50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 35 



No. 1$. Pueblo. — Two small sites exist on spurs jutting out into 

 the farm land of J. H. T. Cosper, 28J miles above the mouth of the 

 Blue and 15 below Blue post-office. There are about 10 house plans 

 on each site. Several other small pueblos exist in this vicinity, two 

 of them on the west side of the river opposite Bear creek and one 

 on the east bank. A small cave may be seen in the cliff one-eighth of 

 a mile below Gosper's house. 



No. 43. Sacrificial cave. — This cavern, which is locally called Mon- 

 tezuma's cave, is on Bear creek, near the Cosper ranch. Bear creek 

 emerges between two lofty, massive, basalt-capped buttes of strange 

 form that stand like monuments on the east side of the Blue. These 









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SHRtNE 



SHRINE OH l — 1 '■"' Q'TREE 



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Fig. 15. Plan of ruin on Lovelady ranch. Blue river. 



pinnacles are fitting portals to a canyon which, though short and 

 shut in by very steep walls, contains natural scenery worthy of the 

 highest admiration for its combined beauty and grandeur. 



The impressive character of this section of Blue river, which shows 

 on every hand evidences of tremendous plutonic activity, can be 

 scarcely paralleled in any other portion of the Gila-Salt region, and 

 perhaps the ancient Indians were influenced by these circumstances 

 to select it as a central sacred place. Besides, the canyon of Bear 

 creek was inaccessible except over a single trail, which could be and 

 actually was closed by a stone wall pierced by a narrow passage; it 

 had cool water and abundant shrubbery, and was in every respect an 

 ideal place of mystery. 



