|
|
Article: THE GOLDEN AGE OF MESA VERDE ANCESTRAL PUEBLO DESIGNED, BUILT CIVILIZATION IN CLIFFS.(Local)
- Article from:
- Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
- Article date:
- May 18, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Rocky Mountain News. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Dialog LLC by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Byline: Lisa Levitt Ryckman News Staff Writer
A pair of 19th-century ranchers looking for lost cows stumbled instead upon the magical legacy of an ancient people.
On Dec. 18, 1888, Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law, Charles Mason, tracked their livestock to the edge of a canyon on top of Mesa Verde and made a discovery that would change the future of Colorado's past.
Through the falling snow, the men saw stacks of rooms, some four stories high, flanked by towers. The buildings were tucked into every corner of a ledge against the canyon wall, a veritable castle of stone.
They called it the Cliff Palace. Today it stands as one of ...