BOLL. 30] 



SPRING FROG SPRUCE-TREE HOUSE 



627 



and Montana n. of the North Platte as 

 far w. aa Bighorn mts. and abandoning 

 the road to the mines, with Ft Phil. 

 Kearny, where the massacre of Lieut. 

 Col. William J. Fetterman's command 

 had occurred on Dec. 21, 1866, and Ft 



SPOTTED TAIL 



Reno near the head of Powder r. When 

 gold was discovered in the Black hills, 

 Spotted Tail and Red Cloud, who were 

 recognized as the chiefs at the respective 

 agencies called by their names, arranged 

 to go to \Vashington to negotiate a sale of 

 the mineral rights; and thoroughly to in- 

 form himself of the value of the minerals. 

 Spotted Tail visited the hills, hung around 

 the camps of the prospectors, listened to 

 their talk, and conceived the idea there- 

 from that the mines were immensely 

 valuable. Under the treaty of 1868 the 

 chiefs could not make treaties for sale of 

 lands, hence commissioners were sent to 

 the Indians, finding that Spotted Tail had 

 raised the Indian expectations so high 

 that sixty million dollars were demanded 

 for the concession. The Government 

 could not agree to this, hence no treaty 

 was made that year, and miners were 

 permitted by the troops to pass into the 

 Black hills without hindrance. Then 

 all the young men on the reservations 

 joined the hostiles. Red Cloud was sus- 

 pected of disloyalty, and in the course of 

 the campaign that followed the Custer 

 disaster in 1876, Spotted Tail was ap- 

 pointed chief of all the Indians at both 

 agencies, and negotiated the settlement 

 by which his nephew. Crazy Horse, came 



in from Powder r. and surrendered in the 

 spring of 1877. Spotted Tail was killed 

 near Rosebud agency, S. Dak., Aug. 5, 

 1881, by a tribesman named Crow Dog. 

 The facts relating to the killing are in 

 dispute, but there is not much question 

 that Spotted Tail, at the time, was leading 

 a hostile party against Crow Dog, who 

 deemed his life in peril and shot in self- 

 defense. (F. H. D. R. ) 



Spring Frog. See Toonntuh. 



Spring Garden Town. A former town in 

 the Seminole country, settled by Yuchi 

 under chief Billy; situated above L. 

 George, Fla. — Bell in Morse, Rep. to Sec. 

 War, 308, 1822. 



Spring Place. A Cherokee mission sta- 

 tion established by the Moravians Steiner 

 and Byhan, in 1801, in ]Murray co., n. w. 

 Ga., and continued in ojieration until the 

 extension of the Georgia laws over the 

 Cherokee territory in 183-4. (.i. m. ) 



Spruce -tree House. A ruined cliff- 

 dwelling, situated in the Mesa Yerde 

 National Park, about 25 m. from Mancos, 

 Colo. Next to Cliff Palace, this ruin is 

 the largest cliff-house in Colorado. It 

 occupies a great natural cave in the e. 

 wall of Spruce-tree canyon, a branch of 

 Navaho canyon, and receives its name 

 from a large spruce tree that formerly 

 stood near by. The curved front wall of 

 the structure measures 218 ft long; the 

 breadth of the ruin is 89 ft, and its longest 

 axis is about n. and s. This ruin has 114 

 secular rooms, 8 subterranean kivas, and a 

 roofless kiva sometimes called a warriors' 

 room. Many of the dwelling chambers 

 are 3 stories high, several filling the inter- 

 val from the floor to the roof of the cave. 

 It is estimated that the population of 

 Spruce-tree House was 350. The period 

 of occupancy and the causes of depopula- 

 tion are unknown, but there is no doubt 

 that the buildings are prehistoric. 



The kivas of Spruce-tree House as a 

 rule are ananged at equal distances along 

 the front of the cave; they average about 

 15 ft in diameter. They are circular or 

 oval in form, and subterranean in posi- 

 tion, their tops being level with the adjoin- 

 ing plazas. Entrance to kivas was gained 

 probably by means of notched logs or 

 ladders through hatchways in the roofs. 

 There were also subterranean passageways 

 communicating with neighboring plazas 

 or rooms. Each kiva has a ventilator by 

 which fresh air is introduced and dis- 

 tributed at the floor level, a central fire- 

 place, and a small symbolic opening, or 

 sipapu, in the floor, representing the en- 

 trance into the underworld. The roof 

 is elaborately constructed in vaulted form, 

 its beams being placed crosswise, the 

 outer ones resting on six vertical pilasters, 

 or pedestals, supported by a banquette 

 surrounding the room and raised about 



