THE WETHERILLS: Friends of Mesa Verde, Legacy Edition, published by SAY YES QUICKLY BOOKS
In 1881, the Wetherill family—parents, five sons, and one daughter—moved from the Midwest to homestead in a fertile valley in southwestern Colorado, where they found the ruins of a centuries-old structure on their new land. Who had built its now-collapsed walls? And where had they gone? That first discovery led to many more, and those that followed would etch the family’s name in southwestern history. Decades before the government or scientific institutions acted to preserve the remains of the ancient cities and towns of Mesa Verde, the Wetherills became convinced that their Quaker faith had led them here to protect prehistoric sites from wanton destruction. Based on decades of meticulous research, author Fred Blackburn finally sets the record straight on these early “friends of Mesa Verde.”
“Fred Blackburn’s The Wetherills is a comprehensive account of one of the Southwest’s most important pioneer families. The five Wetherill brothers carved out niches as explorers, entrepreneurs, scientists, and ambassadors for the early settlement of the Southwest, and their legacy is captured in the pages of this landmark account of their accomplishments. This is a hugely important historical document for anyone interested in the history of southwestern archeology and the Wetherill family.”
— Frank Lister, publisher, Time Traveler Maps
