80 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FK 



gently rolling, generally covered with grass or sage-bushes, with scattered trees of 

 pi fioii and cedar. Reaching the Animas we found it flowing- in a valley one to three 

 miles wide, bounded by gravel terraces, of which there are two, sometimes three, dis- 

 tinctly visible. Near the month of the Florido the first terrace, which is near the 

 stream, has an altitude of about 50 feet; the second, 260 feet higher; the third, the 

 general surface of the plain which we crossed, 200 feet higher still. All these terraces 

 are, I suppose, of local origin, having been left by the sinking of the bed of the stream 

 consequent upon the cutting down of the gorge it has opened in the table-lands south. 

 Between the junction of the Florido with the Animas and the valley of the San .luan, 

 the table-land seems to be continuous, but has its greatest altitude along its northern 

 margin. Immediately after receiving the Florido the Animas enters a deep and narrow 

 canon, in which it flows for several miles; the walls of this canon are l,f>(>0 to l,(i(M) 

 feet in height; in places nearly vertical ; the rocks exposed are principally sandstones, 

 of which the prevailing color is a light brownish-yellow, sometimes becoming a pale 

 red. These sandstones belong to the Upper Cretaceous series, which is hen* more 

 fully exposed than anywhere in that portion of our route already passed over. 

 Through the canon the river is very rapid and much obstructed bv rocks, and can- 

 not be followed on horseback; below this the valley widens and the declivities of 

 the bluffs which bound it become more gentle ; the bottom-lands are from a mile to 

 two. miles in width, and quite fertile; the river is bordered bv thickets of willow and 

 buffalo-berry, with groups and sometimes groves of cottomvood. It is in this part, of 

 the valley that the ruins are situated. The principal structures are large pueblos, 

 handsomely built of stone, and in a. pretty good state of preservation. The external 

 walls are composed of yellow Cretaceous sandstone, dressed to a, common smooth 

 surface without hammer-marks; in some places they are still 25 feet in height. As 

 usual in buildings of this kind, the walls were unbroken by door or window to tin* 

 height of 15 feet above the foundation. The interior shows a great number of small 

 rooms, many of which are in a perfect, state of preservation, and handsomely plastered. 

 These larger structures are surrounded by mounds and fragments of masonry, mark- 

 ing the sites of great numbers of subordinate buildings; the whole affording conclu- 

 sive evidence that a large population once had its home here. The fragments of highly 

 ornamented and glazed pottery which cover the surface in the vicinity of these build- 

 ings, as well as the peculiar style of architecture in which thev are constructed, show 

 that the people who -built and occupied these structures belonged to the common 

 aboriginal race of this region, now generally known as the Pueblo Indians. 



"After our return from the ruins on the Animas, our party moved over and encamped 

 on that'stream, at the point where it is crossed by the old Spanish trail. It is nearly 

 a hundred yards wide, deep and rapid, and, at, the present, stage of water, not easily 

 forded. It here issues from the hills and enters the basin before described. Above 

 this point it flows through a, broad mountain valley not yet explored, but of which the 

 general features are given by the two great mountain groups which border it on the 

 cast and Avest the Sierra de los 1'inos and Sierra de la Plata. ( )f these the Sierra de 

 la Plata is the most conspicuous feature in the scenery, a broad and lofty mountain 

 belt stretching continuously northward as far as the eye can reach. 



