"

It sounded a good deal easier than it looked. I haven't seen a steeper
stair; and if you imagine five ladders trucked up zigzag against the
Flatiron Building and the Flatiron Building three times higher than it
is, you'll have an idea of the appearance of the situation; but it
looked a great deal harder than it really was, and the trail has since
been improved. The little steps cut in the volcanic _tufa_ or white
pumice are soft and offer a grip to foothold. They grit to your footstep
and do not slide like granite and basalt, though if New Mexico wants to
make this wonderful Frijoles Canyon accessible to the public, or if the
Archaeological School can raise the means and cooperate with the Forestry
Service trail makers, a broad graded wagon road should be cut down the
face of this canyon, graded gradually enough for a motor. The day that is
done, visitors will number not 150 a year but 150,000; for nothing more
exquisitely beautiful and wonderful exists in America.

It seems almost incredible that Judge and Mrs. Abbott have brought down
this narrow, steep tier of 600 steps all the building material, all the
furniture, and all the farm implements for their charming ranch place;
but there the materials are and there is no other trail in but one still
less accessible.

That afternoon, Mrs. Abbott and I wandered up the valley two or three
miles and visited the high arched ceremonial cave hundreds of feet up
the face of the precipice. The cave was first discovered by Judge and
Mrs. Abbott on one of their Sunday afternoon walks. The Archaeological
School under Dr. Hewitt cleared out the debris and accumulated erosion
of centuries and put the ceremonial chamber in its original condition.
"Restoring the ruins" does not mean "manufacturing ruins." It means
digging out the erosion that has washed and washed for thousands of
years down the hillsides during the annual rains. All the caves have
been originally plastered in a sort of terra cotta or ocher stucco.
When that is reached and the charred wooden beams of the smoked, arched
ceilings, restoration stops. The aim is to put the caves as they were
when the people abandoned them. On the floors is a sort of rock bottom
of plaster or rude cement. When this is reached, digging stops. It is in
the process of digging down to these floors that the beautiful specimens
of prehistoric pottery have been rescued. Some of these specimens may be
seen in Harvard and Yale and the Smithsonia