228 BULLETIN 56, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



1884, we noted them in abundance between Garland and Eoss's ranch 

 and the American Ranch, at the foot of Granite Mountain, near 

 Prescott. In the red- juniper zone, between Ash Fork and Stones 

 Lake, November 7, 1884, antelope were seen bounding through the 

 groves of " cedars " and grassy plains between, over which the trail 

 passed. They appeared very white, and were very conspicuous, as 

 antelope always are, unless they are lying down. Their tracks were 

 very numerous in the mud around Stones Lake, a sheet of water 

 covering about 20 acres. In the spring of 1888 I saw a number of 

 scattered individuals on the west slope of the Yerde Mountains, in 

 Agua Fria Basin. I never saw an antelope in the low valley of the 

 Verde River; but its use as food, in ancient times, by the cliff 

 dwellers is attested by an abundance of charred bones found in many 

 of their cliff houses and cavate dwellings. 



Antelope still existed in the Red Rock Country of Oak Creek, one 

 of the headwaters of the Verde River, during the eighties. From 

 my notebook I extract the following: 



January I'f, 1885. — We left Fort A'erde at sunrise and traveled to Thompson's 

 Ranch, on Oak Creek, Arizona, a distance of 25 miles. For the first five or six 

 miles the trail lay across a sandy, mesquite-covered plain, and low hills bare of 

 trees between Beaver Creek and the Rio Verde. We then crossed a succession 

 of cedar-clad ridges in which deer are often seen, and thence descended to a 

 wide, grassy prairie, bordered by foothills with cedars upon their -slopes. There 

 we found plenty of tracks, but saw no antelope, until, on cautiously peering 

 over tlie first ridge after leaving the prairie. I saw a herd of them feeding 

 among scrub oaks about 200 yards distant. I had ridden ahead with only a 

 shotgun, and, the country being open, did not attempt stalking them, liut waited 

 for the buckboard to come up with the rifles. I motioned to the driver to stop, 

 and immediately three rifles wei'e brought up to the top of the hill, but not 

 before the wary creatures had sniffed the breeze and betaken themselves to 

 their hoofs. Smith could not be restrained from letting fly at them at .300 

 yards as they trooped off in single file ; othenvise we might have successfully 

 stalked them, as the coiuitry was hilly and aft'oi-ded cover. I gave Fox my 

 horse and took a seat in the buckboard, directing him to take his own time and 

 look for the antelope beyond a high ridge over which they had disappeared 

 after winding in zigzags to avoid some buttes and canyons, often i)ausing to 

 look at our i)arty fi'om some eminence. There were 14 in the band, and they 

 were the only antelope seen on the trip. Fox rejoined us at Beaver Head, 

 having failed to shoot an antelope. He had found the herd twice, but each 

 time the herd discovered him first and betook themselves to flight, disappearing 

 immediately from view behind the hills upon which they had been watching. 

 Antelope are common, in suitable jtlaces, throughout this general region. 



Aufiust 12-l-'i, ISSo. — Visited Oak Creek. Going out we saw no antelope, but. 

 returning on the 14th, ten were seen near the Bell ^Mountain, not far from Oak 

 Creek, in the Red Rock Country. 



In 188G and 1887, when I crossed the Great San Francisco Forest, 

 visiting Flagstaff and the San Francisco Mountain, antelope were 



