EXPLORATION OF RUINS IN THE WHITE MOUNTAIN 

 APACHE INDIAN RESERVATION, ARIZONA 



By Walter Hough 

 Head Curator of Anthropology, United States National Museum 



HISTORY 



A reconnaissance of ruins in Arizona for the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology in 1918, an account of which is appended, led to the 

 selection of a large, ancient pueblo in the northwestern part of the 

 White Mountain Apache Reservation for exploration. In 1919 this 

 ruin, called by the Apache Nas tsuggi toeda^ Grasshopper Spring, 

 was examined as thoroughly as the small funds permitted. Through 

 the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. S. W. Jaques of Lakeside, Ariz., who 

 furnished transportation to the distant site, the work was much ex- 

 pedited. The results of this exploration, unpublished in the expecta- 

 tion of further work on the ruin, are now given in their incomplete- 

 ness as containing data of importance concerning this unknown 

 region. A brief summary of the work on the project was published 

 in the 1919 number of Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections.^ 



Geography^ Geology^ and Biology. — The country west of Cibicue 

 to Oak Creek is topographically strongly diversified, being cut with 

 deep canyons and interspersed with high mountains and parks. 

 West of Cibicue the rocks are limestone and sandstone of the Penn- 

 sylvania series, and these rocks prevail at Grasshopper, the limestone 

 being highly fossiliferous. The sandstone is bright red and dividing 

 easily into slabs of varying thickness. The walls of the ruins were 

 built of these materials, principally of gray limestone. In several 

 ruins of the group the central buildings were of red sandstone and 

 the surrounding rooms of limestone, an evidence of intentional 

 village planning. 



Biology — Plants. — The country about Grasshopper Valley is for- 

 ested with Pinus ponderosa, Juniperus occidentalism cedars, walnut, 

 oak, and a few trees of other species. The brush common to the open 



1 Volume 72, No. 1, pp. 64-66, and in Volume 70, No. 2, pp. 90-93. 



No. 2856.— Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 78. Art. 13. 



2663—30 1 1 



