GENERAL VIEW OF AIU'IIEOl.OdY OF TIIH PUFBI.O HKOlON. rjUT) 



the adiuissiou of New Mcxia) and Ari/oiia as States, about 28,000,000 

 acres of piiMic lands within theii- borders will ]>ass to those Coinnion- 

 wealths, and their leoislatures will have to he invoked for Ihe i)ro- 

 tectioii of I'nins thcicon. Thei-e are few. if anv. reniainin*'- eases 

 where it is desii-ahle that ajirieultural or otherwise useful lands 

 should he withheld from preemption or other disposal because of 

 the ruins situaled upon (hem. ^^'here such cases do exist, it would be 

 possible for the (ieneral Land OlHce, if informed bv recoirnized 

 authority, to withhold by temporary withdrawal the smallest acre- 

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

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

 There are several important isolated sites and some important dis- 

 tricts situated on lands completely Avorthless for agricultural or other 

 econ.omic puri)Oses which should be withdrawn by the (leneral Land 

 Office, since an}' preemption of them would be solely for tlu> purpose 

 of securing possession of the anti({uities thei-eon in \iolation of the 

 spirit of the land laws. Cases in [)oint are the Chaco Canyon ruins, 

 in noi'thwestern Xew Mexico, and those of Montezuma iSIesa, south- 

 west of Acoma. The status of ruins on [)ublic lands, as that term 

 is here used, in not at all satisfactory. The (leneral Land Office has 

 done Avhat was possible by Avay of withdrawal and reconnnendation 

 for Congressional action in cases of exceptional imi)ortance in which 

 no economic interests were involved, and has prohibited unauthorized 

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

 law can funds be used to pay for custodianship. Accordingly the 

 protection afforded must of necessity be inade(iuate. A slight amend- 

 ment to the sundry civil bill would remedy this. 



Those of the sixth class, situated on lands withdrawn from entry or 

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

 from the list of important districts and sites. It is to be ho})ed that 

 all in this class may l)e speedily transferred to classes 1 and 2, as 

 contem[)lated by their withdrawal. With the establishment of 

 Pajarito National Park and the Jenu'Z and Taos forest reserves the 

 efficient and pernument protection of a large proportion of the most 

 important of the ruins of the Rio (iraiule drainage will be assured. 

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

 drawal, of as many of tlie Chaco Canyon pueblos as are on lands still 

 open to preemption. Avould insure the pivservation of a fair propor- 

 tion of the important sites of the San Juan drainage. AVith the 

 establishment of the Rio Verde forest reserve all the great groups of 

 the Gila drainage will have been brought incidentally under ade- 

 quate permanent custodianship. The status of ruins of the sixth 

 class is moi-e satisfactory than those of the fifth. They are preserved 

 from alienation by preemption or other disposal and warning notices 



