54 



THE OREGON NATURALIST. 



shells of Vitrina liiiipida, Gould. 



On a couple of fir logs which were 

 lying together was a small buiich of 

 dead maple leaves. Here in a place 

 about four feet by one I found Vertigo 

 decora, Gld. var. Columbia sterki, 

 and up to date it is the only place. 

 Fred H. Andrus. 



Elkton, Oregon. 



THE PREHISTORIC RUINS OF 

 THE RIO SALADO VALLEY. 



The prehistoric ruins of the Rio 

 Salado Valley were supposed to have 

 been built by the Aztec, Toltec or 

 Zuni Indians. There are many things 

 of interest to collectors found in and 

 around these ruins. Their bracelets 

 and ear rings were made of shell. 

 They are very rare, I know of but two 

 perfect shell bracelets in the valley. 

 Their beads are made mostly of tur- 

 quoise shell and slate. The arrow 

 points are very fine being made mostly 

 of obsidian or flint. The ob.sidian is a 

 clear volcanic matter, and as hard as 

 steel, some times it is used for cutting 

 hieroglyphics upon the rocks. They 

 also had hannners, axes and meal- 

 ing stones, which were very nicely 

 shaped. They also had small orna- 

 ments of different kinds, as the fetich 

 which is supposed to liave been used 

 to tell the clan and drive the evil 

 spiiit away, it generally has a small 

 ornament of some kind. Their pot- 

 tery is very finely decorated not merely 

 as a pastime, but they put their his- 

 tory, religion, emblems, etc., upon 

 most of their polU-ry. I have picked 

 up pieces witli pictures of birds upon 

 Phein. The most ancjent kind of 



manufacturing pottery is found in 

 these ruins; thejar was formed around 

 a basket and then the wicker work 

 was burned out, this would leave the 

 marks of the basket in the clay. 

 There is a kind that is hard to find 

 and that is called corrugated ware. 

 This was made by laying. strips of clay 

 on top of each other until the jar is 

 completed. There is a jar that has 

 theii emblem upon it, this is supposed 

 to have been used in some religious 

 work of theirs. It is evident that 

 they were worshippers of the sun from 

 the emblems we see on the pottery and 

 the ruins we find. There is a round 

 shaped ruin that some people think 

 was a tank for holding water for 

 domestic use, but they were the old 

 temples of the people that occupied 

 this valley at the time. It is supposed 

 that those people were partly cilvilized, 

 for we find their old cannalsa and 

 ruined adobe houses and etc. They 

 al.so used slate to write hierogly- 

 phics upon. Their mode of burial 

 was to cremate the dead bodies 

 and then put them in jars for burial. 

 It is suppo.sed that this tribe was 

 driven away by .some ho.stile race, for 

 in the ruins we find streaks of char- 

 coal. It was ivere the roof had burned. 

 In these ruins we find different house 

 hold supplies that they needed as 

 axes, hammers, arrow points, and jars 

 and sometimes there are skeletons or 

 some small trinkets found. 



Sylvester DeMund, 

 Student Ethnology. 

 Phoenix, A. T. 



California Quail have been turned 

 loDSp near Dwaco, Wash. 



