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REPORT ON
WIND CAVE NATIONAL PARK, SULLYS HILL PARK, CASA GRANDE RUIN, MUIR WOODS, PETRIFIED FOREST, AND OTHER NATIONAL MONUMENTS, INCLUDING LIST OF BIRD RESERVES 1913 NATIONAL MONUMENTS AND PRESERVATION OF AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. GENERAL STATEMENT. By the act approved June 8, 1906, entitled "An act for the preservation of American antiquities," the President of the United States is authorized "in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments." Under such authority the President has created the following monuments: National monuments administered by Interior Department.
The following regulations for the protection of national monuments were promulgated on November 19, 1910: 1. Fires are absolutely prohibited. 2. No firearms are all owed. 3. No fishing permitted. 4. Flowers, ferns, or shrubs must not be picked, nor may any damage be done to the trees. 5. Vehicles and horses may be left only at the places designated for this purpose. 6. Lunches may be eaten only at the spots marked out for such use, and all refuse and litter must be placed in the receptacles provided. 7. Pollution of the water in any manner is prohibited; it must be kept clean enough for drinking purposes. 8. No drinking saloon or barroom will be permitted. 9. Persons rendering themselves obnoxious by disorderly conduct or bad behavior, or who may violate any of the foregoing rules, will be summarily removed. NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF OFFICERS HAVING SUPERVISION OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS. George Hayworth, new customhouse building, San Francisco, Cal.: Gratz W. Helm, Federal building, Los Angeles, Cal.: George E. Hair, Federal building, Salt Lake City, Utah: Theo N. Espe, Santa Fe, N. Mex.: Ira Lantz, Helena, Mont., Adelbert Baker, Cheyenne, Wyo.: A. Christensen, special agent in charge field service, Alaska (307 Federal building, Seattle, Wash.), Sitka National Monument, Alaska.
One new monument, Cabrillo National Monument, was created October 14, 1913, at Point Loma, of a small tract of land containing 21,910 square feet which lies within the military reservation at Fort Rosecrans, Cal., the same being of historic interest because of the discovery of the territory now partly embraced in the State of California, by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, who at this point first sighted land on September 28, 1542. This monument is under the jurisdiction of the War Department. Administrative conditions.—The supervision of these various monuments has, in the absence of any specific appropriation for their protection and improvement, necessarily been intrusted to the field officers of the department having charge of the territory in which the several monuments are located. Administrative conditions continue to be unsatisfactory, as no appropriation of funds has yet been made available for this important, protective, and preservative work. Such supervision as has been possible in the cases of a few monuments only has been wholly inadequate and has not prevented vandalism, unauthorized exploitation or spoliation of relics found in those prehistoric ruins, whose preservation is contemplated by the passage of the act of June 8, 1906. An estimate in the sum of $5,000 for protection of these monuments was submitted last year, but no appropriation was made. An estimate in similar amount for preservation, development, administration, and protection of these national monuments was submitted on December 15, 1913 (through the Secretary of the Treasury), by the Department of the Interior to Congress, and is incorporated in House Document No. 506, Sixty-third Congress, second session. This fund is needed, not so much for the purpose of preserving by restoration the objects reserved in the national monuments as to prevent the removal of valuable relics and vandalism. Monuments suffering from these causes should be provided with a custodian or superintendent, and in this way a small general appropriation can be made most useful and its expenditure will be wholly in the interest of the public. The protection and preservation of the national monuments as public reservations are of great interest and importance because a great variety of objects, historic, prehistoric, and scientific in character, are thus preserved for public use intact, instead of being exploited by private individuals for gain and their treasures scattered. These reserves should be administered in connection with the national parks, which they strongly resemble. It would be difficult to define one in terms that would exclude the other. The renewal of the estimate for a small appropriation has been made for the purpose of keeping this class of reserves intact until such time as Congress shall authorize the creation of some administrative unit which shall take over both the parks and monuments and administer them under a general appropriation. National monuments under other departments.—The following national monuments are not administered by the Secretary of the Interior: National monuments administered by the Department of Agriculture.
PERMITS FOR ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION. The uniform rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and War, under date of December 28, 1906, to carry into effect the general provisions of the act for the preservation of American antiquities provides (par. 3) that— Permits for the excavation of ruins, the excavation of archaeological sites, and the gathering of objects of antiquity will be granted, by the respective Secretaries having jurisdiction, to reputable museums, universities, colleges, or other recognized scientific or educational institutions, or to their duly authorized agents. On July 11, 1913, a permit was granted by the department to Prof. Byron Cummings, of the University of Utah, to make examinations and excavations as continuation of explorations under a similar permit granted him by the department on June 26, 1912, within the Navajo National Monument, and in the Navajo and Piute Indian Reservations as well as on lands 30 miles northwest of Bluff, Utah. On June 18, 1913, another permit was granted by the department to Prof. F. W. Putnam, honorary director of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, to make examination and excavation of ruins in the Chinlee Valley, west and northwest of Canyon del Muerto, Ariz., on behalf of the Peabody Museum. This locality is in the vicinity of the Navajo National Monument, and approaches the region of Prof. Cummings's explorations. Applications for permit for continuation of this work during 1914 in the regions indicated have been filed with the department by Profs. Cummings and Putnam. Permits were issued on October 1, 1912, and July 11, 1913, respectively, to Prof. G. F. Kay, of the State University of Iowa, and Mr. Wm. C. Mills, of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, to remove specimens of silicified wood to an extent not exceeding 500 pounds from the Petrified Forest National Monument in Arizona. On July 26, 1913, permit was granted Mr. F. W. Hodge, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, to make a reconnoissance of the Chaco Canyon National Monument in New Mexico, to make photographs of the monument, and to gather collections among its ruins for the benefit of the United States National Museum in Washington. MUIR WOODS NATIONAL MONUMENT. On December 31, 1907, the Secretary of the Interior, for and on behalf of the United States, accepted from William Kent and his wife, Elizabeth Thatcher Kent, of Chicago, Ill., in accordance with the act of Congress approved June 8, 1906, entitled "An act for the preservation of American antiquities," a deed conveying to the United States the following-described land, situate in Marin County, Cal.: Beginning at a stake, A. 7, driven in the center of the road in Redwood Cañon and located by the following courses and distances from the point of commencement of the tract of land, which was conveyed by the Tamalpais Land and Water Company to William Kent by a deed dated August 29th, 1905, and recorded in the office of the county recorder of Marin County, California, Book 95 of Deeds at page 58, to wit: North eighteen degrees thirty-two minutes, east two hundred thirty-two and sixty-four hundredths feet, north sixty-six degrees thirty minutes, west one hundred sixty-seven and thirty-four hundredths feet, north eighty-six degrees twenty-five minutes, west ninety-eight and sixty-two hundredths feet, north seventy degrees no minutes, west two hundred forty-one and seven hundredths feet, north fifty-seven degrees twenty-nine minutes, west one hundred seventy-eight and three-hundredths feet, north forty-six degrees twenty-two minutos, west two hundred thirty-five and thirty-nine hundredths feet, and north twenty-four degrees twenty-five minutes, west two hundred twenty-five and fifty-six hundredths feet; thence from said stake, A. 7, the point of beginning, south fifty-four degrees nineteen minutes, west fourteen hundred eighty-two and seven-tenths feet to Station A. 8, from which Station 4 of the survey of the tract of land conveyed to William Kent as aforesaid bears south fifty-four degrees nineteen minutes, west three hundred ten feet distant; thence from said Station A. 8 north forty-seven degrees thirty minutes, west twenty-six hundred eighty feet; thence due west six hundred fifty and eight-tenths feet; thence north fifty-two degrees thirty minutes, west eleven hundred feet; thence north nineteen degrees forty-five minutes, west ten hundred fifty-eight and four-tenths feet to Station A. 12, from which Station 16 of the survey of the tract of land conveyed to William Kent as aforesaid bears south eighty-three degrees forty-two minutes, west three hundred ten feet distant; thence north eighty-three degrees forty-two minutes, east thirty-one hundred nine and two-tenths feet; thence north fifty-five degrees twenty-eight minutes, east fifteen hundred fifty feet to an iron bolt, three-quarters of an inch in diameter and thirty inches long, Station 14; thence south seventeen degrees eighteen minutes, east twenty-eight hundred twenty and nine-tenths feet; thence south four degrees ten minutes, east nine hundred thirty feet to a stake, A. 16, driven in the center of a graded road; and thence south forty-five degrees seventeen minutes, west two hundred ninety-eight and five-tenths feet to said stake A. 7, the place of beginning. Containing an area of two hundred ninety-five acres, a little more or less.
On January 9, 1908, the President, by virtue of the power and authority vested in him by section 2 of said act, declared, proclaimed, and set apart the lands described as a "national monument to be known and recognized as Muir Woods National Monument." The Secretary of the Interior had, prior to the date last mentioned, withdrawn the lands from entry or sale. On September 10, 1908, the department prescribed regulations as follows for the government and protection of said monument: The following rules and regulations for the government of the Muir Woods National Monument, in the State of California, set side under the provisions of the act of Congross approved June 8, 1906, are hereby established and made public pursuant to the authority conferred by said act: 1. Fires are absolutely prohibited. 2. No firearms allowed. 3. No fishing permitted. 4. Flowers, ferns, or shrubs must not be picked, nor may any damage be done to the trees. 5. Vehicles and horses may be left only at the places designated for this purpose. 6. Lunches may be eaten only at the spots marked out for such use, and all refuse and litter must be placed in the receptacles provided. 7. Pollution of the water in any manner is prohibited. It must be kept clean enough for drinking purposes. 8. No drinking saloon or barroom will be permitted. 9. Persons rendering themselves obnoxious by disorderly conduct or bad behavior, or who may violate any of the foregoing rules, will be summarily removed. While the sundry civil act approved May 27, 1908 (35 Stat., 317), was pending before Congress attention was called to the fact that no provision was made for the salaries of custodians or for other protection of national monuments, as recommended in the estimates for these services, and that the department would be embarrassed in its efforts to protect monuments from vandalism and unauthorized exploration and spoliation because of a lack of funds. The department had recommended an appropriation of $5,000 for these purposes. No appropriation, however, was made by Congress for the purpose. On July 11, 1910, Andrew Lind, of California, was appointed custodian of the Muir Woods National Monument, at a salary of $900 per annum, payable from the appropriation "Protection of public lands and timber," and he is still in charge. These lands consist of one of the most noted redwood groves in the State of California, and were held in private ownership by Mr. Kent. The tract is of great scientific interest, contains many redwood trees which have grown to a height of 300 feet and have a diameter at the butt of 18 feet or more. It is located in a direct line about 7 miles from San Francisco, Cal., and is in close proximity to a large and growing suburban population. In Mr. Lind's report for the year he states: During the fiscal year 1913 the amount of $972.50 was expended on account of the Muir Woods National Monument, the entire amount being expended in payment for services of the custodian and his assistant. Both have been engaged exclusively in patrolling the park, enforcing the rules and regulations governing national monuments, and in removing fallen trees, branches, etc., from roads and trails. Is is estimated that approximately 40,000 people visited the park during the fiscal year 1913. The roads and trails are in fair condition, with the exception of the main road which, for the most part of it, needs to be filled with gravel. The brush cleaned from the fire lines during June, 1912, was burned without additional expense during the months of January and February, 1913. During the month of June, 1913, Muir Inn, which was situated about one-fourth mile from Muir Woods, was destroyed by fire. Previous to the fire there was a telephone line between Muir Inn and the house occupied by the custodian, the instruments at both ends of the line being owned by the Government. The instrument installed in Muir Inn was destroyed and there is now no telephone connection to Muir Woods. It is very important that the fire lines he cleaned during the coming fall; the work should be done during the months of November and December, when the brush can he burned as soon as removed from the fire lines. PETRIFIED FOREST OF ARIZONA. The Petrified Forest of Arizona lies in the area between the Little Colorado River and the Rio Puerco, 15 miles east of their junction and 6 miles south of Adamana, a station on the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad, from which place it is accessible by horse or vehicle. This area is of great interest because of the abundance of petrified coniferous trees, as well as its scenic features. The trees lie scattered about in great profusion; none, however, stands erect in its original place of growth, as do many of the petrified trees in the Yellowstone National Park. The trees probably at one time grew beside an inland sea; after falling they became waterlogged, and during decomposition the cell structure of the wood was entirely replaced by silica derived from sandstone in the surrounding land. Over a greater part of the entire area trees lie scattered in all conceivable positions and in fragments of all sizes. Perhaps the most prominent of all the scenic features of the region is the well-known Natural Bridge, consisting of a great petrified trunk lying across a canyon 45 feet in width and forming a footbridge over which anyone may easily pass.
Prof. Lester F. Ward, of the Geological Survey, has stated that— There is no other petrified forest in which the wood assumes so many varied and interesting forms and colors, and it is these that present the chief attraction for the general public. The state of mineralization in which much of this wood exists almost places them among the gems or precious stones. Not only are chalcedony, opals, and agates found among them, but many approach the condition of jasper and onyx. The degree of hardness attained by them is such that they are said to make an excellent quality of emery. Dr. Walter Hough, of the Smithsonian Institution, who visited this monument, states that— In the celebrated Petrified Forest, which is some 18 miles from Holbrook, Ariz., on the picturesque Santa Fe Railroad, there are ruins of several ancient Indian villages. These villages are small, in some cases having merely a few houses, but what gives them a peculiar interest is that they were built of logs of beautiful fossil wood. * * * The prehistoric dwellers of the land selected cylinders of uniform size, which were seemingly determined by the carrying strength of a man. It is probable that prehistoric builders never chose more beautiful stones for the construction of their habitations than the trunks of the trees which flourished ages before man appeared on the earth. This wood agate also furnished material for stone hammers, arrowheads, and knives, which are often found in ruins hundreds of miles from the forest. NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT. The Navajo National Monument as originally created by proclamation of March 20, 1909, embraced approximately 600 acres within the Navajo Indian Reservation, which was reserved tentatively and with a view to reduction to such small tract or tracts as might there after be found to contain valuable prehistoric pueblo or cliff dwellings, when the extent of the same could be determined by an examination on the ground and their locus definitely fixed by traverse lines connecting them with some corner of the public survey. Both of these conditions having been fulfilled, the monument was reduced by proclamation dated March 14, 1912, to three small tracts aggregating 360 acres. Within two of these tracts are located, respectively, two interesting and extensive pueblo or cliff-dwelling ruins in a good state of preservation and known as Betata Kin and Keet Seel, and a third cliff-dwelling ruin called Inscription House, located on Navajo Creek. Inscription House is regarded as extraordinary, not only because of its good state of preservation but because of the fact that upon the walls of its rooms were found inscriptions written in Spanish by early explorers and plainly dated 1661.
The new boundaries of the Navajo National Monument under the latter proclamation are shown in fig. 6.
CHACO CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT. These remarkable relics of an unknown people embrace numerous communal or pueblo dwellings built of stone, among which is the ruin known as Pueblo Bonito, containing, as it originally stood, 1,200 rooms and being the largest prehistoric ruin yet discovered in the Southwest. Numerous other ruins, containing from 50 to 100 or more rooms, are scattered along Chaco Canyon and tributaries for a distance of about 14 miles and upon adjacent territory to the east, south, and west of Chaco Canyon many miles farther. The most important of these ruins are as follows: Pueblo Bonito, Chettro Kettle, Arroyo, New Alto, Old Alto, Kin-Klet Soi, Casa Chiquita, Penasco Blanco, Kin-Kla-tzin, Hungo Pavis, Unda Vidie, Weji-gi, Kim-me ni-oli, Kin-yai, Casa Morena, and Pintado.
RAINBOW BRIDGE NATIONAL MONUMENT. This natural bridge is located within the Navajo Indian Reservation, near the southern boundary of Utah, a few miles northwest from Navajo Mountain, a well-known peak and landmark, and spans a canyon and small stream which drains the northwestern slopes of this peak and is of great scientific interest as an example of eccentric stream erosion. Among the known extraordinary natural bridges of the world, this bridge is unique in that it is not only a symmetrical arch below but presents also a curved surface above, thus presenting roughly, the character of the rainbow, for which it is named. Its height above the surface of the water is 309 feet and its span is 278 feet. The existence of this natural wonder was first disclosed to William B. Douglass, an examiner of surveys of the General Land Office, on August 14, 1909, by a Piute Indian, called "Mike's boy," later "Jim," who was employed in connection with the survey of the natural bridges in White Canyon, Utah.
EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUMENT. A feature of great historic interest and importance is the so-called El Morro or Inscription Rock, some 35 miles almost due east of Zuni Pueblo in western central New Mexico. El Morro is an enormous sandstone rock rising a couple of hundred feet out of the plain and eroded in such fantastic forms as to give it the appearance of a great castle, hence its Spanish name. A small spring of water at the rock made it a convenient camping place for the Spanish explorers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the smooth face of the "castle" well adapted it to receive the inscriptions of the conquerors of that early period. The earliest inscription, and historically the most important, is that of Juan de Onate, a colonizer of New Mexico and the founder of the city of Santa Fe, in 1606. It was in this year that Onate visited El Morro and carved this inscription on his return from a trip to the head of the Gulf of California. There are 19 other Spanish inscriptions of almost equal importance, among them that of Don Diego de Vargas, who in 1692, reconquered the Pueblo Indians after their rebellion against Spanish authority in 1680. It is not too much to say that no rock formation in the West or perhaps in the world is so well adapted to the purpose for which this table of stone was used—at least history does not record any collection of similar data. Here are records covering two centuries, some of which are the only extant memoranda of the early expeditions and explorations of what is now the southwestern part of the United States. On these smooth walls, usually under some projecting stratum, inscriptions were cut by the early conquerors and explorers, which have made this rock one among the most interesting objects on the continent.
Here, in this remote and uninhabited region, in the shadows of one of nature's most unique obelisks, wrapped in the profound silence of the desert, with no living thing to break the stillness, it is hard to realize that 300 years ago these same walls echoed the clank of steel harness and coats of mail; that with the implements of Spanish conquest the pathfinders in the New World were carving historical records upon the eternal rock. Locally Inscription Rock and El Morro are known as separate and distinct monumental rocks. The latter, translated The Castle, is the rock standing out in bold relief to the east, while Inscription Rock is the name applied to the formation to the west, which is a part of the mesa. On the south side in the angle formed by the two, one extending east and the other south, is a great chamber or cavern, a natural amphitheater where secure refuge from storm or human foe could easily be secured. It is here, too, that the only spring within many miles wells up as if to make the natural fortification doubly secure. Upon these walls are many of the best preserved Spanish inscriptions, although there are quite a number 200 feet east, under the shadows of a stately pine tree and on the north side of El Morro. Most of them are as plain and apparently as legible as the day they were written; especially is this true of the older ones, carved during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The existence of extensive, prehistoric ruins on the very summit of Inscription Rock is another feature of interest. On the top of the rock a deep cleft or canyon divides the western end of the formation. On each of these arms is the remnant of large communal houses or pueblos. Some of the walls are yet standing and the ground plans of the structures are well defined. That on the south arm, and almost overhanging the cavern and spring, is approximately 200 by 150 feet. Some of the buildings must have been more than one story in height. The remarkable natural defenses of the site and the existence of the spring doubtless induced the builders to select this odd location. At some distant day it may be desirable to excavate these ruins and thus add to this historic spot attractions for the scientist as well as the general public who are interested in scenic and natural curiosities. LEWIS AND CLARK CAVERN NATIONAL MONUMENT. The feature of this monument is a limestone cavern of great scientific interest, because of its length and because of the number of large vaulted chambers it contains. It is of historic interest, also, because it overlooks for a distance of more than 50 miles the trail of Lewis and Clark along the Jefferson River, named by them. The vaults of the cavern are magnificently decorated with stalactites and stalagmite formations of great variety in size, form, and color, the equal of, if not rivaling, the similar formations in the well-known Luray caves in Virginia.
The cavern is located about 1 mile northeasterly from Limespur, a post office in Jefferson County, and a station on the Northern Pacific Railroad. Its two entrances, which are about 100 yards apart, are upon the walls of a deep canyon about 500 feet below the rim, and the cavern extends back therefrom approximately half a mile. The second proclamation establishing this monument is as follows: Whereas the unsurveyed tract of land containing an extraordinary limestone cavern and embracing one hundred and sixty acres, situated in township one north, range two west of the Montana principal meridian, Montana, and which was created the Lewis and Clark Cavern National Monument by proclamation dated the 11th day of May, 1908, has recently been definitely located by an official survey thereof, made under the direction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and such survey having determined that the tract in question lies wholly within the limits of the grant of the Northern Pacific Railway Company but has not yet been patented to that company; And whereas, by its quitclaim deed the said Northern Pacific Railway Company relinquished unto the United States all its right, title, and interest to lot twelve, section seventeen, township one north, range two west of the Montana principal meridian, Montana, the same being the original tract proclaimed a national monument, for the purpose of maintaining thereon the said Lewis and Clark Cavern National Monument, under the condition that the instrument of relinquishment shall become void and the premises immediately revert to the grantor should the monument no longer be maintained. Now, therefore, I, William H. Taft, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power in me vested by section two of the act of Congress approved June 8, 1906, entitled "An act for the preservation of American antiquities," do hereby set aside and confirm as the Lewis and Clark Cavern National Monument the said tract, embracing one hundred and sixty acres of land, at and surrounding the limestone cavern in section seventeen, township one north, range two west, Montana, subject to the conditions set forth in the relinquishment and quitclaim deed No. 18129E, dated February 14, 1911, of the Northern Pacific Railway Company, the said tract being in square form and designated as lot twelve in the survey and deed, with side lines running north and south and all sides equidistant from the main entrance of the said cavern, the center of said entrance bearing north forty-nine degrees, forty-two minutes west, fifty-three and thirteen hundredths chains distant from the corner to sections sixteen, seventeen, twenty, and twenty-one, as shown upon the diagram hereto attached and made a part hereof. Warning is hereby expressly given to all persons not to appropriate, injure, or destroy any of the natural formations in the cavern hereby declared to be a national monument, nor to locate or settle upon any of the lands reserved and made a part of said monument by this proclamation. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eleven, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and thirty-fifth. TUMACACORI NATIONAL MONUMENT. This monument embraces 10 acres of land in Santa Cruz County, Ariz., relinquished to the United States by a homestead entryman for the purposes specified in the act of June 8,1906. Upon the tract is located a very ancient Spanish mission ruin, erected probably, as appears from the reports, in the latter part of the sixteenth century. The church is in a remarkable state of preservation, owing to the fact that it was erected out of burned bricks and cement mortar. In August of 1913 the department authorized the construction of a substantial fence around the ruin as a means of protection against depredations of cattle and other stock.
MONTEZUMA CASTLE NATIONAL MONUMENT. This national monument is situated in the northeastern part of Yavapai County, Ariz., and contains an assemblage of cliff dwellings, from the principal of which, known as Montezuma's Castle this monument is named. This structure is of very great interest, not only because of its picturesqueness, but for ethnological and other scientific reasons. It is strictly a cliff dwelling, with the added importance that it is also a communal house. Although very small as compared with the great ruins of Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelley, Mesa Verde, the Mancos, and other localities of the Southwest, it is so unique in location and structural design, and so perfectly preserved, that it may be said to have no equal in the United States. The character of the material used in the Verde cliff ruins, adobe, rubble, and a soft calcareous stone, rendered the progress of disintegration and ruin somewhat rapid, though many centuries must have elapsed since the passing of the race. The Mojave Apache Indians, who occupied the valley at the advent of the white men, have no tradition respecting the existence of the people who formerly occupied this region. Montezuma's Castle, it is stated, is the only single perfect specimen and type of the architectural skill of the prehistoric cliff dwellers of this valley.
NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT. This monument is located in the vicinity of Bluff, San Juan County, in the extreme southeastern portion of Utah, and was created, originally, by presidential proclamation of April 16, 1908. A second proclamation, issued by the President September 25, 1909, includes, besides the three bridges originally reserved, a much more extended territory, but within which, along the walls of the canyons in the vicinity of the bridges, are found many prehistoric ruins of result of remarkable and eccentric stream erosion. These bridges are understood to be among the largest examples of their kind, the greatest of the three having a height of 222 feet, being 65 feet thick at the top of the arch. The arch is 28 feet wide, the span is 261 feet, and the height of span 157 feet. The other two bridges are only a little smaller. All three are within a space of about 5 miles.
GRAN QUIVIRA NATIONAL MONUMENT. The Gran Quivira has long been recognized as one of the most important of the earliest Spanish church or mission ruins in the cavern and cliff dwellings. There are also two cavern springs containing some prehistoric ruins, which are located approximately 13 and 19 miles southeast of the bridges, respectively. These cavern springs are included within the Natural Bridges Monument. They are located upon the ancient and only trail to the bridges from the south, and are important way stations in the desert surrounding this monument. The monument is reached by a two days' horseback journey from Bluff. The natural bridges spring from the high walls of White Canyon, through which part of the journey is taken, and are the Southwest. Near by are numerous Indian pueblo ruins, occupying an area many acres in extent, which also, with sufficient land to protect them, was reserved. The outside dimensions of the church ruin, which is in the form of a short-arm cross, are about 48 by 140 feet, and its walls are from 4 to 6 feet thick and from 12 to 20 feet high. The Gran Quivira National Monument is located 1-1/2 miles outside of the exterior boundaries of the Manzano National Forest, and is remote from the headquarters of any officer of this department. On September 12, 1910, the Interior Department requested the Department of Agriculture to assume temporary charge of patrol and protection of this monument, in view of the better facilities at disposal of the Forest Service in the Manzano National Forest, inasmuch as the monument is remote from location of any field officer of the Interior Department; and this charge was accepted by the Department of Agriculture.
MUKUNTUWEAP NATIONAL MONUMENT. The Mukuntuweap National Monument, Utah, embraces the magnificent gorge of Zion Creek, called the Mukuntuweap Canyon by the Powell Topographic Survey of southwestern Utah, Kanab sheet, and the same is of the greatest scientific interest. The canyon walls are smooth, vertical sandstone precipices, from 800 to 2,000 feet deep. These walls are unscalable within the limits of the boundaries of the reserve, except at one point about 4 miles from the southern and 6 miles from the northern extremity. The North Fork of the Rio Virgin passes through the canyon, and it is stated that the views into the canyon from its rim are exceeded in beauty and grandeur only by the similar views into the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. At intervals along the west wall of the canyon are watercourses which cross the rim and plunge into the gorge in waterfalls 800 to 2,000 feet high.
SHOSHONE CAVERN NATIONAL MONUMENT. The Shoshone Cavern National Monument embraces 210 acres of rough, mountainous land. The cavern entrance is located upon the north face of Cedar Mountain, about 3 miles east of the great Shoshone Dam in Big Horn County, Wyo. From its entrance the cavern runs in a southwesterly direction for more than 800 feet, if measured in a direct line. The route which must be traveled to reach this depth within the mountain, however, is so winding and irregular that at least a mile is passed before the terminus is reached. There are en route many dark pits and precipices of unknown depth and therefore of a special interest. The various chambers and passages are beautifully decorated with a sparkling crust of limestone crystals and from the roof hang myriads of stalactites.
SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT, ALASKA. This monument reservation, created March 23, 1910, under the act of June 8, 1906, embraces about 57 acres of comparatively level gravel plain formed by sea wash and by the deposits of Indian River, which flows through the tract. Upon this ground was located formerly the village of a warlike tribe—the Kik-Siti Indians—who, in 1802, massacred the Russians in old Sitka and thereafter fortified themselves and defended their village against the Russians under Baranoff and Lisianski. Here also are the graves of a Russian midshipman and six sailors, who were killed in a decisive battle in 1804. A celebrated "witch tree" of the natives and 16 totem poles, several of which are examples of the best work of the savage genealogists of the Alaska clans, stand sentrylike along the beach. An estimate in the sum of $1,500 has been submitted by the department to Congress for protection and improvement during the fiscal year 1915 of this monument, including the repair of the ancient totems and other historic relics. The following is from a letter dated August 31, 1913, from Arthur G. Shoup, member of Alaskan Legislature, to J. W. Lewis, special agent, General Land Office, and now part of General Land Office files: The great natural beauty of this park is extolled by every tourist who has ever visited Sitka and it is partly on account of the exceptional opportunities that it affords for visitors from the States to see at once the timber growth, wild mosses, and small verdure, and mountain streams of Alaska that our Government has so carefully guarded this reservation. Referring briefly to the historical features of the Sitka National Monument, or Indian River Park as it is called: It was here that the Russians under Baranoff in 1802 fought and won the "decisive battle of Alaska" against the Indians, and effected their lodgment in southeastern Alaska that placated the then very active attempts of Great Britian to get possession of this part of the country. The Russian title thus acquired to the Alexander Archipelago was later transferred to the United States, and because of this battleground being in the Sitka National Monument, it is of great patriotic interest to every Alaskan. Another interesting feature of this park is that it is the place where the natives used to conduct their weird trials and executions for witchcraft. The tree where the victims were hanged still stands as an object of awe to the descendants of the old schamen, and a subject of curiosity to the whites.
DEVILS TOWER NATIONAL MONUMENT. This extraordinary, natural monument has been known and utilized, doubtless, from time immemorial by the aborigines of the plains and mountains, for the American Indian of the last century was found to be directing his course to and from the hunt and foray by reference to this lofty pile. In their turn the white pioneers of civilization in their explorations of the great Northwest which began with the expedition of the Verendryes, pathfinders of the French colonies of Canada, in 1742, utilized the tower as a landmark, and still later the military expeditions into the Sioux and Crow Indian country during the Indian wars of the last century carried on operations within sight of the Devils Tower or directed their march by the aid of its ever-present beacon, for the tower is visible in some directions in that practically cloudless region for nearly 100 miles.
PINNACLES NATIONAL MONUMENT. There are two groups of the so-called Pinnacles Rocks, known locally as the Big Pinnacles and the Little Pinnacles. The general characteristics of the two groups are similar. Each covers an area of about 160 acres, very irregular in outline. The name is derived from the spirelike formations rising from 600 to 1,000 feet from the floor of the canyon, forming a landmark visible many miles in every direction. Many of the rocks are so precipitous that they can not be scaled. A series of caves, opening one into the other, lie under each of the groups of rock. These caves vary greatly in size, one in particular, known as the Banquet Hall, being about 100 feet square with a ceiling 30 feet high. The caves are entered through narrow canyons, with perpendicular rock walls and overhanging bowlders. One huge stone, called the Temple Rock, is almost cubical in form. It stands alone in the bottom of the canyon and its walls rise perpendicularly to a height of over 200 feet. There are also several specimens of "balancing rocks" in each of the groups. The railroad station nearest this monument is Soledad, Monterey County, Cal.
COLORADO NATIONAL MONUMENT. This area was set aside as a national monument by the President's proclamation of May 24, 1911, and is situated near Grand Junction, Colo. The site is in a picturesque canyon, which has long been an attractive feature of that portion of the State. The formation is similar to that of the Garden of the Gods at Colorado Springs, Colo., only much more beautiful and picturesque. With the exception of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado it exhibits probably as highly colored, magnificent, and impressive examples of erosion, particularly of lofty monoliths, as may be found anywhere in the West. These monoliths are located in several tributary canyons. Some of them are of gigantic size, one being over 400 feet high, almost circular in cross section, and 100 feet in diameter at base.
CINDER CONE NATIONAL MONUMENT. The Cinder Cone National Monument was created by proclamation dated May 6, 1907. It is situated within the Lassen Peak National Forest, and with the adjacent area, embracing a lava field and Snag Lake and Lake Bidwell, is of scientific interest as illustrative of volcanic activity, and is of special importance in tracing the history of the volcanic phenomena of that vicinity.
LASSEN PEAK NATIONAL MONUMENT. The Lassen Peak National Monument was created by proclamation dated May 6, 1907. It is situated within the Lassen Peak National Forest and marks the southern terminus of the long line of extinct volcanoes in the Cascade Range, from which one of the greatest volcanic fields in the world extends, and is of special importance in tracing the history of the volcanic phenomena of that vicinity.
GILA CLIFF-DWELLINGS NATIONAL MONUMENT. The Gila Cliff-Dwellings National Monument was created by proclamation dated November 16, 1907. These cliff-dweller ruins are neither very large nor very important, but are located in a district in which few prehistoric ruins are found.
TONTO NATIONAL MONUMENT. The Tonto National Monument was created by proclamation dated December 19, 1907. It is located in Gila County, Ariz., and embraces two prehistoric ruins of cliff dwellings located somewhat less than 2 miles south of the Salt River Reservoir constructed by the Reclamation Service in the valley of the Salt River within the Tonto Basin, and is about 5 miles southeasterly from the town of Roosevelt. The prehistoric ruin is situated in the high, flaring entrance to a large, shallow cavern, is three stories high, approximately 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep, and contains 14 or more rooms.
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZ. A considerable portion of the area set aside by the proclamation creating this national monument is covered by three different proclamations, one of which created the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve, one the game preserve embracing that part of the national forest north of the river, and the third the monument proclamation. It is believed that the most wonderful portion of the canyon is contained within the present limits of the national monument and game preserves. Steps were taken to create a national park of the Grand Canyon of the Arizona, and a bill (H. R. 6331) providing for such purpose was introduced in Congress April 20, 1911. The bill, however, did not become a law. The Association of American Geographers has recommended that the above-mentioned park be designated as Powell National Park, and the Geological Society of America has approved the naming of the national park in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado after its explorer, Maj. J. W. Powell.
JEWEL CAVE NATIONAL MONUMENT. Jewel Cave, which is located 13 miles west and south of Custer, the county seat of Custer County, S. Dak., was discovered on August 18, 1900, by two prospectors, Albert and F. W. Michaud, whose attention was attracted by the noise of wind coming from a small hole in the limestone cliffs on the east side of Hell Canyon. In the hope of discovering some valuable mineral and the source of the wind, these men, in company with one Charles Bush, enlarged the opening. Jasper and manganese are found in the cave, but to what extent is not definitely known. The prospectors have followed the main descending wind passage for a distance of 1-1/2 miles, which point the explorers believe to be from 600 to 700 feet below the entrance, and have explored numerous side galleries and passages. However, the cave is far from being fully explored. The cave, as far as known, is located in limestone formation and is apparently the result of action of water. A prominent geologist who visited this cave believes it to be an extinct geyser channel. The cave, as far as explored, consists of a series of chambers, connected by narrow passages with numerous side galleries, which increase in size as the distance from the entrance becomes greater. The explorers have been careful observers of the action of the wind within the cave. They have discovered that ordinarily the wind blows in and out of the cave for regular periods, the periods of blowing in and out being 15 hours each, although they have known the periods to be of 72 hours' duration. Other wind passages have been discovered in the vicinity of the cave.
WHEELER NATIONAL MONUMENT, COLO. The lands embraced in this national monument are situated near the head-waters of the middle fork of Bellows Creek, a northern tributary of the Rio Grande del Norte, about 10 miles northeast of Wagon Wheel Gap, Colo., and 2 miles south of the crest of the Continental Divide. The tract lies on the southern slope of the ridge which forms the crest of the Continental Divide. It is traversed from north to south by numerous deep canyons with very precipitous sides, the intervening ridges being capped by pinnacle like rocks, making it practically impossible to cross the tract from east to west, even on foot. There are also many crevices cutting the ridges transversely, making an intricate network of ravines separated by broken, precipitous ledges and broken mesas. It is probable that the formation found here is the result of a succession of outpourings of lava and showers of volcanic ash which have left a series of nearly horizontal strata of varying degrees of hardness. Numerous pebbles and breccia of a flint-like rock are embedded in the softer lavas which were probably gathered up by the flowing lava mud from the original bedrock. The formation is for the most part scoriaceous tuf a and trachyte, with some rhyolite. The effect of erosion on this formation has been to cut it into sharply defined forms of many kinds. The harder broken rocks embedded in the lavas have acted as veritable chisels, greatly accelerating erosive action and making the lines and angles more sharply defined than would be the case in ordinary weathering. This erosion is still going on at a remarkably rapid rate, making the place very interesting from the geological point of view.
The fantastic forms resulting from the rapid erosion make this spot one of exceptional beauty. The numerous winding canyons, broken ridges, pinnacles, and buttes form such striking and varied scenes that it will be much visited by tourists when it has been made accessible by the construction of roads and trails. From the most reliable data it is believed that the ill-fated expedition of John C. Fremont, in 1848, reached this immediate vicinity, when disaster came upon the party, compelling it to turn back. Skeletons of mules, bits of harness, and camp equipage are found here, lending force to the recorded data. MOUNT OLYMPUS NATIONAL MONUMENT, WASH. This monument was set aside by presidential proclamation of March 2, 1909, and contained approximately 608,640 acres. It was created for the purpose of preserving many objects of great and unusual scientific interest, embracing numerous glaciers, and the territory has also been from time immemorial the summer range and breeding ground of the Olympic elk, a species which is rapidly decreasing in numbers. A bill was introduced in Congress on July 15, 1911, providing for the setting aside as a national park the same tract of land as was set aside by proclamation of the President creating the Mount Olympus National Monument. It was reduced by presidential proclamation of April 17, 1912, to 608,480 acres in order to permit certain claimants to land therein to secure title to the land. This proclamation providing therefor is as follows: I, WILLIAM H. TAFT, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power in me vested by section 2 of the act of Congress approved June 2, 1906, entitled "An act for the preservation of American antiquities," do hereby declare and proclaim that the south half of the southwest quarter of section twenty-one, and the north half of the northwest quarter of section twenty-eight, in township twenty-four north, range eight west, Willamette meridian, Washington, be, and the same are hereby, eliminated from the Mount Olympus National Monument. The provisions of the proclamation of March 2, 1909, shall remain in full force and effect as to all other lands thereby reserved as a national monument. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to he affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twelve, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and thirty-sixth.
OREGON CAVES NATIONAL MONUMENT, OREG. The Oregon Caves or "Marble Halls" of Josephine County, discovered in 1874, are located in the Siskiyou National Forest, about 30 miles south of Grants Pass in Cave Mountain, a peak of the Greyback Range, that divides the head-waters of the Applegate and Illinois Rivers, and connects with the Siskiyou Mountains near the north line of California. Cave Mountain, the peak which contains these caves, rises to an elevation of about 6,000 feet, and is of limestone formation. The main openings around which the national monument has been created are at an elevation of 4,000 feet, but the entire mountain side for 5 or 6 miles shows caverns of various sizes, and in all probability throughout its interior is honeycombed like the portion that has been explored. These caves are more of a series of galleries than of roomy caverns, though many beautiful rooms have been discovered, while miles of galleries have been visited; but there are thousands of passageways leading in all directions—partly closed by stalactites—that have never been opened, and with the distant and unexplored openings on the opposite side of the mountain the magnitude of the Oregon Caves can be said to be practically unknown. Many small streams are found at different elevations, and larger bodies of running water can be heard in pits bottomless so far as measured (by 300-foot line). This running water probably accounts for currents of wind that in some of the galleries blow so hard as to extinguish an open light at once.
The lime deposits take many beautiful forms—massive pillars, delicate stalactites of alabaster whiteness with the crystal drop of water carrying its minute deposit of lime from which they are formed, and broad sheets resembling drapery with graceful curves and waves that were certainly made by varying currents of wind during formation. The Forest Service has rebuilt and improved the trails leading to the caves from each side of the divide in order to more easily protect the valuable forest surrounding and to make the caves more accessible to tourists. DEVIL POSTPILE NATIONAL MONUMENT, CAL. The Devil Postpile consists of basaltic rocks laid down in the form of an immense pile of posts, and while there are similar formations in different parts of the country, this is especially prominent, being one of the most noted of its kind on the continent and said to rank with the famous Giants Causeway on the coast of Antrim, in the north of Ireland. Below the post pile and above the junction of King Creek and the middle fork of the San Joaquin River is Rainbow Falls, similar to the well-known Vernal Falls of the Yosemite Valley, and one of the few of its kind on the continent.
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