The Cliff Ruins of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona | Page 3

R. H. Kern, which
is very bad, and pictures some pottery fragments found near or in the
ruin. The name De Chelly was apparently used before this time.
Simpson obtained its orthography from Vigil, secretary of the province
(of New Mexico), who told him it was of Indian origin and was
pronounced chay-e. Possibly it was derived from the Navaho name of
the place, Tsé-gi.
Simpson's description, although very brief, formed the basis of all the
succeeding accounts for the next thirty years. The Pacific railroad
surveys, which added so much to our knowledge of the Southwest, did
not touch this field. In 1860 the Abbé Domenech published his "Deserts
of North America," which contains a reference to Casa Blanca ruin, but
his knowledge was apparently derived wholly from Simpson. None of
the assistants of the Hayden Survey actually penetrated the canyon, but
one of them, W. H. Jackson, examined and described some ruins on the
Rio de Chelly, in the lower Chin Lee valley. But in an article in
Scribner's Magazine for December, 1878, Emma C. Hardacre published
a number of descriptions and illustrations derived from the Hayden
corps, among others figures one entitled "Ruins in Cañon de Chelly,"
from a drawing by Thomas Moran. The ruin can not be identified from
the drawing.
This article is worth more than a passing notice, as it not only illustrates
the extent of knowledge of the ruins at that time (1878), but probably
had much to do with disseminating and making current erroneous
inferences which survive to this day. In an introductory paragraph the
author says:

Of late, blown over the plains, come stories of strange newly
discovered cities of the far south-west; picturesque piles of masonry, of
an age unknown to tradition. These ruins mark an era among
antiquarians. The mysterious mound-builders fade into comparative
insignificance before the grander and more ancient cliff-dwellers,
whose castles lift their towers amid the sands of Arizona and crown the
terraced slopes of the Rio Mancos and the Hovenweap.
Of the Chaco ruins it is said:
In size and grandeur of conception, they equal any of the present
buildings of the United States, if we except the Capitol at Washington,
and may without discredit be compared to the Pantheon and the
Colosseum of the Old World.
In the same year Mr J. H. Beadle gave an account[2] of a visit he made
to the canyon. He entered it over the Bat trail, near the junction of
Monument canyon, and saw several ruins in the upper part. His
descriptions are hardly more than a mention. Much archeologic data
were secured by the assistants of the Wheeler Survey, but it does not
appear that any of them, except the photographer, visited Canyon de
Chelly. In the final reports of the Survey there is an illustration of the
ruin visited by Lieutenant Simpson about thirty years before.[3] The
illustration is a beautiful heliotype from a fine photograph made by
T. H. O'Sullivan, but one serious defect renders it useless; through
some blunder of the photographer or the engraver, the picture is
reversed, the right and left sides being interchanged, so that to see it
properly it must be looked at in a mirror. The illustration is
accompanied by a short text, apparently prepared by Prof. F. W.
Putnam, who edited the volume. The account by Simpson is quoted and
some additional data are given, derived from notes accompanying the
photograph. The ruin is said to have "now received the name of the
Casa Blanca, or White House," but the derivation of the name is not
stated.
[Footnote 2: Western Wilds, and the Men who Redeem Them:
Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Chicago, Memphis, 1878.]

[Footnote 3: U.S. Geog. Surveys West of the 100th Meridian,
Lieutenant George M. Wheeler in charge; reports, vol. VII,
Archæology; Washington, 1879, pp. 372-373, pl. xx.]
In 1882 Bancroft could find no better or fuller description than
Simpson's, which he uses fully, and reproduces also Simpson's (Kern's)
illustration. In the same year investigation by the assistants of the
Bureau of Ethnology was commenced. Colonel James Stevenson and a
party visited the canyon, and a considerable amount of data was
obtained. In all, 46 ruins were visited, 17 of which were in Del Muerto;
and sketches, ground plans, and photographs were obtained. The report
of the Bureau for that year contains an account of this expedition,
including a short description of a large ruin in Del Muerto,
subsequently known as Mummy Cave. A brief account of the trip was
also published elsewhere.[4] The next year a map of the canyon was
made by the writer and many new ruins were discovered, making the
total number in the canyon and its branches about 140. Since 1883 two
short visits have been made to the place, the last late in 1893,