September 14, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



255 



or perhaps methods of an entirely new sort 

 will be needed. At all events, more attention 

 must be given to the steps involved in proving 

 the causal relation of definite microorganisms 

 to definite biological activities in the soil in 

 order to avoid making loose statements in re- 

 gard to the functions of these organisms, such 

 as have often been made in the past. 



H. Joel Conn 

 N. Y. Ageicdltdral Experiment Station, 

 Geneva, N. Y., 

 July 25, 1917 



THE FIRST PUEBLO RUIN IN COLO- 

 RADO MENTIONED IN SPANISH 

 DOCUMENTS 



There is in the Congressional Library, 

 among the documents collected by Peter Force, 

 a manuscript diary of early exploration in 

 ISTew ITexico, Colorado, and Utah, dated 1776, 

 written by two Catholic priests. Father Sil- 

 vester Velez Escalante and Father Francisco 

 Atanacio Dominguez. This diary is valuable 

 to students of archeology, as it contains the 

 first reference to a prehistoric ruin in the con- 

 fines of the present state of Colorado, although 

 the mention is too brief for positive identifi- 

 cation of the ruin.2 While the context indi- 

 cates its approximate site, there are at this 

 place at least two large ruins, either of which 

 might be that referred to. I have no doubt 

 which one of these two ruins was indicated 

 by these early explorers, but my interest 

 in this ruin is both archeological and histor- 

 ical. Our knowledge of the structure of these 

 ruins is at the present day almost as imperfect 

 as it was a century and a half ago. 



The route followed by the writers of the 

 diarj' was possibly an Indian pathway, and is 

 now called the old Spanish Trail. After enter- 

 ing Colorado it ran from near the present 

 site of Mancos to the Dolores. On the four- 



1 Published by permission of the Secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. 



- Diario y Dereotero de las neuvas descubri- 

 mientos de tierras a los r'bos N.N.OE.OE. del 

 Nuevo Mexico per los R.R.P.P.Fr. Silvester Valez 

 Escalante, Pr. Prancisco Atanacio Dominguez, 

 1776. (Vide Sen. Ex. Doe. 33d Congress, N'o. 78, 

 pt. 3, pp. 119-127.) 



teenth day from Santa Fe, we find the follow- 

 ing entry : " En la vanda austral del Vio [Eio] 

 sobre un alto, huvo antiquam (te) una Pobla- 

 cion pequena, de la misma forma q" las de los 

 Indies el Nuevo Mexico, segun manifieran las 

 Ruinas q" de invento registramos." 



By tracing the trip day by day, up to that 

 time, it appears that the ruin referred to by 

 tliese early fathers was situated somewhere 

 near the bend of the Dolores Eiver, or not far 

 from the present town of Dolores, Colorado. 

 The above quotation indicates that the ruin 

 was a small settlement, and situated on a hill, 

 on the south side of the river or trail, but it 

 did not differ greatly from the ruined settle- 

 ments of the Indians of New Mexico with 

 which the writers were familiar, and had 

 already described. 



A century later, 1876, we find a published 

 reference to a ruin near the bend of the Do- 

 lores, which suggests the above mentioned. 

 An exploring exjjedition of the engineer de- 

 partment of the United States Army from 

 Santa Fe, ISTew Mexico, to the junction of the 

 Grand and Green Rivers of the Great Colo- 

 rado of the west, under command of Capt. 

 J. M. Macomb, U. S. A., in 1859, followed the 

 old Spanish Trail. Professor J. S. Newberry, 

 of the expedition, in a geological report de- 

 scribed a ruin not many miles from the bend 

 of the Dolores : " Surouaro is the name of a 

 ruined town which must have contained a pop- 

 ulation of several thousands [_sic2. The same 

 is said to be of Indian (Utah) origin, and to 

 signify desolation, and certainly no better 

 could have been selected. . . . The houses are, 

 many of them, large, and all built of stone, 

 hammer-dressed on the exposed faces. Frag- 

 ments of pottery are exceedingly common, 

 though, like the buildings, showing great age. 

 The remains of metates (corn mills) are 

 abundant about the ruins. The ruins of sev- 

 eral large reservoirs^ built of masonry may be 

 seen at Surouaro, and there are traces of 

 acequias which led to them through which 

 water was brought perhaps from a great 

 distance." 



3 Probably kivas, but impossible to identify with- 

 out excavations. J. W. P. 



