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Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument offers a glimpse of the homes and lives of the people of
the Mogollon culture who lived there from the 1280s through the early 1300s. The surroundings
probably look today very much like they did when the cliff dwellings were inhabited. It is
surrounded by the Gila National Forest and lies at the edge of the Gila Wilderness, the nation's
first designated wilderness area. This designation means that the wilderness character of the area will not be altered by the intrusion of roads or other evidence of human presence.
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, containing 533 acres, was established on November
16, 1907. Administration of the monument was transferred from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to the U.S. Department of the Interior on August 10, 1933. In the spring of 1975, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service signed a cooperative agreement whereby the Gila National Forest is responsible for administration of the monument.
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