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Contents


Introduction

Arches

Aztec Ruins

Capulin Mountain

Casa Grande

Chaco Canyon

Colorado

Craters of the Moon

Devils Tower

Dinosaur

El Morro

Fossil Cycad

George Washington Birthplace

Glacier Bay

Gran Quivira

Hovenweep

Katmai

Lewis and Clark Cavern

Montezuma Castle

Muir Woods

Natural Bridges

Navajo

Petrified Forest

Pinnacles

Pipe Spring

Rainbow Bridge

Scotts Bluff

Shoshone Cavern

Sitka

Tumacacori

Verendrye

Wupatki

Yucca House




Glimpses of Our
National Monuments

THE NATIONAL MONUMENTS AT A GLANCE

ADMINISTERED BY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
[Number, 32; total area, 3,724 square miles or 2,383,467 acres]

NameLocationArea (acres)Distinctive characteristics
Arches
     1929
Utah 4,520Contains extraordinary examples of wind erosion in shape of gigantic arches, windows, and other unique formations.
Aztec Ruins1
     1923
New Mexico 17Prehistoric ruin of pueblo type containing 160 rooms and other ruins.
Capulin Mountain (kapu'lin)
     1916
    do 680Cinder cone of geologically recent formation.
Casa Grande (ka' sa gran'da)
     19182
Arizona 473These ruins are among the most noteworthy relics of a prehistoric age and people within the limits of the United States. Discovered in ruinious condition in 1694.
Chaco Canyon (cha'ko)
     1907
New Mexico 321,512Numerous cliff-dweller ruins, including communal houses, in good condition, and but little excavated.
Colorado
     1911
Colorado 13,749Many lofty monoliths, and is wonderful example of erosion, and of great scenic beauty and interest.
Craters of the Moon
     1924
Idaho 49,602Best example of fissure lava flows; volcanic region with weird landscape effects.
Devils Tower
     1906
Wyoming 1,153Remarkable natural rock tower, of volcanic origin, 1,200 feet in height.
Dinosaur (di'no sor)
     1913
Utah 80Deposits of fossil remains of prehistoric animal life of great scientific interest.
El Morro
     1906
New Mexico 240Enormous sandstone rock eroded in form of a castle, upon which inscriptions have been placed by early Spanish explorers. Contains cliff-dweller ruins. Of great historic, scenic, and ethnologic interest.
Fossil Cycad
     1922
South Dakota 320Area containing deposits of plant fossils.
George Washington's Birthplace
     1930
Virginia 22Site of home in which George Washington was born. Grounds to be restored and replica of the old homestead to be erected.
Glacier Bay
     1921
Alaska 31,164,800Contains tidewater glaciers of first rank.
Gran Quivira (gran ke-ve-re)
     1909
New Mexico 424One of the most important of earliest Spanish mission ruins in the Southwest. Monument also contains pueblo ruins.
Hovenweep
     1923
Utah-Colorado 286Four groups of prehistoric towers, pueblos, and cliff dwellings.
Katmai (kat'mi)
     1918
Alaska 31,087,990Wonderland of great scientific interest in study of volcanism. Phenomena exist upon a scale of great magnitude. Includes Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.
Lewis and Clark Cavern1
     1908
Montana 160Immense limestone cavern of great scientific interest, magnificently decorated with stalactite formations. Now closed to public because of depredations by vandals.
Montezuma Castle
     1906
Arizona 3160Prehistoric cliff-dweller ruin of unusual size situated in a niche in face of a vertical cliff. Of scenic and ethnologic interest.
Muir Woods2 (mur)
     1908
California 426One of the most noted redwood groves in California, and was donated by Hon. William Kent, ex-Member of Congress. Located 7 miles from San Francisco.
Natural Bridges
     1908
Utah 32,740Three natural bridges, among largest examples of their kind. Largest bridge is 222 feet high, 61 feet thick at top of arch; arch is 28 feet wide; span, 261 feet; height of span, 157 feet. Other two slightly smaller.
Navajo (nav'-a- ho)
     1909
Arizona 360Contains numerous pueblo, or cliff-dweller ruins, in good preservation.
Petrified Forest
     1906
    do 25,908Abundance of petrified coniferous trees, one of which forms a small natural bridge. Is of great scientific interest.
Pinnacles
     1908
California 2,980Many spirelike rock formations, 900 to 1,000 feet high, visible many miles; also numerous caves and other formations.
Pipe Spring
     1921
Arizona 40Old stone fort and spring of pure water in desert region, serves ss memorial to early western pioneer life.
Rainbow Bridge
     1910
Utah 100Unique natural bridge of great scientific interest and symmetry. Height 309 feet above water, and span 278 feet, in shape of rainbow.
Scotts Bluff
     1919
Nebraska 1,894Region of historic and scientific interest. Many famous old trails traversed by the early pioneers in the winning of the West passed over and through this monument.
Shoshone Cavern (sho-sho'-ne)
     1909
Wyoming 210Cavern of considerable extent, near Cody. Not open to visitors at present.
Sitka
     1910
Alaska 57Area of great natural beauty and historic interest as scene of massacre of Russians by Indians. Contains 18 totem poles of best native workmanship.
Tumacacori (tu ma-ka'-ko-re)
     1908
Arizona 10Ruin of Franciscan mission dating from seventeenth century. Being restored by National Park Service as rapidly as funds permit.
Verendrye (ver ron-dre)
     1917
North Dakota 250Includes Crowhigh Butte, from which Explorer Verendrye first beheld territory beyond Missouri River.
Wupatki
     1924
Arizona 2,234Prehistoric dwellings of ancestors of Hopi Indians.
Yucca House1 (yuc-ca)
     1919
Colorado 10Located on eastern slope of Sleeping Ute Mountain. Is a pile of masonry of great archeological value, relic of prehistoric inhabitants.

1 Donated to the United States.
2From June 22, 1892, until Aug. 3, 1918, classified as a national park.
3 Estimated.


THE NATIONAL MONUMENTS AT A GLANCE

ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
[Number, 16; total area, 596 square miles or 381,185 acres]

NameLocationArea (acres)Distinctive characteristics
Bandelier (Ban-de ler)
     1916
New Mexico 22,075Vast number of cliff-dweller ruins of unusual ethnological and educational interest, including ruins of Rite de los Frijoles, Otowi, Tsankawi, and others. Some of the tools, implements, and simple household equipment of the former inhabitants have been restored as they were centuries ago.
Chiricahua
     1924
Arizona 4,480Natural rock formations—pillars, balanced rocks, and formations resembling animals, faces, etc.
Devil Postpile
     1911
California 800Consists of peculiar hexagonal basaltic columns, like an immense pile of posts. The columns lie in the pile at all angles from vertical to almost horizontal. Said to rank with famous Giant's Causeway of Ireland.
Gila Cliff Dwellings (he'la)
     1907
Arizona 160Cliff-dweller ruins. Four natural cavities in the face of an overhanging cliff 110 feet high, of a grayish-yellow volcanic formation, are divided into small rooms by walls built of adobe and small stones, which are in a good state of preservation. The ruins are situated in rough and broken country and are accessible only by trail.
Holy Cross
     1929
Colorado 1,3922 crevices on side of Mount of the Holy Cross, which when filled, or partially filled, with snow form a figure in the shape of a Greek cross. Object of much public and religious interest.
Jewel Cave
     1908
South Dakota 11,280Cavern of limestone formation. Consists of a series of chambers, connected by narrow passages, with numerous side galleries.
Lava Beds
     1925
California 45,967Unusual and unique exhibits of volcanic action and lava flows in the abape of peculiar lava caves and tunnels in great numbers and of considerable size. In many of these caves rivers of perpetual ice are found and Indian petroglyphs carved and painted upon their walls indicate possible occupancy by early historic and prehistoric races. Battle ground of Modoc Indian war of 1873.
Lehman Caves
     1922
Nevada 593Caves of light-gray and white limestone, honey-combed by tunnels and galleries of stalactite formations.
Mount Olympus
     1909
Washington 298,730Contains many objects of unusual scientific interest, including numerous glaciers. It is a real wilderness area, having no settlements, no supply points, nor human habitations within it. Bands of the rare Roosevelt elk, numbering several thousand head, of a species native to the region and not found elsewhere, have their summer feeding grounds within the monument area.
Old Kasaan (ka-san)
     1916
Alaska 38Abandoned Haida Indian village in which remain totem poles, grave houses and monuments, and portions of the original framework of the buildings.
Oregon Caves
     1900
Oregon 480Caves in limestone formation of great variety and beauty. These assume odd, grotesque, and fantastic forms of considerable extent and are situated in an attractive environment.
Sunset Crater
     1930
Arizona 3,040A volcanic crater with lava flows and ice caves, near famous San Francisco Peaks.
Timpanogos Cave
     1922
Utah 250Limestone cavern. The cave is almost 600 feet in length. Many beautiful effects are emphasized by the electric lights installed in the cave.
Tonto
     1907
Arizona 1640Two cliff-dweller ruins just off the Roosevelt Globe Highway, one to the southwest of the road and the other on the west side of the canyon. They consist of two and three storied walls of adobe with the supporting beams and lintels of windows and low doors still in place.
Walnut Canyon
     1915
Arizona 960Contains cliff dwellings of marked scientific and popular interest built in under the outward sloping canyon walls, utilizing the projecting limestone ledges as foundations. Instead of being of the communal type, those cliff houses were apparently built for separate families and contain from six to eight rooms.
Wheeler
     1908
Colorado 300Volcanic formations of unusual scientific interest ss illustrating erratic erosion. Unusual combination of fantastic pinnacles and interesting gorges.

THE NATIONAL MONUMENTS AT A GLANCE

ADMINISTERED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT
[Number, 10; total area, 642 acres]

NameLocationArea (acres)Distinctive characteristics
Abraham Lincoln's Birthplace
     1916
Kentucky 110Contains the log cabin and part of the farm where Abraham Lincoln was born.
Big Hole Battle Field
     1910
Montana 5Site of battle field on which battle was fought Aug. 9, 1877, between a small force of United States troops and a much larger force of Nez Perce Indians, resulting in rout for the Indians.
Cabrillo
     1913
California .5Of historic interest because of discovery of the territory now partly embraced in the State of California by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who at this point first sighted land on Sept. 28, 1542.
Castle Pinckney
     1924
South Carolina 3.5Fortification built in 1810 to replace a Revolutionary fort.
Chalmette
     1907
Louisiana 17Erected in memory of the Battle of New Orleans, which was fought on Jan. 8,1819.
Fort Marion
     1924
Florida 18Fort built by Spaniards in 1656.
Fort Matanzas
     1924
    do 1Relic of Spanish invasion.
Fort McHenry
     1925
Maryland 47Restored and preserved as birthplace of "Star-Spangled Banner."
Fort Niagara
     1923
New York .0074Site for erection of cross to commemorate a cross erected by Father Millett in 1688 on what is now the Fort Niagara Military Reservation.
Fort Pulaski
     1924
Georgia 20Built in 1810 to replace Fort Greene, of the Revolution.
Fort Wood
     1924
New York 2.5Site of the Statue of Liberty.
Kennesaw Mountain
     1928
Georgia 60Site of important Civil War engagement fought June 27, 1864.
Kitty Hawk
     1927
North Carolina NoneScene of first sustained flight by heavier-than-air machine.
Meriwether Lewis
     1925
Tennessee 300Contains grave of Captain Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Mound City Group
     1923
Ohio 57Famous group of prehistoric mounds in Camp Sherman Military Reservation.
White Plains Battle Field
     1926
New York NoneMemorial tablet to indicate the position of the Revo utionary Army under the command of General Washington.




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