While conducting research for Before the Ruins, I consulted a number of books, including a biography of Richard Wetherill, whose story is intertwined with the early days of archaeology in the Southwest, including some of the first excavations at Mesa Verde and in Chaco Canyon. Having only skimmed relevant sections at that time, I recently decided to pick up that biography again and read it on its own terms.
Richard Wetherill, Anasazi: Pioneer Explorer of Southwestern Ruins by Frank McNitt breaks his life down into three sections:
- His years as a rancher in the Mancos, Colorado region, during which time he helped make the world aware of the Puebloan ruins at Mesa Verde.
- The confluence of archaeological interests and business failures that led him to move to Chaco Canyon, where he participated in excavations and ran a trading post.
- The circumstances that culminated in his murder. By the way, his death is dramatized in the prologue, so that is not a spoiler.
First published in 1957 (I was reading the 1966 edition) the story primarily takes place between 1880, when the Wetherills moved to the Mancos valley, and 1910, the year of his death. I found this biography fascinating on multiple levels.
First, the biography was written 60+ years ago. You can, more or less, feel that 1950s vibe as you read. And this mediating point of view served to heighten my awareness of the fact that I was reading with modern expectations. Thus, the reader has the interesting task of forming his/her present-day judgment of Wetherill and interpreting the late 1800s as refracted through the lens of the late 1950s.
Second, the biography is very pro-Wetherill. Wetherill had previously been maligned as a cattle rustler, pot-hunting opportunist, and despoiler of the archaeological record. McNitt clearly aims to revive Wetherill’s reputation and argue that history should consider him more favorably. Trying to discern what I should think of Wetherill was an interesting challenge. I did wonder what additional evidence the prosecution might offer against him. But McNitt draws from a number of interviews and compelling primary sources, and I confess that I found him largely convincing in disputing many of the charges that had tarnished Wetherill’s reputation, and in arguing that, although limited by the methods and assumptions of his time, Wetherill worked to responsibly contribute to scientifically valuable work.
Third, the story of Richard Wetherill incidentally paints a picture of what the “settling of the West” actually looked like. How towns grew up, how fortunes were made and lost, how justice was administered. The story also offers a number of glimpses into the relationships between European settlers and the Navajo community. I often wondered about the assumptions that McNitt might have brought to the table in this regard, but even so the picture that emerged was complex, and especially interesting in regards to the business relationships that existed between the two groups.
And finally, the biography actually helped me fill out my timeline of American history more completely. I was amazed to contemplate the fact that almost nobody had seen or knew anything about the Puebloan cliff dwellings in the 1880s, that the West was still, to such a great extent, being explored, even 20 years after the conclusion of the Civil War. Perhaps it is only my own lack of historical perspective, but I had never really thought very closely about the fact that the industrial revolution and the “Old West” were concurrent events. But they were. And the fact that Richard Wetherill first came across the Cliff Palace only 26 years before the start of World War I, and just seven years after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, seems crazy to me.
To conclude, I honestly enjoyed this book quite a bit. It offers a guided tour of the late 1800s with a guy from the 1950s as your tour guide. It takes the reader through the birthing pains of Southwestern archaeology. And it offers an interesting and relatively persuasive portrait of a man who, even now, seems to hold an ambivalent place in American history.