Louis L’Amour — On The Rez

Louis L’Amour from EDUCATION OF A WANDERING MAN recounting a tale of a night on the UTE Reservation in South Western Colorado.

http://www.louislamour.com/nonfiction/education.htm

“I went often to visit cliff dwellings or other Anasazi ruins. I came to see, to learn, and to disturb nothing. Let the archaeologists who know what they are doing handle that. A pot or a broken fragment removed from its discovery site has lost much of its value. Slowly, with a discovery here and one there, the history of the Southwest is put together, but it is painstaking work, and the pot someone carries away to keep or to sell may be the key piece that would reveal much to the trained eye. Once on someone’s shelf and away from where it was found, the piece has lost most of its value.

Long ago, I had hiked up the floor of Mancos Canyon. Now I wished to stand at about the middle and get an overlook from the rim. With my family and an archaeologist who was working for the Utes on their reservation, we started to drive out to the rim and were overtaken by a police car. Did we have a permit? We did not. Frank, the archaeologist, identified himself. The Ute police officer was cool. “I know who you are, and” — he indicated me — “I know who he is. I read his books. But if you don’t have a permit, you can’t go.”

We did not attempt to argue the case. This was their reservation, their home, and we obeyed the rules. He followed us back to headquarters to make sure we did. A short time later, accompanied by three archaeologists and a Ute Indian, my family and I spent a night in a cliff dwelling on the Ute Reservation. The archaeologists arranged the affair and we drove out in four-wheel-drive vehicles to arrive just before sundown.

The cliff dwelling was in a deep canyon filled with trees, some of which had been lightning-struck. It was in a remote area and we climbed down into the canyon to find our places. There had been no cleanup there. The place was as time had left it: a few scattered human bones, some of the tiny corncobs, a few shards of broken pottery.

Kathy and I chose a kiva (ceremonial center) in which to spread our sleeping bags, and shortly after we arrived, there was a thunderstorm.

Nature seemed to have deliberately planned our entertainment, for there was rolling thunder, unusually loud because of the narrow canyon, and many flashes of brilliant lightning, but only a few scattered drops of rain fell. Nature put on a grand show for upward of an hour. Then the sky cleared, the moon came out, and we had a truly magnificent night.

Art Cuthair, the Ute who was with us, may well have been the first Indian to spend a night in a cliff dwelling since the Anasazi abandoned them. Many Indians are uncomfortable at disturbing the spirits of the former inhabitants.

(Art has been involved in stabilizing some ruins and in laying out trails for the guided tours the Utes give for visitors wishing to see the dwellings as they were found.)

We settled in for the night, each in his or her own way. I was determined to remain awake and enjoy every moment of the experience to the utmost.

Often we heard eerie sounds, whisperings and movements. The wind? The leaves? Small animals or birds? Or something else? Something from the past, perhaps, something from the forgotten years?

The moon was bright, and soon coyotes were singing their plaintive songs. Other Indians had stopped by to see us but would not stay the night. They went to sleep out of the canyon, away from the cliff houses.

Some of us slept; some remained awake with me. None of us talked. It was a time for listening. Once, faint and far-off, there seemed to be the sound of a flute or some wind instrument.

It is sometimes said that few archaeologists have ever spent a night in a cliff dwelling, and that no archaeologist has spent two nights.

However, I regretted the coming of day, although ready enough for breakfast.”

The Photos may be from a different visit but you get the idea. I was talking to Kathy L’Amour the other day and she mentioned that the reason she is in so few of the photos we have is because she was usually the one taking the pictures. Note the camera in her hand in this somewhat rare photo of her!