In 1888, Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason, two cowboys from Mancos, found Cliff Palace. Wetherill gave the ruin its current name. The extended Wetherill family collected artifacts for sale to the Historical Society of Colorado as well as private collectors, and began assembling a small library of relevant publications. Over several years they guided tourists through the cliff dwellings, and became the first experts on them. Although they continued to dig in the ruins, knocking down some walls and roofs and gathering artifacts without extensive documentation, the Wetherill's actions were more responsible and considered than those of the looters that preceded them. The Wetherills guided many people to the site, including Frederick H. Chapin, for whom Chapin Mesa was named, and Gustaf Nordenskiöld, a Swedish scientist who explored many of the ruins in the Mesa Verde area and published the first scientific description of the site.
Over the next decade, Cliff Palace became a tourist attraction. Many of these early tourists carried away artifacts, camped in, and damaged the ruins. As the vandalism continued, it became clear that Mesa Verde needed protection from unthinking or greedy people. An early Mesa Verde National Park superintendent, Hans Randolph, described the situation at Cliff Palace:
