it into the slowly expanding chron-icle of man's past. What is Walnut today? People intend no reflection on Grand Can-yon's glory when they say they like Walnut better. Grand Canyon is so terrific, so awe-some, that it passes the bounds of human com-prehension. A surprisingly large proportion of visitors feel almost repelled by its grandeur. Whatever the feeling of this group is, it can hardly be described as "liking." Walnut, on the other hand, is small enough to be intelligible. The calm beauty of its intimate charm makes visitors feel less dwarfed and consequently they like it.

Within the monument area, 1,873 acres, the canyon is approximately 400 feet deep. It was produced by geological forces similar to those that caused the Grand Canyon; namely, the region slowly uplifted and the stream was able to maintain its course. The upper 270 feet of the canyon was cut through warm gray Kaibab Limestone, a sea deposit containing many ma-rine fossils. Layers varying in resistance make up the formation. Due to the processes of dif-ferential weathering through past ages, the softer layers have retreated leaving a series of ledges and recesses along the canyon walls. The lower part of the gorge is eroded into buff Coconino Sandstone, highly cross-bedded, once the dunes of an ancient desert. There are no major cavities in this formation. It was in the Kaibab Limestone recesses that the cliff dwelling Indians built their one-room houses, using the overhanging ledge for a ceil-ing. Usually several rooms were constructed side by side in the same recess. As there were no doors in the dividing partitions, it appears that one family lived in each room. In addition to having the house half built before they started the rock formed a back wall and a non-leaking roof other inducements for living in the location were: (1) sufficient water in the canyon before the construction of Motorists traveling east-west lengthen their trip only 3.3 miles by taking the Walnut Canyon loop.

A modern dam upstream; (2) shelter from unpleasant wind; (3) protection from enemies due to difficult accessibility; (4) abundant fuel; and (5) availability of fertile soil on the canyon rim for cultivation of crops.

These Indians were farmers, growing corn (maize), beans, pumpkins and sunflowers, besides encouraging the growth of some wild plants; they gathered many types of vegetal food growing in the vicinity; they hunted game; Tucked into every available crevice and cranny are the 200-odd cliff dwellings of Walnut Canyon. There are four main layers or series of houses. When visitors stand in the museum building on the rim they cannot see the dwellings underneath them. They do get a good view of the houses in the opposite canyon wall.

Doorways are commonly "T-shaped," made by placing two extra rocks on either side at the bottom. The large part of the opening could then be closed by a blank-et, a hide, or a mat, leaving the small hole for ventilation. The other ventilation hole at the top of the wall above the door completed the system for circulation of air.

They were excellent pottery makers; and they wove good basketry and probably cotton cloth. They traded extensively with other tribes for supplies which are believed to include pipe-stone, sea shells and turquoise for ornaments, various pottery vessels, stone axes, salt, and cotton.

Animals which they could have hunted for meat, sinew or skins include: deer, elk, antelope, bear, cougar, wolf, coyote, bobcat, fox, rabbits, packrats, squirrels, porcupines, and many species of birds ranging from turkeys to sparrows. With the exception of elk, bear, cougar and wolf most of these species inhabit the Walnut region today.

Motorists often see deer along the approach roads, occasionally a band of antelope. Campers sometimes awaken early in the morning to hear the gobble of wild turkeys. Walnut Canyon is one of the very few National Park Service areas in which this western species, the Merriam turkey, is represented. It is thus import-

ant as a refuge. Fenced with the split rail snake fence which is the historic type of the Flagstaff region, the area is now protected from destructive grazing. Wildlife as well as native vegetation will greatly increase in a few years, it is believed.

Moisture-bearing air currents uplifted by the nearby San Francisco Peaks precipitate their burden along the south slopes of the mountains, giving Walnut Canyon much more rainfall than is common in the Southwest. Plant life flourishes. Indians probably for centuries have visited the canyon to collect rare plants necessary for food, fiber, dye, medicine, fuel, construction, ceremonial purposes, or materials for implements, weapons, and household furnishings. Hopi, Navajo, and sometimes Hava-supai still make these collecting trips, and their immemorial right is not denied by a sympathetic government.

Among the plants used are Ponderosa Pine, Piñon Pine, Gambel Oak, four species of juniper, Douglas Fir, Locust, Black Walnut, Aspen, Willow, Box Elder, Hoptree, Hollygrape, Serviceberry, Elderberry, Snowberry, Lemonade Sumac, Mountain Mahogany, Cliffrose, Currant, Saltbrush, Tobacco, Mormon Tea, Grape, Mescal, Yucca and several species of cactus.

The cliff dwelling Indians were Stone Age people with no knowledge of metal implements; neither did they have any domestic animals except dogs, and possibly turkeys. Their mod-ern descendants, the Pueblo Indians, make good use of sheep, goats, cows, horses and burros, as well as of fruit trees, which have been intro-duced by Europeans since 1540. It was more difficult to earn a living in prehistoric times than it is now, and the cliff dwellers must have worked many hours each day.

The period of occupation has been determined from the ages of various types of pottery found at Walnut Canyon. Identical pottery has been discovered at other ruins which have been accurately dated by the Douglas "tree ring" method. Beyond doubt the period of greatest population was from 1000 to 1200 A. D. Pot-tery earlier than 1000 A. D. is sometimes found, but only one fragment certain to have been made since 1200 A. D. has been noted.

In 886 A. D. Sunset Crater just north of Walnut Canyon erupted, spreading an even layer of black volcanic cinder over an area of almost 1,000 square miles. The region had been sparsely populated before.

Indians learned that the cinder acted as a moisture-conserving mulch for maize planted through it, land which had been desert was now fertile. Within the next hundred years a veritable "land rush" occurred. Indian farm-ers moved into the cinder fall area from all directions. Several tribes with different lan-guages and customs mingled.

CCC enrollees recently completed two comfortable residences for the resident staff. All constructional work on the monuments has been accomplished by the Mt. Elden CCC camp under the supervision of Project Superintendent Stevenson.

It was this occurrence that caused the major occupation of Walnut. The canyon may have been lived in before, but archaeologists have found no convincing proof. The cinder eruption probably did not greatly alter productivity of Walnut's farm land, but some of the incoming land-hungry bands must have found the fruitful area already pre-empted by earlier comers and consequently utilized the convenient canyon on the edge of the black expanse. Walnut thus plays only a marginal role in the story of Sunset Crater's unique effect on prehistoric man.

Walnut's inhabitants can be said to have been Puebloan in the sense that their blood lines probably can be traced into modern Pueblo, or town, tribes. However, painstaking study during the last decades by Dr. Harold S. Colton and his Museum of Northern Arizona (one of the finest research institutions in the west) has demonstrated that at about 1000 A. D. several Indian groups, probably tribes, had pushed into the Flagstaff area. These, for convenience, have been given arbitrary names by scientists.

From western Arizona had come the Cohonina (Ko-ho-neé-na) people with their rectangular pithouses, small masonry granaries, and forts on hilltops. These held territory north and west of the San Francisco Peaks.

To the northeast of the Peaks, mostly across the little Colorado River, lived the Kayenta (Kay-uhn-tay') and Tusayan (Too-sai-ahn') peoples, ancestral to the modern Hopi Indians. Off to the east were the Winslow group. A few miles downstream from the present boundaries Of Walnut Canyon National Monument had been established an isolated colony of Hohokam peoples from the Gila-Salt river basin of southern Arizona or from the Verde Valley. Among their distinctive customs were red-on-buff pottery, cremation of the dead, piled-up trash mounds, and use of game courts for the playing of some sort of ball.

One of the museum's prized exhibits is this skull, which somehow acquired the name of "Chief Charlie" after it was unearthed by pothunters. The alarming cranial ventilation was probably caused by earth pressure after burial, and not by a political or marital argument.

From pitiful little pieces of discarded basketry and cotton cloth archaeologists can sometimes glean clues of technique, form and material which are revealing as to tribal origins, prehistoric trade, and age of occupation.

But the group in which we are interested, the tribe to which Walnut's dwellers belonged, has been designated the Sinagua, (See-nah'wah), after a name given the San Francisco Teeth marks still show on some "quids' of agave, which they cooked and ate. The large string is a part of a turkey feather blanket. From studies of their cordage we find they tied the same knots and made the same mistakes in tying that we do.

Almost completed is an attractive office and exhibit building on a canyon rim which overlooks an excellent view of a representative section of the dwellings. Landscaped and blended into its woodland surroundings, the structure is built of nature materials.

Peaks in 1598 by the Spaniards, Farfan and Quesada.

Their holdings extended along the Mogollon (Mog-o-yone') Rim in central Arizona north to the Peaks and including the Middle Verde Valley and the East Verde River. In early times they lived in alcove or deep timber pit-houses, later in masonry pueblos. They, as did other groups, made characteristically distinctive pottery. They seem related to the group of relatively unstudied peoples, the so-called Mogollon Culture, which once held sway over southeastern Arizona and southern New Mexico. In general their pottery was red or brown in contrast to the gray or white wares which were made farther north.

The meeting of these and possibly other peoples produced a fusion of customs and habits which resulted in Wupatki, Elden Pueblo and other later ruined pueblos. The story is intricate; it is just now being worked out. Visitors will be much better able to understand the interesting tale as they actually visit the three national monuments near Flagstaff and the Museum of Northern Arizona.

To facilitate their water hauling the ancients built this imposing trail to the creek. It is still usable after 700 years.

We could briefly sum up: most of Walnut Canyon's population came from the south at-tracted by the agricultural possibilities opened up by the eruption of Sunset Crater. Their relationships lay to the south and east. They differed from most of the prehistoric peoples described in Southwestern archaeological lit-erature.

Why they left their beautiful gorge is un-known. Where they went is almost equally conjectural, but some scientists have a hunch they may have amalgamated with eastern groups which later developed into present day Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Future research undoubtedly will clarify the picture. The earliest known report concerning Walnut's dwellings is by James Stevenson who visited Walnut Canyon in 1883. The report, in part, follows: "This city, or rather cluster of villages, also a new discovery, occupied the sides of a canyon which has recently been christened Walnut Canyon. The sides have been gullied by storms and torrents, leaving shallow cave-like places of great length at different heights, along the bottom of which, wherever the ledge furnishes a sufficient area, dwellings in groups or singly were built. . .

"The group or villages which was the most narrowly examined was about half a mile in length, and consisted of a single row of houses, the common rear wall being the lining rock, while the sides and front were made of large squared stones set in clay. A narrow street or pathway extended along the entire front. Other and similar villages could be seen along the canyon for some distance.

"Among the relics found was a wooden spindle whorl similar to those in use by the Pueblo of the present time Nothing indicat Masonry is rather massive.. Blocks of Kaibab Limestone were laid up in a yellow clay mortar. Some of the houses show evidence of having been rebuilt several times. Original smoke blackening is still in place on many walls and ceilings.

In a few places the cavities were large enough so two-story structures could have been built. Most of Walnut's more than 200 cliff dwellings are one story, however.

During the use of metallic tools of any description was discovered. A shaft of reed resembling bamboo still remained in the whorl. It had been broken by the maker and neatly mended by winding about it a piece of fine twine. The ends of this twine being examined under a microscope disclosed the fact that its fiber was made of very fine human hair.

"Articles of wood, corn cobs, and even the prehistoric ruin to be seen close at hand by those physically infirm persons who are unable to negotiate the steep little trail to the cliff dwellings.

Until the summer of 1941 Beaubien's administration was handicapped by lack of a central interpretive station. Two trails led to the most commonly visited groups of dwellings and it was impossible for him to meet much more than half his visitors. This situation has been Two comfortable residences were recently completed for the local personnel. A split rail fence now protects vegetation from grazing and ruins from trampling by cattle. Re-location and improvement greatly benefits the entrance road. Installation of a six-mile pipe line brought potable water, a great need in view of the area's 13,000 visitors annually, a total which is expected to increase steadily.

All of these improvements have been instituted by the Mt. Elden CCC camp under the supervision of Project Superintendent William Stevenson. Such excellent work cannot help but prove that CCC boys do not merely rake leaves in the Southwest they have more than paid their way.

The San Francisco Peaks loom up magnificently from the "island" fort. Practically the same view can be obtained from the museum porch. Relatively abundant rainfall caused indirectly by this mountain mass give Walnut Canyon an unusually diversified floral population.

Before the construction upstream of the modern dam which formed Lake Mary, Walnut Creek was a perennial stream which undoubtedly provided sufficient water for the needs of the cliff dwellers. But how would you like to haul all your household water 200 vertical feet over rocky trails, carrying it in a jar balanced on your head? Walnut's women did.

perfect grains of corn; walnuts, bones of elk, and antelope, and wolf; portions of wearing material of a fabric resembling the mummy cloth of Egypt, but made from material unfamiliar to the explorers, and other perishable articles, were found in abundance buried in the piles of debris which partially fill these deserted homes, and would, at first thought, seem to indicate somewhat recent inhabitancy. On the other hand, however, the preservative qualities of the atmosphere of this region are remarkable, and it is the belief that centuries have elapsed since the last of the departed race or races occupied these old cities and villages as homes."

Since 1883 and before the dwellings were placed under the protection of the National Park Service, "pot-hunters" had removed the great wealth of cultural material seen by Mr. Stevenson, and our knowledge is largely derived from investigations at other contemporaneous sites.

The monument was created by presidential proclamation November 30, 1915, and enlarged September 24, 1938. In 1934 the area was placed under the jurisdiction of the Southwestern National Monuments Office, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, and has received constant protection ever since.

Archaeologist Paul L. Beaubien was placed in intermittent charge of the monument in July, 1934, and has acted as permanent custodian since 1937. Sometimes called "Bull Run Beaubien" for short (his ranch upbringing failed to create an immunity for his pronounced allergy to angry male bovines), Paul is a genial and salty individual who loves the monument better than a brother. If anyone maligns Walnut they have to fight Paul. His courtesy, helpfulness, and thorough knowledge have made him one of the best-liked park men in the Southwest.

corrected by construction of a modest but pleasing public building consisting of an office, exhibit room, lobby, and storage room. It stands on a point overlooking a group of cliff dwellings. Parking space, comfort stations, and a picnic area are provided.

Limited funds will delay completion of exhibits, but eventually the museum will house displays aimed to interpret graphically the fascinating local prehistory.

The monument possesses extremely few prehistoric artifacts which actually came from the canyon. Such, although worth nothing in monetary value, would be of priceless value as exhibit and study specimens. Hereby a plea is broadcast if you have, or know the existence of, specimens from Walnut Canyon, please make arrangements to return them to their point of origin. The government gladly accepts such donations. Placed where thousands of persons each year could view them, the ob jects would serve a much better purpose than lying on some private mantel. Correspondence should be addressed to Custodian Paul L. Beaubien, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Flagstaff, Arizona.

In addition to the cliff dwellings Walnut's rim area is dotted with uncounted surface pueblos, cooking pits, etc. Early on the schedule of Walnut's projects is an accurate survey of all prehistoric sites to determine an inventory of prehistoric evidences the monument protects. Eventually one of the small surface pueblos may be excavated scientifically, stabilized, and a trailside exhibit installed. This will serve the double purpose of adding to knowledge of Walnut's archaeology as well as providing a Walnut Canyon National Monument may be reached by either or two entrance roads, six and seven miles in length, which connect with Highway 66, three and one half and 14 miles east of Flagstaff. Autoists passing through Arizona via Highway 66 only increase their mileage by three miles to visit the monument, when entering by the first road encountered and departing by the other.

Admission to the monument is free.

There is a good foot trail leading to 30 of the cliff dwellings, and from this trail about 100 more may be seen. Informational signs have been placed along this trail, identifying plants and giving some of their uses by modern Indians. The trail signs also call attention to features of geological and archaeological interest. Young people sometimes make the trail trip in 20 minutes, but the average time for all parties is 50 minutes.

For those who do not wish to climb the steps of the trail, a good view of the canyon and a few of its cliff dwellings may be seen from the observation porch at the canyon rim.

Walnut's past in many respects was dark and distressing; its future is bright. Ol' Joe Taxpayer can rest assured that one of the nicest spots in the Southwest will be preserved for his descendants. Walnut Canyon is safe the So-and-So's can't hurt it any more.