Human presence in the area has been dated to over 10,000 years before present. Permanent settlements by ancestors of the Pueblo peoples have been dated to 1150 Common Era; these settlers had moved closer to the Rio Grande by 1550. The distribution of basalt and obsidian artifacts from the area, along with other traded goods, rock markings, and construction techniques, indicate that its inhabitants were part of a regional trade network that included Mexico. Spanish settlers arrived in the 1700s. The Pueblo Jose Montoya brought Adolph Bandelier to visit the area in 1880; Bandelier, looking over the cliff dwellings, announced "It is the grandest thing I ever saw." Woodrow Wilson signed the legislation creating the monument in 1916, and infrastructure, including a lodge, was built during the 1920s and 1930s. The monument was closed to the public for several years during World War II, since the lodge was being used to house personnel working on the Manhattan Project.