256 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1185 



On several maps, as that accompanying a 

 report of another survey across the continent, 

 by William J. Palmer, published in 1867 and 

 1868, sites of ruins are indicated in south- 

 western Colorado. Printed references to Su- 

 rouaro are made by Jackson, Holmes, Prudden, 

 and other writers, but aside from the statement 

 of the last mentioned, that it is a cluster of 

 mounds indicating pueblos of the miit type, 

 we know little regarding their size and archi- 

 tectural peculiarities. The arrangement of 

 mounds in a cluster, like many others in the 

 cedar clearings, suggests the Mummy Lake 

 group on the Mesa Verde, and it is probable 

 that each member of the group if excavated 

 will be found to resemble Far View House. 



My attention was called to a ruin near Do- 

 lores by Mr. E. W. Williamson, of that city, 

 and not being able to visit the site I urged 

 him and others to collect more details, from 

 which my belief was confirmed that the ruin 

 mentioned by the Spanish fathers is the same 

 as ISTewberry's Surouaro. 



As one fruit of my inquiries for corrobo- 

 ratory evidences bearing on the identification 

 of the oldest mentioned ruin, I obtained unex- 

 pected information from Mr. J. W. Emerson, 

 a ranger on the Montezuma Forest Eeserve, 

 who is well acquainted with the region near 

 Dolores. In a letter received a short time ago 

 from Mr. Gordon Parker, supervisor of the re- 

 serve, who has always shown great interest in 

 my work at the Mesa Verde, there was en- 

 closed a copy of a report made by Mr. Emerson 

 to the Forest Service, on a remarkable ruin 

 near Dolores which, although not corroborat- 

 ing the above identification, greatly intensified 

 the desire of several years to visit the area in 

 which lies the supposed first ruin in Colorado 

 mentioned in writings by white men. Mr. 

 Emerson's report is accompanied by a rude 

 ground plan, indicating a ruin as unusual in 

 form as the mysterious Sun Temple of the 

 Mesa Verde Park, which it somewhat re- 

 sembles. 



It does not answer the description of Surou- 

 aro by Newberry, and its exceptional character 

 would not have impressed the Spanish fathers, 

 if they noticed it at all. In fact, judging from 



the " ground plan " furnished by Mr. Emer- 

 son, its form is remarkable even in a region 

 where many different forms exist. 



I will not occupy the reader's time with the 

 details of the building revealed in this report, 

 as they would be more appropriate in a formal 

 article and can be greatly augmented by ex- 

 cavations, but will point out that its form is 

 roughly semicircular, the plan showing con- 

 centric walls bounding rooms separated by 

 partitions, the outer straight wall on the 

 south side being like the south wall of Sun 

 Temple. The building measures 100 by 80 

 feet, exhibiting masonry characteristic of the 

 purest pueblo type. A complete excavation 

 promises to reveal data on the connection be- 

 tween the prehistoric towers of the southwest, 

 circular ruins, and the problematical Sun 

 Temple. 



It is evident that the southwestern corner of 

 Colorado, from which locality not a single 

 ruin had been recorded a century and a half 

 ago, contains some of the largest, best con- 

 structed, and most mysterious pueblo ruins 

 and cliff dwellings in the United States, and 

 offers unusual data bearing on the history of 

 aboriginal American culture. 



J. Walter Fewkes 



Bureau of American Ethnology, 

 Smithsonian Institution 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 



PRODUCTION OF NITRATES BY THE 

 GOVERNMENT 



Announcement is made by the War Depart- 

 ment of its preparations for the production of 

 nitrates in accordance with a report filed by the 

 Nitrate Supply Committee. This report is 

 given in part below. It is further stated that 

 for the present the location of the proposed ni- 

 trate plant is witliheld, but information con- 

 cerning its location will be given as soon as a 

 definite decision is reached. The work of sup- 

 plying the machinery and materials needed 

 for the plant has begun. 



The Nitrate Supply Committee, appointed 

 by the Secretary of War, was under authority 

 of a provision in the national defense act for 

 an investigation "to determine the best. 



