NO. 1873 PREHISTORIC RUINS IN GILA VALLEY FEWKES 427 



Hemenway Southwestern Expedition. 1 The remains are now in the 

 midst of cultivated fields ; many formerly conspicuous are invisible, 

 having been reduced to the surrounding level. These mounds are 

 of great interest as the site of the first archaeological field work in 

 this valley. 



3. DRAINES'S COMPOUND 



Although the compound situated on Mr. Draines's farm is now 

 almost wholly destroyed, its great mound rises as a white or ash- 

 colored elevation in the midst of the cultivated fields, and is con- 

 spicuous for some distance, being easily seen from the railroad train. 

 A ditch divides the mound into two parts. 



There are many instructive pictographs (pi. xxxix, figs, a, b, and 

 c) not far from the Salt River. 



IV. RUINS ON THE SAN PEDRO. 



The San Pedro River, the largest tributary of the Gila on the 

 south, is in fact the only one of size which rises in Mexico and 

 flows approximately north with highlands on both sides. It is sup- 

 posed that the trail taken by Coronado in 1540 on his trip to Cibola 

 (Zuni) followed the San Pedro Valley, through which we know 

 Father Kino passed in 1694. Although this was the only known 

 route from Mexico to the unknown north in the I7th century, it 

 was abandoned by the Spaniards in favor of the valley of the Santa 

 Cruz in the following century. 



A study of the ruins on the San Pedro leads one to believe that 

 the ancient structures in this region had certain features of the Gila 

 compounds. It is evident that they had stone walls built for protec- 

 tion, inclosing areas in which were erected the fragile walled domi- 

 ciles of the people. Within this inclosure were also other buildings 

 with massive walls corresponding to the houses in the compounds of 

 Casa Grande. 



The San Pedro Valley was inhabited in 1694 by the Sobypuri, 

 agricultural Indians of Pima stock, and from the scanty records 



1 Preliminary Notes on the Origin, Working Hypothesis and Primary Re- 

 searches of the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition. Congres 

 International des Americanistes, 7th session, Berlin, i&88. 



It will be seen by a comparison of the author's interpretation of the Casa 

 Grande ruins with those given in this pioneer work that they differ in some 

 particulars. The oval structures at Los Muertos called sun temples were not 

 recognized at Casa Grande or the other ruins here considered. The author in- 

 terprets the fragile walled buildings as the same as the thin-walled rooms 

 described by Mr. Cushing. 



