42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. .35 



1. EAGLE CREEK 



Eagle creek is a small stream flowing southward from the Prieto 

 plateau and entering the San Francisco where the latter unites with 

 the Gila. Its valley is very narrow, widening in only a few places. 

 Owing to the character of the rock through which it flows there are 

 numerous caves in its canyon walls. Most of these caves have not 

 been inhabited, but some of them show considerable deposits of house 

 refuse. 



At the Double Circle ranch are reported a number of rectangular 

 stone pueblos which have not been explored. 



No. 25. ('arc. — Twenty miles northwest of Clifton, Ariz., and 

 one-half mile up a small lateral branch of Eagle creek is a cave that 

 has been inhabited. Explorations conducted here by D. B. Horton, 

 of Detroit, Mich., yielded sandals, cloth, feather cord, basketry, and 

 pottery, and the specimens were sent to the National Museum by the 

 collector. From time to time evidences of the use of some of the 

 Eagle Creek caves by the Apaches have come to light. A number of 

 the characteristic pitched water bottles (tos) used by this tribe have 

 been procured from the caves, and several specimens are in the posses- 

 sion of Hon. Mark J. Egan, of Clifton. The extremely secluded and 

 hardly accessible valley of Eagle creek would render it an ideal 

 hiding place. So far as known, with the exception of Mr. Horton's 

 exploration of a few caves, no examination of the sites has been made. 



2. BLUE RIVER 



Parallel with the Eagle, the Blue river runs in its narrow canyon, 

 joining the San Francisco about 1G miles northeast of Clifton. One 

 branch of the upper Blue runs southeast from White mountain, and 

 this branch is perhaps the true head, as it always carries water. 

 The north head of the Blue is found in the Mesa Prieta, about 7 

 miles southwest of Luna, a town on the San Francisco river. The 

 ruins along the Blue are located on terraces above the stream, near 

 lands suitable for cultivation ; they are rectangular stone pueblos, 

 and are generally accompanied with square kivas. Numerous small 

 pueblos are also found on the creeks flowing into the Blue, but there 

 are few caves, because the rock is not of the character to permit this 

 kind of erosion. 



There is abundant water in this valley, and the climate is equable, 

 so that agriculture could have been carried on by the Indians with 

 the greatest returns. Although the valuable farming land was limited 

 the pueblos are, in the main, large and from various evidences were 

 long inhabited. 



From Clifton, Ariz., along the San Francisco to a short distance 

 above the mouth of the Blue there are a few ruins of the rectangular 

 pueblo type, which are noted under nos. 2G-32 in the following pages. 



