THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 97 
Taylor. is held in great veneration by the Pueblo Indians, who call 
it the ‘mother of the rain.’ In the spring a party of them usually 
goes to its top for sacred dances to invoke the rain god for a plentiful 
harvest. 
A short distance south of the track near milepost 77 is the small 
pueblo of Acomita, which belongs to the Acoma Indians and serves 
as a home for about 200 of them during the summer when they are 
cultivating the fields in the bottom of the valley. There is a United 
States Indian school here and a good road southward to Acoma. 
Mount Taylor is again visible from Alaska siding and west from 
that place for a mile or two. The platform from which it rises is coy- 
ered by a sheet of black lava (basalt) capping cliffs 
aiake. and long slopes of the later Cretaceous sandstones. 
Elevation 6,041 feet. Far to the south rise extensive high plateaus occupy- 
miles. , : 
ing the region west of Acoma. 
Halfway between mileposts 80 and 81, the lava sheet in the bottom 
of the valley is plainly visible. The lava flowed out of vents in the 
Mt. Taylor 
Rio San Jose 
merrs Ot FEF So ce es 
<2 Volcanic neck 
Mex. a; 8, ¢, 2 
FicurE 20.—Sketch section showing relations of lava sheets near Mount Taylor, N 
i surface of plateau before 
Four successive lava flows later than flow in Mount Taylor; e-, former 
valley of San Jose River was excavated. 
region to the west at a time much later than that of the eruption of 
the lava sheet which caps the mesa that extends along the north side 
of the valley from Laguna westward. At milepost 81 there is an 
exceptionally good view of Mount Taylor. 
McCartys is a trading center for ranches and the Indians in the San 
Jose Valley and adjoining region. At Acoma siding 
eters. (see sheet 15, p. 104), 24 miles west of McCartys, 
punts epenaat there is an Indian village of moderate size on the 
ee south side of the valley, used as a summer home by 
some of the Acoma Indians. ie 
In the bottom of the valley, a short distance beyond Acoma siding, 
is the termination of a lava flow that is evidently more recent than 
the lava that occupies the valley farther east. The railway extends 
along its northern margin for several miles, affording excellent views 
of the rocks which present features characteristic of recent flows 
from some of the great volcanoes in various parts of the earth. The 
sheet is narrow, for the sandstone walls of the canyon are not far apart 
in thisregion. Thesurface of the lava is exceedingly rough, parts of it 
