GENERAL VIEW OF ARCHEOLOGY OF THE PUEBLO REGION. 595 



the admission of NeW Mexico and Arizona as States, al)out -J^J.OOCOOO 

 acres of public lands within their borders Avill pass to those Connnon- 

 wealths, and their legislatures will have to be invoked for the pro- 

 tection of ruins thereon. There are few. if anv, remaining cases 

 wjicre it is desirable that agricultural or otherwise useful lands 

 should be withheld from preemption or other disposal because of 

 the ruins situated u[)on them. Where such cases do exist, it would be 

 possil)le for the (ieneral Land Office, if infoi-med by recognized 

 authoritv, to withhold by temporary withdrawal the snuillest acre- 

 age adequate to the protection of the buildings, cemeteries, etc., until 

 excavated and reported on, after which the tracts sliould be released. 

 There are several important isolated sites and some important dis- 

 tricts situated on lands completely worthless for agricultural or other 

 economic purposes which should he withdrawn by the General Land 

 Office, since any preemption of them would be solely for the })urpose 

 of securing possession of the antiquities thereon in violation of the 

 s})irit of the land laws. Cases in point are the Chaco Canyon ruins, 

 in northwestern New Mexico, and those of Montezunui Mesa, south- 

 west of Acoma. The status of ruins on public lands, as that term 

 is here used, in not at all satisfactory. The (Jencral Laiul Office has 

 done what was possible by way of withdrawal and recommendation 

 for Congressional action in cases of exceptional importance in which 

 no economic interests were involved, and has jn-ohibited unauthorized 

 excavation, but it has been ruled that under no existing provision of 

 law can funds l)e used to pay for custodianship. Accordingly the 

 protection afforded must of necessity be inade<[uate. A slight amend- 

 ment to the sundry civil lull would remedy this. 



Those of the sixth class, situated on lands withdrawn from entry or 

 other disposal for special purposes, are very numerous, as may be seen 

 from the list of important districts and sites. It is to be hoped that 

 all in this class nuiy be speedily transferred to classes 1 and 2, as 

 contemplated by their withdrawal. Witii the establishment of 

 Pajarito National Park and the Jemez and Taos forest reserves the 

 efficient and permanent protection of a large ])r()portion of the most 

 important of the ruins of the Kio Orande drainage will be assured. 

 The creation of the Mesa Verde National Park and saving, by with- 

 drawal, of as many of the Chaco Canyon ])ueblos as are on lands still 

 open to preemption, would insure the presei-vation of a fair propor- 

 tion of the imjiortant sites of the San Juan drainage. With the 

 establishment of the l\io Verde forest reserve all th(> gi'cat groups of 

 the Cila di'ainage will ha\'e been brought incidentally under ade- 

 quate permaiuMit custodianshii). The status of ruins of the sixth 

 class is more satisfactory than those of the fifth. They ai"e preserved 

 from alienation by preemption or other disposal and warning notices 



