Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, in southwestern New Mexico, was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 to preserve the ruins of adobe and stone Indian homes built into the natural cavities of the canyons overlooking the west fork of the Gila River. Surrounded by the Gila National Forest, the monument consists of a 483-acre section containing the Gila Cliff Dwellings and a separate 50-acre site added in 1962 to preserve the remains of a pueblo known as TJ Ruins. Discovered in 1870, the remnants are from a once-thriving Indian civilization of the Mogollon culture, during the period 1100-1300 AD.