Richard Wetherill, Anasazi: Pioneer Explorer of Southwestern Ruins

That's one of the charges made by at least one subsequent scholar who researched this engaging story of the uncovering of the largest concentration of ancient civilization ruins north of Mexico. Moved by standing at the site of his grave next to the extensive pueblo one dazzling October afternoon, I vowed to learn about this unique Southwest pioneer. At the visitor center nearby, the book, which was recommended to me by a local guide, I soon devoured in a gripping discovery of the story of Richard Wetherill. Now, I admit that spending a weekend at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, and being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the ruins, I was a very likely target for such a book, and there was not a page in the story that disappointed. I was amazed by the life Richard Wetherill lived in that remarkable canyon south of his original home near what is now Mesa Verde National Park across the Colorado border. I could smell the air, see what was being described, and feel the drama and the tragedy of this riveting story of discovery and exploration. Not a moment spent reading this book was wasted. Now I'm ready for even more...and hope to return to Chaco Canyon again. Did the author, McNitt, "whitewash" Richard Wetherill? Read it yourself and see what you think, but I don't believe it!

To the archaeologists Richard Wetherill is a villain -- an uneducated cowboy who plundered the ruins of the pre-historic civilization of the Southwestern Indians. Author McNitt takes the opposite tact, portraying Wetherill as an upright honest man whose accomplishments, the first scientific examinations of the great ruins at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon, far outweigh his faults. Adding to the enigma of Wetherill is the matter of his death -- murdered in cold blood by a Navajo Indian debtor according to this author, the loser in a gunfight caused by his own cattle rustling according to others. Wetherill inspired strong passions in both life and death. This is a fine biography. The first few chapters may be hard slogging as the book goes through Wetherill's early life, but the chapters of Wetherill's life and work at Chaco Canyon leading up to his death in 1910 are fascinating. The author follows up the shooting of Wetherill with a full description of the trial of his killer and the aftermath of his death. This is a Western tale worthy of an epic movie and one has to wonder why it has not attracted Hollywood's attention. McNitt makes a persuasive case that Wetherill's reputation was the victim of ambitious Eastern academics, jealous of his discoveries, and government Indian agents, jealous of his influence among the Navajo. I was impressed at how little dated were his descriptions of the ancient civilizations of the Anasazi, although the book was written in 1957. Was Wetherill a hero or a villain? The controversy about his character makes for a fascinating read. Smallchief

Very interesting and complete. Makes you want to visit and keep exploring. Well written. Holds you interest.

Frank McNitt's biography of Richard Wetherhill, the pioneer explorer of the Anasazi culture of the Four Corners Region of the southwest has been in print since 1957. Not a bad record for a trade book, that is to say not a textbook. McNitt's eastern based publishing family owned the Brentwood Newspaper in suburban Los Angeles. Frank, sent out as publisher, vacationed with his family in New Mexico and was ever after attracted to the Southwest. On subsequent trips he heard of Richard Wetherill, the Quaker rancher from Mancos,CO whose family property was below Mesa Verde. As a Quaker, son of a former Indian Agent, Wetherill's honest relationship with the local Utes permited him to range the nearby Mesa Verde canyons unmolested. Here he and his brothers made the first significant explorations of the mostly unknown Anazasi ruins there. Sponsored by the Babo Soap heirs he would eventually discover or explore every significant Anasazi site in four states. He homesteaded at Chaco Canyon,the grandest Anasazi of them all. To finance his commitment to exploration he became one the most successful promotors of Navajo crafts, igniting a national decorative fad before WWI. His goods hung in the Waldorf Astoria Bar, a young Joseph Campbell saw Wetherill's Anazazi collections at The American Museum of Natural History, the St. Louis World's Fair featured his basketmaker culture artifacts. Independent, individualistic and highly humanistic in his relationships, Wetherill,by his very nature threatened those less talented or secure. His archeology was demeaned by professionals. He was subverted by agents of the Dawes Severalty Act,a law binding native Americans to enforced assimilation and dependency. Wetherhill's business enterprises among the Navajo gave lie to the need for the Dawes Act. Assassinated from ambush in what McNitt concludes was a political manipulation, Wetherill was dead by 1910. McNitt's investigative talents lead him through years of research and oral history depositions with living contemporary's of Wetherill. McNitt moved to New Mexico to be closer to his research, supporting himself as a publisher at Farmington and breifly as an employee of The University of New Mexico Press. He wore out a Land Rover driving the unpaved reservation roads of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah to track down facts about Wetherill. McNitt's awe at what he found is disclosed in balanced journalistic terms which build, chapter-upon-chapter into the stuff of legend without a scintilla of sentimentality to mar the art.