310 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol VII. No. 166. 



numerous circular depressions. These had 

 been made with rock fragments, and were 

 from two to three feet in diameter and 

 from twelve to sixteen inches in depth. 

 "Within these depressions were numerous 

 roughly formed implements. These pits 

 were beyond question collecting places for 

 the quarrymen, and the pieces left behind 

 were rejected on account of some defect. 

 Near the old quarry face some enthasiastic 

 prospector has in recent years sunk a shaft, 

 probably in search of gold. This shaft, 

 although partly caved, was nearly twenty 

 feet deep. On one side rock in place could 

 be seen, but the shaft had been sunk in the 

 debris. 



The implements found about the quarries 

 were unusually large and rudely made. No 

 finely finished implements of any kind were 

 found. The hammers and mauls were all 

 made from boulders of quartz and granite 

 that had been brought from the neighbor- 

 ing mountains, some twenty miles away. 

 With the exception of the mauls and ham- 

 mers, all of the implements found were made 

 of quartzite. Spear points, scrapers, axes 

 and anvils were all of the implements found 

 that have been classified. The axes are 

 exceptionally rude, and according to Dr. 

 Wilson, of the Smithsonian, are the first re- 

 ported from the Rocky Mountains. Some 

 three hundred implements were collected. 

 For some distance about the quarries the 

 ground was strewn with chips and frag- 

 ments of quartzite, but in no instance were 

 any heaps of chips and refuse, as are usu- 

 ally seen where the implement maker has 

 labored. 



There were no signs of any habitation 

 except the tepee rings, which were scat- 

 tered all around the quarries, in valley 

 and on hill alike. No burial places were 

 found. On the northeast slope, leading from 

 the largest quarry, the workman left a very 

 peculiar figure. It faces the east, and has 

 been made by arranging fragments of rock 



along the ground. There were circular 

 piles of stone at either end of the figure. 

 (See Fig. 2.) 



The most striking points as- ./;>;.« 



sociated with these quarries are ,.■-'•-..> 

 as follows : The vast amount of '■^r*' 

 work done, the absence of chip i' • 

 heaps, the rude nature of the ;■ : 

 implements and their great : • 

 size. All estimation of the ton- i • 



nage of rock moved must be '•••,;■-' 



left for some future investiga- 0« 



tion. Suffice it to say that it fiq. 2. — ««, 

 will be estimated by the hun- s'clr 

 dreds of thousands, if not by fee™ 

 millions, of tons. The ab- 

 sence of chip heaps leads one to suppose 

 that the quarrymen carried the quartz- 

 ite away to manufacture. Which, if true, 

 would signify that these quarries were neu- 

 tral ground where the aborigines from all 

 quarters worked for the implement stone, 

 and that they took it to their respective 

 haunts to work up. The unusual positions 

 of many of the tepee rings also strengthens 

 this supposition. Quartzite implements 

 made from quartzite resembling that quar- 

 ried from this region are very common on 

 the plains and in the mountains. The 

 rudeness of the implements can not be ex- 

 plained satisfactorily at this time. It 

 might have been due to the age in which 

 they were made, or it may be possible that 

 only rejected implements have been found. 

 The size is, no doubt, due to the nature of 

 the stone. It would make a large imple- 

 ment, but possibly not a small one. 



The quarrymen must have been the ab- 

 origines, but unlike the Indians of modern 

 times, they must have been laborers, and 

 have worked for centuries to have accom- 

 plished so much, with the very crude tools 

 that they used. Who they were will never 

 be known. The trails over which they 

 traveled are entirely obliterated, and most 

 of the quarries are covered with drift- 



