--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Done, Willard collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 9 number: 4 published: 1906-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Willard Done, "An Adventure in Cliff Canyon," *Improvement Era* 9, no. 4 (February 1906): 273–280.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0904unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0904unse start_page: 273 end_page: 280 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1906-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0904unse publication_year: 1906 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1906, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # An Adventure in Cliff Canyon AN ADVENTURE IN CLIFF CANYON, BY PROF. WILLARD DONE. CHAPTER I. A^few years ago, just before the close of the school year, a groop of young fellows, students of a college in the middle west, were discussing the place and manner of spending the first few weeks of the coming vacation. They were of the strong, healthy, independent type, to whom ordinary hardships and difficulties meant nothing more than the putting of their powers to a pleasurable test. Hence, their discussion took a wide range. Any place, if it was at least a few miles south of the north pole, or north of the equator, would suit their purposes, if its natural interest was sufficient to repay them for the trouble of reaching it. Finally one of them mentioned the fact that a short time previously some cowboys had made a wonderful discovery in southwestern Colorado, and that the region had been explored but little by seekers after scientific knowledge. When he spoke of the wonderful ruins of ancient homes, perched hundreds of feet high, on mountain sides under hanging cliflfs, and filled with relics of an extinct race, the students were imbued with a fervent zeal to visit the region and unearth its mysteries. They decided to leave for the place on the Monday of the last week in June. * * * * On the afternoon of Wednesday, June 28, the little railway station and village of M was startled with the sound of college yells and class songs; and a crowd of six active, lusty young fellows alighted from the train and marched up the street. Their 274 IMPROVEMENT ERA. arrangements for guides, horses and provisions had been made by correspondence. They went directly to the home of a young man named Brown, who had been engaged as their guide; and there they found saddle and pack horses in readiness. After partaking of a hearty meal, and exchanging their clothes for jumpers, overalls, woollen shirts, old hats, and heavy, cowhide boots, they mounted their horses and set out. The night was spent at a ranch at the head of Mancos Canyon. Early on the following morning they plunged into the canyon trail, and the difficulties of their undertaking began to appear. Their course followed down the canyon, part of the time in the bed of the river, where growths of clover, buffalo-brush, squawbush, Cottonwood, and cedar formed a tangled mass, through which the horses could scarcely force their way; part of the time on the rocky, precipitous mountain sides, on narrow, sidling ledges hundreds of feet above the stream, where a false step meant almost certain death. But with the characteristic joyousness of youth, they turned their difficulties into jests. "By the way," saidBrainerd to Pearson, ''speaking of relics, does that cayuse of yours belong to the stone age?" Just then his own horse slipped half off the ledge, and with difficulty scrambled back to the trail. Pearson took occasion to hurl back the retort, * 'Look out, or you and your pony will belong to the bone age." This remark, though emphasized by the mournful howl of a coyote in the ravine below, failed to produce any serious effect. It merely provoked a peal of laughter at Brainerd's expense, in which he joined as heartily as the rest. Pearson was much smaller and lighter than any of the other boys, and this fact led them to make him the butt of their banter. But his cheerful disposition and quick wit enabled him to turn their sarcastic remarks into good-humored jests. This made their * 'baby brother, ' ' as they called him, a favorite with his companions. Brainerd was the largest of the young men — he was over six feet high, and weighed two hundred pounds. He was the leader in college athletics, and there was no manly sport in which he did not excel. During the last third of their thirty-mile ride down the canyon, they became deeply absorbed in viewing its rugged pictur- AN ADVENTURE IN CLIFF CANYON. 275 esque walls. High cliffs rose sheer above the river, their faces painted with brilliant red, yellow and purple cliff-markings and iron stains. On the south rose a tall, pointed, vari-colored butte, known as ''Cleopatra's Needle." Under some of the hanging cliffs were small ruins of gray stone masonry, fallen into decay, but still shovnng small doors, windows and loopholes. Pearson dismounted and stood before one of these ruins, with bowed head and serio-comic expression. "What's the matter?" Johnson inquired. "Don't disturb my devotion at the shrine of my ancestors," came back in an injured tone. "He's mistaking this desolate region for the forest of South America," said Andrews in a loud aside. This delicate application of the Darwinian theory was greeted with applause, and the journey was resumed. At the point where Cliff Canyon branches off to the northwest, the boys left their horses. Here they ate dinner, and each one made for himself a pack, consisting of two blankets and provisions for three days. These they strapped securely on their backs, and these, with good knives, a few hundred feet of ' 'lariat, ' ' and a small camera, constituted their sole equipment. Securely staking their horses where grass' and the brackish water of the Mancos were plentiful, they commenced the toilsome journey. They were soon forced to leave the sandy trail on the mountain side and follow the diy bed of a spring torrent. Huge boulders, worn into fantastic shapes by the water, lay in their way; and they had to leap from boulder to boulder, or scramble by main strength up the smooth sides of rock twenty feet high. They knew they must depend for water on the pools left by spring freshets, in the deepest basins of the torrent's bed. But although it was usually very plentiful, at that season of the year, the weather had evidently been unusually dry, and moist sand was the nearest approach to water they could find. Thirst and fatigue combined threatened to overcome them, and sometimes it was only the strength and agility of big, good-natured Brainerd, and the coolness of their guide, that extricated them from perilous positions. Their main objective point was a ravine, branching off to the 276 IMPROVEMENT ERA. east, at the head of which stood the wonderful "cliff palace," the largest and most typical of the cliff ruins. On the way thither they passed a number of characteristic ruins, situated under cliffs far above the ravine, and apparently impossible of access. To one of these Brainerd seemed particularly attracted, ' 'I'm going to climb to that when we come back, " he said with decision. "To find a well?" asked Smith, ironically. "The old oaken bucket would be a great find, wouldn't it?" suggested Thomas. "I'd be content with some of its contents," said Pearson, smiling ruefully. As they proceeded^ up the canyon, it became apparent that they were off the route. The guide bade them remain where they were, while he did a little exploring. In a few minutes he called them. In a slight depression of the ravine they saw a small pool of water. Eagerly they lay down and drank, straining out the "animal life" with their closed teeth. The irrepressible Pearson looked up with a grin. * 'Did you ever hear of Saul," said he, "who sought his father's asses and found himself — turned into a king? Well, our guide has lost us and found something more precious. ' ' "Out of the fullness of the — stomach, " said Maxwell, banteringly. "At any rate, the value of little things is seen in the fact that just now I'd rather see this puddle than a whole avenue of cliff palaces, ' ' said Brainerd, and he drank deeply again. In the meantime, the guide had convinced himself that they were too far up the canyon, and they turned back. Soon they came to an immense rock, in whose surface small niches for the hands and feet had been cut. Brown climbed to the top of the rock and uttered a shout of triumph. By the aid of the rope, the boys climbed to the same position, and the marvelous cliff palace burst on their view. Under an overhanging cliff, hundreds of feet high, was an enormous pile of masonry. The original building, which had doubtless consisted of fully five hundred rooms, had become seriously dilapidated; but the grandeur of the gray-stone ruins invited closer inspection. For hours the boys feasted their eyes on AN ADVENTURE IN CLIFF CANYON. 277 the architecture, the relics, and the decorations. Then the spirits of Pearson bubbled over. He pointed to an inscription in red, on a wall of one of the rooms. ' 'This fellow was trying a problem in calculus," he declared. Mathematics was Brainerd's favorite study. He retorted, "Oh, no, Pearson; that's a hieroglyphic version of your class yell." ' 'Well, the fellow had the modern idea all right, ' ' Thomas declared. ''As far as he went, he painted the town red." Thus the boys tried by light talk to overcome the spirit of solemnity which the time and place engendered. But ao darkness settled down, and the massive walls became dim, and the owls in the treetops hooted in mournful unison, a spirit of gloom pervaded the little group, and all became imbued with a profound devotion. God seemed speaking to them through the voice of a people long since turned to dust; and that voice each one heard and heeded. Levity was out of the question. For an hour they sat, absorbed in thought; then, wrapping themselves in their blankets, they slept the sleep of weary explorers. CHAPTER II. The next morning the students went more deeply into the exploration of the ruins. For two days they were thus occupied, securing photographs and caching relics for future expeditions. At 4 p. m. on the third day they started on the return journey. When they reached the place where Brainerd had made his resolution to explore the ruin which had attracted his attention on the way up the canyon, his companions endeavored to dissuade him from the attempt. All the reasons they could muster were urged against the venture, but he was resolute. "I feel convinced," said he, "that valuable relics will be found in that old nest. And then, I have an ambition to have you fellows take a series of pictures of the old home, with a worthy scion of the family included." "Two relices in one picture," said Pearson. ' 'Sit down and rest an hour or two, ' ' said the intrepid Brainerd, preparing to make the ascent, "Fll show you what college athletics can do for a man. ' ' Divesting himself of hat and jump- 278 IMPROVEMENT ERA. er, and taking with him only his knife, he began the ascent. His friends hurled guying comments at him, as he toiled slowly upward, but he said nothing. At length he came to a difficult cliff, which all had noticed but he alone had calculated his ability to scale. No one else in the party would have been able to perform the feat. It was only his height and superior strength that enabled him to reach and cling to the little ledge which gave him access to the coveted ruin. With a shout of pride and triumph, he swung himself up, and entered one of the lower openings of the cliff dwelling. A few minutes later he appeared at the top of the wall of masonry, and made a profound bow, amid the applause of his admiring friends; and a snapshot was taken. Just then something occurred which all but Brainerd had foreseen. A heavy cloud had been forming just above the cliff, and blinding flashes of lightning and deafening peals of thunder struck terror to the hearts of the little group. Brainerd tried to get back within the wall, but as he lowered his feet below the top of the rock, a shaft of lightning struck a tree, which had been the chief means of his ascent, shivering it to pieces and leaving not a splinter in the smooth surface of the cliff. The same shaft darted across the opening to the ruin, and the next moment the boys were horrified to see Brainerd, dead or stunned, they did not know which — lying with his head and almost half his body outside the enclosure. A groan of horror went up from his friends. There was no time for hesitation. If he was not dead, they knew that on his return to consciousness his first convulsive movements would probably force his body a few inches outward, and a fatal fall prove inevitable. If he was dead, his body must be recovered. But how? It was impossible for any one of the party to climb the cliff. Some other means of rescue must be employed. Pearson had been intently scanning the side of the mountain, to see if it could be scaled in another direction. The top of the cliff in which their unfortunate companion was lying was about three hundred feet above him, and the fall to the opening in the rock was sheer. Without a word the little fellow threw off his hat and jumper, and fastened the end of the lariat around his waist. In as few words as possible, he directed his companions to AN AD VENTURE IN CLIFF CANYON. 279 take care of the coil of rope, and pay it out as he needed it. They could utter no protest against his movements; the urgency of the case was too great. With a springing step Pearson started up the mountain side, following a course which his keen eye had marked out, far to the north of Bramerd's path. He came at length to a vertical cliff of limestone, fully twenty feet high, which it seemed impossible for him to scale. Without a word, he took his knife from his pocket, and began to cut notches in the soft stone. Providentially, the rain had ceased, and a strong wind from the east assisted him in clinging to the rock. Notch after notch he cut, and step after step he made, amid the breathless attention of his friends. His slight weight stood him in good stead, for the blasts of wind were almost continuous, and he clung to the cliff like a fly. After what appeared ages to his companions, he reached the top of the cliff, and ran to a point just above the ruin. He answered with a weary but triumphant gesture the shouts of his friends, and then proceeded to his task. Hastily making a loop in the rope, he fastened the other end of it to the stump of a tree. Leaning cautiously over the precipice, he let the noose fall to a point above Brainerd's head. The unconscious man was just beginning to stir, and the signs of life were hailed with mingled joy and dread by his friends below. Pearson skilfully lowered the noose, and a heavy gust of wind blew it over the head and shoulders of Brainerd, just as he made a convulsive movement and fell outside the ruin. With all his strength Pearson held to the rope, and paid it out as slowly as he could. The noose had closed around the armpits of the half-conscious man, and his convulsive struggles only drew it the tighter. At length the rope was fully paid out, and Brainerd was within reach of his companions below. With infinite tenderness they loosened the rope, and carried the injured man to a bed of grass near the bottom of the ravine, now running a freshet of water from the recent storm. While two of them worked over him and brought him to consciousness, and then told him the story of Pearson's heroism, the other two watched with breathless anxiety the descent of the boy. With the rope coiled around ' one of his legs, and clinging with his toes to 280 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the face of the cliff, he descended slowly, hand over hand, and dropped into the arms of his friends. "We'll leave that rope," said he with a shudder and a grin, ''someone else may need it." *'Ah, you, brave, jolly kid!" they shouted; and lifting him to their shoulders, they carried him in triumph to the place where Brainerd lay. He lifted his eyes, and tears of gratitude ran down his cheeks; but he could not speak his thanks. Pearson placed his lacerated, bleeding hands in those of Brainerd. The silent joy became almost painful. But Pearson could not long remain silent. ' 'Say, fellows, ' '. said 'he, "let me paraphrase the words of Shakespeare's immortal Cassius: This act of ours will be shown in ages yet unborn, and circuses yet unheard of. ' ' Brown had now constructed a rude litter, and Brainerd was carried on it to the place where the horses had been left. He recovered rapidly, and the next day the party returned to M . Two days later, a happy crowd of young men boarded the train for the return trip. They had been escorted to the station by a large delegation of the citizens of M , who congratulated them on their enterprise and their gentlemanly conduct. With the pictures of the ruins, and the memory of their visit to one of the most wonderful regions on earth, they felt more than repaid for the toils and perils of the expedition. To their brave and skilful guide, they felt particularly grateful; but Andrews could not refrain from this parting shot, as the train pulled out: "Say, Brown, construct a pipe line to the cliff palace before we came again. I was a trifle thirsty the other day. ' ' Salt Lake City, Utah.