370 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



very evident that the houses were all of adobe, the mound-like charac- 

 ter of the remains justifying that belief. 



The "Mesa Verde" extends north and south about twenty, and east 

 and west about forty miles. It is of a grayish-yellow Cretaceous sand- 

 stone, with a very nearly horizontal bedding, so that the escarpment is 

 about equal upon all sides, ranging from 600 to 1,000 feet in height. 

 The capping or upper strata are generally firmly and solidly bedded, 

 retaining a perpendicular face of about 200 feet, with a succession of 

 benches below, connected by the steep slopes of the talus. Side-canons 

 penetrate the mesa, and ramify it in every direction, always presenting 

 a perpendicular face, so that it is only at very rare intervals that the 

 top can be reached ; but, once up there, we find excellent grazing, and 

 thick groves of cedar and piiion-pine. From the bottom of the canon 

 up, the slopes of the escarpment are thickly covered with groves of cedar 

 and pinon, gnarled and dwarfed, but sucking up a vigorous livelihood 

 from the cracks and crevices of the barren declivities. Below, the Cot- 

 tonwood and willow grow luxuriantly beside the streams, while dense 

 growths of a reedy grass tower above our heads as we ride through it. 

 Throughout its entire length, the canon preserves an average width of 

 about 200 yards, sometimes much wider and again narrower. The 

 stream, meandering from side to side, frequently interrupted by beaver- 

 dams, cuts a deep channel in the friable earth which characterizes all 

 the valley-lands of this region, while the banks upon either one side or 

 the other are perpendicular, so that it is an extremely troublesome mat- 

 ter to cross. Added to the difficulties of getting in and out of the 

 stream is a thick -matted jungle of undergrowth, tall, reedy grass, wil- 

 lows, and thorny bushes, all interlaced and entwined by tough and wiry 

 grape-vines bordering its banks upon either one side or the other. The 

 current is sluggish, and the water tinged with a milky translucency, 

 gathered from the soil. 



Entering the canon at its upper end, we strike into the old Indian 

 trail whish comes over from the head of the Bio Dolores, and, passing 

 down this canon a short distance, turns off to the left and goes over to 

 the La Plata. About a hundred Indians had just passed over it with 

 their horses and goats, so that it was in most excellent traveling order, 

 although winding in and out, and over and among great blocks of sand- 

 stone and other debris from above ; the encroaching stream, too, fre- 

 quently forcing the narrow pathway high up on the slopes of the pro- 

 jecting spurs, the treacherous character of the banks of the stream for- 

 bidding the crossing and recrossing usual in-such cases. Grouped along 

 in clusters, and singly, were indications of former habitations, very 

 nearly obliterated, and consisting mostly, in the first four or five miles, 

 of the same mound-like forms noticed above, and accompanied always 

 by the scattered, broken pottery. Among them we found one building 

 of squared and carefully-laid sandstone ; one face only exposed, of three 

 or four courses, above the mass of debris, which covered everything. 

 This building lay within a few yards of the banks of the stream ; was 

 apparently about 10 feet by 8, the usual size, as near as we could deter- 

 mine, of nearly all the separate rooms or houses in the larger blocks, 

 none larger, and many not more than 5 feet square. The stones ex- 

 posed are each about 7 by 12 inches square and 4 inches thick, those in 

 their original position retaining correct angles, but, when thrown down, 

 worn away, and rounded by attrition to shapeless bowlders. Being so 

 exposed to the elements, the cementing material which bound the ma- 

 sonry together is entirely worn away upon the surface ; but, upon pull- 

 ing away a few courses, it was found binding the rocks together quite 



