History of the Mesa Verde National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site
The famous Mesa Verde National Park is situated in Colorado’s Montezuma County, along the lower southwestern corner. It is a well-loved National Park that is now one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. This popular park is approximately 211 kilometers or about 81.4 sq miles.
Mesa Verde is well-loved because of the large number of village and home ruins that can be found there. These ruins were, in fact, built by the primeval Pueblo people. This popular park is also more famous for its numerous cliff dwellings which were actually structures built within the inner part of caves and below the outcroppings of certain cliffs in Colorado. This would include the Cliff Palace, which is regarded as the biggest cliff dwelling area in the entire North America.
Furthermore, the elevations in this park would range from 6,100 feet or 1,860 meters up to 8,400 feet or 2,560 meters. The terrain in this park is also being dominated by valleys and ridges which roughly run through the south and through the north.
Thus, the first ones to ever set foot in Mesa Verde were the Spanish explorers who were seeking a better route coming from Santa Fe and going to California during the 1760s up to the 1770s. They were also the ones who named the region after its own high and tree-covered plateaus. It is just a sad fact that although they were the first ones there and they were the ones who named Mesa Verde; they never got to see the amazing stone villages. It was only after a century that it was discovered.
This was by a prospector named John Moss who occasionally visits the region, along with trappers and their prospectors as well. John Moss was the first one to publicize his observations about the region during the year 1873.
Hence, just a year after, he lead a famous photographer at that time, named William Henry Jackson through the Mancos Canyon. This stunning Mancos Canyon is situated at Mesa Verde’s base area. With both the publicized data and the photographs about this extraordinary cliff dwelling, it led to the complete discovery of Mesa Verde.
In which, the so-called reports of Holmes and Jackson were actually included in the Hayden Survey done in the year 1876, as one amongst four financed explorations on the Western portion of the United States. Other publications were more on the study of the archaeological sites in the United States’ Southwestern portion.
At the time, as ranchers started settling in Mancos Valley, there were those who chose to climb Mesa Verde and saw its amazing stone structures. This started the looting of actual artifacts from Mesa Verde, which was either for display or home purposes. They were sold rather cheap to tourists and visitors of the region.
Thus, amongst the ranchers who saw the opportunity in Mesa Verde, the most recognized would be from the Wetherill family. They were, in fact, the ones who maintained good relations with the Ute Tribe residing in Mesa Verde. They were also the ones who collected most of the artifacts which you will find now in Colorado’s Historical Society. At the same time, they were also the ones who sold artifacts for private collectors who later on assembled their own library of highly relevant publications.
Moreover, what the Wetherill Family really sees in Mesa Verde’s cliff dwellings was its tourism potential. For years, they have oriented another purpose for their ranch, to guide tourists and visitors through the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. Even though they dug and knocked through most parts of the ruins just for the artifacts and the data about Mesa Verde, they were still considered as more considerate and responsible as compared to the looters who preceded them. This is also why the Wetherill Family was regarded as the caretakers of Mesa Verde even before the federal government has seen its importance and set archaeological standards for its protection.
Another noteworthy visitor of Mesa Verde was also a reporter from a New York newspaper named Virginia McClurg. It was her dedication and effort that helped Mesa Verde becomes a historically protected park. Another one would be a travel writer and photographer named Frederick H. Chapin. This was during the year 1889 up to 1890, where in, he marvelously described the structures and landscapes of Mesa Verde in his 1890 article. Mesa Verde was also his sole inspiration for his 1892 book called “The Land of the Cliff-Dwellers” which included amazing photographs of the entire Mesa Verde area. In fact, these photographs were noted as the initial extensive views of the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde for the general public. Like the other visitors who came to Mesa Verde, Chapin also had the guidance of the Wetherills during his exploration of the region.
Hence, among all the visitors of Mesa Verde, the most important during the earlier decades would be Gustaf Nordenskiold during the year 1891. He is the son of a polar Finnish-Swedish explorer named Adolf Erik Nordenskiold. Since Nordenskiold is a highly trained mineralogist, he was the one who introduced useful scientific methods, with regards to the collection of artifacts. He also recorded the locations and extensively photographed every important detail about the area. As he diagrammed the site, he also correlated his observations with the archaeological literature available then and even got the Wetherill’s first-hand expertise about the region. When the artifacts he got were leaked to go to a museum in Scandinavia, Nordenskiold was arrested, plus charged with “devastation of the ruins”. These charges were believed to be false and through the abrupt intervention of several cabinet secretaries in Washington, he was then freed.
When Nordenskiold returned to Sweden, in the year 1893, he was able to publish the initial scholarly study about Mesa Verde. It was named “The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde”. This greatly affected Mesa Verde because it was later on placed in the international community’s map. After that, the works, studies and activities of Nordenskiold became controversial because these were all deemed highly valuable. This is especially with regards to his collection of artifacts from Mesa Verde that was later on kept in a museum in Helsinki, Finland. It is, up to now, regarded as the largest museum of Mesa Verde’s artifacts that is located outside of the United States.
Subsequent to this, the next set back that Mesa Verde experienced was vandalism throughout the 19th century. This made it clear to the government that Mesa Verde should be protected from inconsiderate and greedy people. This is why Mesa Verde became a National Park and a historically protected area, along with its nearby regions last June 29th of the year 1906.
In October 15, 1966 the NPS or the National Park Service listed Mesa Verde as part of the National Registry of Historic Places. In September 6th of the year 1978, Mesa Verde became part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
According to record also, the park got its name from the Spanish term which means “green table” due to its rich forests that comprises of Pinon and Juniper trees. Thus, in 1921, the NPS built 6 buildings along Mesa Verde which they regarded as Mesa Verde’s Administrative District. In May 29th of the year 1987, Mesa Verde became a National Historic Landmark.
Thus, the initial 5 buildings which the NPS built were primarily for the cultural tradition that is represented by the park area. The designer of these building believed that the structures can be utilized for “interpretive” purposes in order to explain the so-called construction of the prehistoric dwelling in this park. Plus, make it compatible with the cultural and natural setting.