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Colwood Pioneer Cemetery

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British Columbia, Colwood
The Colwood Pioneer Cemetery was established in the 1890's on land donated by Alfred Thomas Peatt. Originally the site included St. Matthew's Presbyterian Church. The Colwood Women's Institute maintained the cemetery from 1925 to 1993, and then responsibility was transferred to the City of Colwood.

This cairn is a generous gift of the Acres and Aubrey families of Colwood in loving memory of Bert and Agnes Parker.

(Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Life in a Prairie Dog Town

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South Dakota, Custer County, Custer
Whether they know it or not, black-tailed prairie dogs are wildlife managers. These ground squirrels are intricately connected to numerous plant and animal species and play a key role in the health and stability of the prairie.

The eating habits alter vegetation, attracting bison, elk, pronghorn antelope, and deer to their towns to graze on tender new shoots. Their burrows provide shelter for insects, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, and even burrowing owls. Their towns attract coyotes, badgers, hawks, and eagles. When these predators arrive, prairie dogs stop their social chattering and sound the alarm. Can you detect the warning signal? It sounded like barking dogs to the pioneers.

Burrows
Prairie dog burrows slope downward about 10 feet. The first chamber serves as a listening post and turnaround. Other chambers serve as living quarters, nest and toilet.

Codependents
Constant nibbling by 1 prairie dogs rejuvenates grasses such as blue grama and allows forbs or broad-leafed plants to grow. Forbs attract 2 pronghorn antelope and new grasses attract 3 bison. 4 Meadowlarks and other birds feed on insects and nest in the grasses while 5 hawks and 6 coyotes patrol for prey. 7 Badgers, prairie voles, and thirteen-lined ground squirrels build nests in deserted burrows. One of the rarest prairie dog predators is the black-footed ferret.

(Animals) Includes location, directions, 3 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Aztec Ruins National Monument

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New Mexico, San Juan County, Aztec
Through the collective recognition of the community of nations expressed within the principles of the convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage Aztec Ruins National Monument has been designated an outlier of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. World Heritage Site and joins a select list of protected areas around the world whose outstanding natural and cultural resources form the common inheritance of all mankind

(Anthropology • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

"For the Enlightenment of the Nation"

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New Mexico, San Juan County, Aztec
Working from his house and publishing through the American Natural History Museum, Earl Morris intrigued the nation with his findings at Aztec Ruins.

In 1923 the site Morris had known since boyhood was preserved as a national monument “for the enlightenment and culture of the nation” by President Warren G. Harding.

(Anthropology • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Bradshaw Circle

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Colorado, La Plata County, Durango
Dedicated to Charles E. Bradshaw Jr. who established the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Mr. Bradshaw saved the Silverton branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Western from abandonment in 1981 and preserved the Railroad as a National Historic Landmark.

(Railroads & Streetcars) Includes location, directions, 9 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Pithouse Life

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Colorado, Montezuma County, Mesa Verde
There is an enormous gap between identifying pithouse features—the hollows and scattered stones—and visualizing the inhabitants’ daily lives. Set in the four corner post holes, timbers supported a ceiling that was probably head-high. Above the firepit there was probably a smoke hole, which also may have been the pithouse entrance. Some features are more revealing.

Grinding Corn
The grinding stone and slab - mano and metate - symbolize the Anasazi's new ties to the mesa top. Grinding corn into cornmeal was a constant chore. Dried or parched corn could be stored in pottery vessels for years in the dry, Southwest climate. The stored corn enabled the Anasazi to survive the long, cold winters.

(Anthropology • Landmarks • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 8 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Mancos Valley

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Colorado, Montezuma County, near Mancos


The town of Mancos, in the valley before you, historically served as the "Gateway to Mesa Verde."


As word spread of the Wetherills' "discoveries," tourists flocked to the area. The Rio Grande Southern Railroad, serving Durano, Mancos, and Dolores since 1891, was reliable and the easiest part of the journey to Mesa Verde. The rest of the trip to the cliff dwellings was quite difficult.

Prior to 1914, visitors used the Wetherills' original route from Mancos to Spruce Tree House. The arduous 25-mile trek took an e3ntire day. For the first fifteen miles, visitors traveled by wagon up the canyon to your right. The next ten miles, traveled on foot or on horseback, included a nearly vertical climb to the top of Chapin Mesa. One local guide, Charles B. Kelly, led these expeditions from Mancos as a three-day trip. The cost of the trip (including food, lodging, and horses) was $15.00 per person or $12.50 each for two or more people.

By 1919, automobiles and the newly-graded road behind you cut travel time for the 25-mile trip to three hours. For the first time, travelers could visit a few of the principal archeological sites and return in one-day.


(Left Photo Caption)
John and Al Wetherill in Spruce Tree House. The Wetherill family were Mancos area ranchers who grazed cattle on Mesa Verde. Their explorations were instrumental in the establishment of Mesa Verde as a national park.
— Photo courtesy of National Park Service

(Center Photo Caption)
Passengers arrive in Mancos on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. Rail travel to southwest Colorado was the most dependable form of transportation prior to 1920.
— Photo courtesy of Denver Public Library–Western History Department

(Upper Right Photo Caption)
Tourists depart for the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde in 1913.
— Photo courtesy of National Park Service

Middle Right Photo Caption)
The Wetherill brothers popularized the cliff dwellings in the 1890s. Their home, the Alamo Ranch, housed an extensive array of artifacts colected from the cliff dwellings.
— Photo courtesy of National Park Service

(Lower Right Photo Caption)
From 1906 to 1920, Mesa Verde National Park headquarters was located in Mancos.
— Photo courtesy of Denver Public Library–Western History Department

(Industry & Commerce • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

A Monument to Time

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Colorado, Montezuma County, near Mancos


The rocks that house Mesa Verde's cliff dwellings have their own stories to tell.

Deposition
During the late Cretasceous period (about 90 million years ago) much of North America, including southwest Colorado and the present Rocky Mountains, was covered by a shallow inland sea.

Thousands of feet of marine and shoreline sediments were deposited and now form the rocks of Mesa Verde: shale, sandstone, coal, and siltstone.

Uplift and Erosion
Within the last 65 million years, the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountains were formed by a series of uplifts that gradually raised the land thousand of feet above sea level. Erosion probably kept pace with the uplift as streams flowed south and west from the rising La Plata and San Juan Mountains. These ancient streams cut deep canyons across gentle slopes of Mesa Verde dissecting it into the smaller, fingerlike mesas on the southern end of the park.

Over millions of years the Mesa Verde formations were raised almost 8,000 feet and gently tilted to the south. These same sedimentary rocks eroded off the uplifted mountains, leaving a 1,500 foot escarpment between Mesa Verde and the La Plata Mountains.


(Left Drawing Caption)
Erosion causes natural indentations which were enlarged by Ancestral Puebloans and used as hand-and-toe-hold trails.
— Illustration by Krista Harris, Interpretive Design

(Environment) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Natural Seep Springs

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Colorado, Montezuma County, near Mancos


As you travel about Mesa Verde look for seep springs — ready sources of fresh water for the Ancestral Puebloans.

Where is the Water?
Moisture, in the form of rainfall or snowmelt, percolates through porous sandstone layers until it reaches a dense, impermeable layer of shale. Prevented from percolating farther downward, the water is forced to the rock surface resulting in a seep spring in the canyon wall.

Throughout Mesa Verde, seep springs can be found at the base of the Cliff House Sandstone and Point Lookout Sandstone formations. These springs provided a ready source of fresh water for the Ancestral Puebloans. Where they lacked such springs, villagers had to collect water from potholes, creek bottoms, distant year-round springs, or build reservoirs.

Mancos Shale – Beginning more than 90 million years ago, thick layers of clay and silt were deposited when this region was covered by a shallow inland sea. The soft, easily eroded material is called Mancos Shale.

Point Lookout Sandstone – As the sea temporarily withdrew a little more than 80 million years ago, shallow water beaches and delta sands were deposited. They are now exposed in the cliffs of the Point Lookout Sandstone.

Menefee Formation – About 80 million years ago, as marine shorelines temporarily migrated to the northeast, this area had the relatively flat surface of a former sea bed. Deposits in stream floodplains, swamps, and low lying interstream areas are now seen as sandstone, coal, and woody shales.

Cliff House Sandstones – Beginning a little less than 80 million years ago, the sea once again advanced across the area. In the shallow water, sand was deposited in thick layers giving rise to the Cliff House Sandstone. More recently, erosion created alcoves that became homes to the cliff dwellers.


(Upper Left Photo Caption)
New Fire House in Fewkes Canyon shows the alcoves and niches formed in the Cliff House Sandstone.
— Photo courtesy of Mary Griffits

(Lower Center Photo Caption)
Seep springs at the base of the Cliff House Sandstone provided fresh water for the Ancestral Puebloans.
— Photo courtesy of National Park Service

(Environment) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Canyon Barriers

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Colorado, Montezuma County, Mesa Verde
Surrounded by deep canyons, villages here seem isolated, cut off from people on other mesas. Look closely at these cliffs and imagine hand and toe trails pecked into the sheer sandstone. These vertical trails were the Anasazi’s highways; steep climbs were part of their daily routine.

Throughout the Mesa Verde area there is strong evidence of cooperation and exchange: ceremonial structures like Sun Temple check dams, widespread advances in pottery and architecture. The Mesa Verde culture could not have developed so rapidly, or accomplished so much in isolation.

(Anthropology • Landmarks • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Split-Level History

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Colorado, Montezuma County, Mesa Verde

Mesa-top and Alcove Living
Although the Puebloan used the cliff alcoves throughout the entire time they lived in Mesa Verde, the cliff dwellings themselves were not built until the final 75-100 years of occupation. For over 600 years these people lived primarily on the mesa tops.

Of 4000 ruins within the park only 600 are cliff dwellings. All of these cliff dwellings were built and occupied in A.D. 1200 and 1300.

(Anthropology • Landmarks) Includes location, directions, 6 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Oak Tree House

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Colorado, Montezuma County, Mesa Verde

Adapting to Alcoves
To level the sloping alcove floor, the Anasazi filled in behind retaining walls. The altered floor not only supported rooms but also provided working space and a safe play area for children.

Oak Tree House appears to utilize every inch of alcove space. Some apartments rose four stories to the roof of the inner alcove. There are additional storage rooms along an upper ledge.

Oak Tree House contains about 50 rooms and 6 kivas.

(Inscription under the photo on the right) Smoke-blackened rear wall show evidence of many cooking fires and the struggle to survive winter. Try to distinguish smoke stains from natural mineral stains on the rock.

(Anthropology • Landmarks • Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Prairie Factor

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Minnesota, Renville County, near Morton

"I led my men up from the west through the grass and took up a position 200 yards from the camp behind a small knoll."
                                    Wamditanka
You are standing where Wamditanka and his band took cover during the battle. The knoll, or small hill, in front of you kept the Dakota force from view.

The landscape played a significant role in the battle. The tall grass obscured long views, and wetlands to the south and north of the campsite were effective hiding places for Dakota men.

Tall grass and a Dark Night

The stars and the full moon were the only light sources aiding U.S. pickets at Birch Coulee. They were expected to stay alert, listening closely and watching for the slightest movements.

The cover of darkness was a crucial element in the Dakota battle strategy. Dakota forces surrounded the campsite and made their attack before dawn.

Minnesota Historical Society
Birch Coulee Battlefield


(Wars, US Indian) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

A Minority in Their Homeland

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Minnesota, Nicollet County, near St. Peter

For generations, the land stretching out around you was the homeland of the Dakota Indians. Through treaties in 1851, the Dakota sold all of their land in southern Minnesota. The treaties disregarded Dakota people's traditional decision-making processes and were written in a language they hardly knew. Making an "X" on a piece of paper was not the same as the Dakota way of taking council and obtaining the majority's consent.

After the signings, the Dakota were coerced onto reservations on the Minnesota River—but only until that land, too, was needed for white settlement. By 1860, white settlers in the Minnesota River Valley outnumbered the Dakota five to one. In a single decade, the Dakota people had become a minority in their homeland.

Minnesota Historical Society
Fort Ridgely


(Native Americans) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Hovenweep National Mounument

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Utah, San Juan County, Blanding
Welcome to “Hovenweep.” It is a Paiute and Ute word meaning “deserted valley.” It was the name given this extraordinary place by pioneer photographer William H. Jackson, who visited here in 1874. It’s an apt description. As you scan the vast and lonely expanse surrounding you, it’s hard to imagine these solitary canyons once echoed with the cries and laughter of hundreds of men, women and children.

Established as a National Monument in 1923, Hovenweep preserves what archeologists consider to be the finest examples of ancestral Puebloan masonry found anywhere. Whether multi-story towers standing alone along canyon rims, or ingeniously engineered structures perched on massive boulders and ledges within the canyons, these ruins evoke feelings of wonder at the motivations and resourcefulness of their builders.

I think that Hovenweep is the most symbolic of places in the Southwest…Hovenweep give me a feeling similar to what I feel when I’m participating in ceremonies which require a tacit recognition of realities other than the blatantly visual. During those times I know the nature and energy of the bear, of rock, of the clouds, of the water. I become aware of energies outside myself, outside the human context. At Hovenweep, I slide into a place and begin to know the flowing, warm sandstone under my feet, the cool preciousness of the water, the void of the canyon, and the all covering sky. I want to be a part of the place.
Rina Swentzell, Pueblo Indian scholar, Santa Clara.

(Anthropology • Native Americans • Notable Places) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

The Square Tower Group

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Utah, San Juan County, Blanding
Over 700 years ago, Little Ruin Canyon was the scene of a sizable ancestral Pueblo community. Sustained by a small spring at the head of the canyon and rainwater held behind check dams on the mesa top, they flourished in what we would consider a harsh environment.

(Inscription under the photos in the lower left) Hovenweep Castle and Stonghold House.

(Anthropology • Native Americans • Notable Places) Includes location, directions, 10 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Yucca House National Monument

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Colorado, Montezuma County, Cortez
Yucca House National Monument Dec. 19, 1919. A fine example of a valley pueblo being held by National Park Service

(Anthropology • Native Americans • Natural Resources) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Upside-down Mountain

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Arizona, Navajo County, Shonto
Hidden away in Tsegi Canyon’s wilderness of bare rock, sand, and sparse vegetation are surprising pockets of luxuriant growth. Betatakin Canyon—home to a village of prehistoric cliff-dwellings farmers—is one of these oases. Fir Canyon, over to your right, is another.

The deeper and narrower the canyon, the less sunshine reaches into its depths. Less sunshine means less evaporation of rainwater, so plant life flourishes. You could say that the climate of Fir Canyon is like an inverted mountain: there’s a gradation downward toward cooler and more humid conditions in the bottom—with plants and animals to match.

(Anthropology • Native Americans • Natural Features • Paleontology) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Canyons in Time

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Arizona, Navajo County, Shonto
The maze of canyonlands stretching before you is the continuing work of millions of years of powerful and pervasive geological forces.

Water scours and down-cuts channels in the soft sandstone plateau. The process is augmented by forces of frost, plants, and alternating expansion and contraction of the rock due to temperature changes. A gradual uplift of the land further promotes canyon-cutting by increasing the speed and cutting force of water. Flowing water is the “freightline” that will carry the entire canyon landscape to the sea.

(Paleontology) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.

Dinosaur Footprint

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Arizona, Navajo County, Shonto
Footprints of a small dinosaur that walked on his hind legs. About 180 million years ago, he left a lasting signature by walking through the mud. The print then filled with sediment, and both print and cast (upside-down here) eventually turned to stone. Tracks of these three toed Jurrassic reptiles are very common in the limestone formations of the Navajo Country.

(Paleontology) Includes location, directions, 5 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
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