Frederick H. Chapin

Frederick H. Chapin (5 September 1852 - 25 January 1900) was an American business man, mountaineer, photographer, amateur archaeologist and author. He is best known for his exploration of mesas and ruins found in the Mesa Verde area of Colorado. Although his book is relatively unknown today, his descriptions, maps and quality photographs are an important historical resource.

Chapin visited the Mesa Verde region during the summers of 1889 and 1890, using explorer Richard Wetherill and members of his family as guides. Although active in exploring and photographing the sites, Chapin was not heavily involved in excavating the ruins or collecting artifacts due to time constraints. He did, however, photograph artifacts collected by the Wetherills, and was glad to receive artifacts they collected and forwarded to him. Chapin also assessed the climbing possibilities of mesas and peaks in the area. He described the landscape and ruins in an 1890 article and later in a 1892 book, "The Land of the Cliff-Dwellers", illustrated with hand drawn maps and personal photographs. Chapin Mesa, which shelters many of the best known cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, is named for him.

Publications

* "The Land of the Cliff-Dwellers." Appalachian Mountain Club, W. B. Clarke and Co., Boston, 1892. Reprinted by the University of Arizona Press, with notes and forward by Robert H. Lister, 1988. ISBN 0-8165-1052-0.
* "Cliff-dwellings of the Mancos Canons." American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal, vol. 12, no. 4, p. 193; and Appalachia, vol. 6 (May 1890) p. 12, 1890.
* "Mountaineering in Colorado: The Peaks about Estes Park" Appalachian Mountain Club, Boston, 1889. Reprinted in 1987, with forward and notes by James H. Pickering, by the University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.