Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries - Softcover

."..Smith has told the Mesa Verde story wonderfully....Here is a delightful reading about a delightful national park."
--"Montana: The Magazine of Western History"

"Smith has succeeded in writing a book which will inform historians, satisfy park administrators, and titillate the general public."
"Western Historical Quarterly""

...Smith has told the Mesa Verde story wonderfully....Here is a delightful reading about a delightful national park."
"Montana: The Magazine of Western History""

Originally published in 1988, Mesa Verde National Park: Shadows of the Centuries is an engaging and artfully illustrated history of an enigmatic assemblage of canyons and mesas tucked into the southwestern corner of Colorado. Duane A. Smith recounts the dramatic 1888 "discovery" of the cliff dwellings and other Anasazi ruins and the ensuing twenty-year campaign to preserve them. Smith also details the resulting creation of a national park in 1906 and assesses the impact of more recent developments - railroads and highways, air pollution, and the growing significance of tourism - on the park's financial and ecological vitality. This revised and completely redesigned edition includes more than 50 illustrations and will be enjoyed by readers interested in environmental, Western, and Colorado history.