Monkey Butter's blog: "My Family...Wetherill"

1888: On December 18, Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law, Charles Mason, rode out on what is now Sun Point in search of lost cattle and first saw Cliff Palace. That afternoon, Richard found Spruce Tree House, and the next day, the two men discovered Square Tower House. Al Wetherill, Richard's brother, saw Cliff Palace sometime the year before, but he did not enter the dwelling, so the credit for "discovering" the dwelling has been given to Richard Wetherill and Charles Mason. 1889: Four of the Wetherill brothers returned to Mesa Verde to explore and dig in the ruins. In a 15 month period, they claimed to have entered 182 cliff dwellings, 106 in Navajo Canyon alone. 1890: In the January 1, 1890 issue of the Durango Herald, there is an article on Montezuma County, expressing the idea of setting aside the Mancos Canyon cliff dwellings as a National Park. Between 1887 and 1892 the Wetherills made several trips into Mesa Verde primarily for collecting archeological material. There were at least eight individual collections assembled by the Wetherills during this period, several of which were later combined and sold as four collections.

Richard Wetherill (1858-1910), a member of a prominent Colorado ranching family, was an amateur explorer in the discovery, research and excavation of sites associated with the Anasazi or Ancient Pueblo peoples. Richard Wetherill is credited with the discovery of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde and was responsible for initially selecting the term Anasazi, Navajo for ancient ones, as the name for these ancient people. He also discovered Kiet Seel ruin, now included, along with Betatakin ruin, in Navajo National Monument in northeastern Arizona. "Slightly smaller than Cliff Palace, Kiet Seel possesses qualities that, in the eyes of some, lend it greater charm and interest."[1] Wetherill became fascinated by the ruins and artifacts and made a career as an explorer, guide, excavator and trading post operator. The Wetherill family's good relations with local Indian tribes, including the Utes, allowed them access to many canyons on Ute controlled land. The family maintained a guest house at their ranch, offering tours and helping people obtain collections of artifacts. Although modern archaeologists are appalled at the damage done by early explorers like the Wetherills, preservation of the sites was not a concern for early explorers and scholars, who were more interested in either experiencing the curious ruins and relics or collecting artifacts for museum and university display than understanding the people and culture that created them. It is fair to say that, had Richard Wetherill not discovered and popularized the ruins, others would have.

In 1888, Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason, two cowboys from Mancos, found Cliff Palace. Wetherill gave the ruin its current name. The extended Wetherill family collected artifacts for sale to the Historical Society of Colorado as well as private collectors, and began assembling a small library of relevant publications. Over several years they guided tourists through the cliff dwellings, and became the first experts on them. Although they continued to dig in the ruins, knocking down some walls and roofs and gathering artifacts without extensive documentation, the Wetherill's actions were more responsible and considered than those of the looters that preceded them. The Wetherills guided many people to the site, including Frederick H. Chapin, for whom Chapin Mesa was named, and Gustaf Nordenskiöld, a Swedish scientist who explored many of the ruins in the Mesa Verde area and published the first scientific description of the site. Over the next decade, Cliff Palace became a tourist attraction. Many of these early tourists carried away artifacts, camped in, and damaged the ruins. As the vandalism continued, it became clear that Mesa Verde needed protection from unthinking or greedy people. An early Mesa Verde National Park superintendent, Hans Randolph, described the situation at Cliff Palace: