John Wetherill found fourteen mummies in Cliff Palace. It was a fitting climax to his first venture in archeology. Of the five Wetherill brothers, John was the one who developed the greatest interest in the ancient cultures. For many years after his first work in Cliff Palace he was actively engaged in exploring the Mesa Verde and nearby regions and making their features known to the world. It was a strange month the four cowboys spent in Cliff Palace in that winter of 1888-89. In the midst of a silent snow-covered wilderness they lived in and explored an ancient city that was unknown to the civilized world. Centuries earlier it had sheltered the Indians. Now it sheltered the newcomers. Untouched by wind and snow they pried into the secrets of the ancient people. Within a short time after discovery the great ruin received its name. Some of the early writers gave Richard Wetherill credit for christening it but in later years John Wetherill gave the credit to Charles Mason. In all probability we shall never know who deserves the credit but we may feel sure the name indicates the feelings those early explorers had about the greatest of all cliff dwellings. Cliff Palace was the name they gave it, an inspiring name for the greatest structure the Mesa Verde people ever built. It is not especially appropriate for the great ruin was never a palace. Instead, it was a small city, the dwelling place of hundreds of people. But the name was the choice of the men who first explored it and it reflects their feelings toward the ancient structure. Now we must pause for a moment. The story of the discovery of the cliff dwellings would not be complete if we were to go further without admitting that there are some uncertainties. Many years after the events we have just witnessed were a matter of record, other men came forward with claims that they had seen Cliff Palace before 1888. Even the various Wetherill brothers did not agree entirely in their stories about the discovery of the ruins. As a result, there is a certain amount of confusion concerning the events of those early days. But the two events we have just witnessed can be accepted without the slightest doubt. Jackson was in Two-Story Cliff House in 1874, and Charles Mason and Richard Wetherill were in Cliff Palace in 1888. No one has ever questioned the claims of these men. Jackson was travelling with a scientific party sent out by the government. He photographed Two-Story Cliff House and other small cliff dwellings in the Mancos Canyon and in the following year published the pictures and descriptions of the ruins in a scientific report. So to Jackson goes credit for the discovery of the first small cliff dwellings of the Mesa Verde. If John Moss, who was Jackson’s guide, or other early explorers were in the ruins before 1874, no record has come down to us.