Cope.] 4:<U [June 18, 



My attention was first called to the archseology of the region by 

 observing that the conic hills just mentioned, appeared to be in many 

 instances crowned with stone structures, which on examination proved 

 to be ruined buildings. These are round, or square, with rounded angles 

 and from fifteen to twenty-five feet in diameter, and composed of stones 

 of moderate size, which have been roughly dressed or built without 

 dressing into solid but not very closely fitting masonry. The walls re- 

 maining measure from ten feet high downwards. The floor inside is 

 basin-shaped, or like a shallow bird's-nest, and frequently supports a 

 growth of sage-brush {Artemisia) of the same size and character as that 

 growing on the plains below, and other shrubs. Sometimes they con- 

 tain piiion trees {Pinus cemhroides) of one and two feet in diameter, 

 which is the average and full size to which they grow on the adjacent 

 ridges and plateaus. Within and about them, fragments of pottery 

 abound, while flint implements are less common. As these are similar in 

 all the localities examined, they will be subsequently described. A build- 

 ing more or less exactly agreeing with this description, was found on the 

 summit of every hill of a conical form in the vicinity. Their form is 

 probably due to the shape of the hill, as they were differently built on 

 the level hog-backs. None of the circular buildings were found to be 

 divided, nor were any traces of such buildings observed on lower 

 grounds. 



The hog-back of Cretaceous No. 3 i^s, at the locality in question, only 

 one or two hundred yards distant from the eastern crest of the hills just 

 described, from which it is sei^arated stratigraphically by a bed of lignite. 

 At some points this stratum has been removed by atmospheric erosion, 

 leaving a ravine between the hog-backs. Near the middle of a section 

 of the hog-back of No. 3, a portion of this formation remains, form- 

 ing a narrow causeway, connecting it with the ridge just behind it. The 

 eastern face is a perpendicular wall of sandstone rock, of about three 

 hundred feet in elevation ; the western face is the true surface of the 

 stratum, which here dips about 45^' to 55° west by north. The top of 

 the ridge varies in width from four to eleven feet. 



In riding past the foot of the precipice, I observed what appeared to 

 be stone walls crowning its summit. Examination of the ridge disclosed 

 the fact that a village forming a single line of thirty-two houses extended 

 along its narrow crest, twenty -two of them being south of the causeway 

 and ten north of it. The most southern in situation is at some distance 

 from the southern extremity of the hog-back. I selected it as a position 

 from which to sketch the country to the south and west ; see figures 16 

 and 17 of the geological report. It is built on the western slope of the 

 rock ; a wall of twelve feet in height supporting it on that side, while 

 the narrow ledge forming the summit of the ridge is its back wall. It is 

 square, 3.355 metres on a side, and has a floor leveled with earth and 

 stones. Two stout cedar posts probably once supported the roof ; their 

 stumps remain well cracked and weathered. Bushes of sage, similar in 

 size to that of the surrounding plain, are growing within the walls. 'The 



