Photo: George Washington University
After the Ancestral Puebloans left Chaco Canyon in the 1200s, their monumental buildings stood empty until Europeans arrived in the 1800s. By 1896, the first excavation of Pueblo Bonito began and the incredible artifacts were systematically removed and sent to museums back East. One man who was a part of the expedition remained in the canyon after the excavation was completed.
Photo: Hilary Grabowska, Pueblo Bonito
Richard Wetherill remained in Chaco Canyon to homestead. He built a house and a trading post beside Pueblo Bonito and sold artifacts that he found in the Great Houses. His actions alarmed people and prompted Congressman John Lacey to travel to the Southwest to research and write a report about the antiquities and how many of the amazing artifacts were disappearing. From his experiences, he introduced legislation that would allow the President to create National Monuments from federal land in order to protect culturally significant areas.
Photo: PBS, Richard Wetherill
The Antiquities Act became law in 1906 and a year later, was used to establish Chaco Canyon National Monument. When the park was created, Wetherill gave up much of his homestead, but he continued to live beside Pueblo Bonito, until he was shot and killed in 1910. Today, he is buried in a historic cemetery that is near his old home and trading post. But, the stories that the park preserves and tells are those of the original inhabitants, the Ancestral Puebloans who built the largest buildings in what would become the US until the mid 1800s, and they didn't even have the wheel.
Photo: Hilary Grabowska
