420 KEPORT UNITED 8TATES {3iE0L0GICAL SURVEY. 



ation cau hardly clothe with reality, must have felt a sense of security 

 that eveu the incursions of their barbarian fees could hardly have dis- 

 turbed. 



Soon after leaving the Casa del Eco, as we named the last ruins, our 

 trail bore away to the right upon the plateaus, which now began to 

 encroach too closely upon the river to permit us to follow its course, and 

 "we came to a second line of bluffs which were gradually also surmounted. 

 The evidences of former occupation continue as numerous as ever, find- 

 ing shape principally in cave-houses, all too near alike to be described 

 without repetition. A novel feature at one point is a smooth bluff of 

 cream-colored sandstone about 150 feet high, with hardly a seam on its 

 surface, over which has been cut a series of steps. Upon the pile of 

 debris at the left are the ruins of some structure that had been built just 

 beneath the line of foot-steps, and was evidently placed there as an ap- 

 proach to them, as they only came down to within about 12 feet of the 

 bottom. A large slab of rock lying against the bluff on the right was 

 separated from it about 3 feet at the base, making a long, narrow pas- 

 sage-way, that could also be reached through a small opening between 

 the rocks on the right ; from within this place it was not difficult to 

 reach a round bowlder lodged above, from which starts another line of 

 steps. The surface of the rock has been worn away to such an ex- 

 tent as to nearly obliterate some of the holes, rendering ascent, at the 

 present time, impossible ; and as the bluff' was inaccessible for two or 

 three miles upon either side, we did not reach the top nor see from below 

 any evidences of building. 



Our trail over the bare plateau finally brought us down to the San Juan 

 again just at its junction with Epsom Creek and but a short distance 

 above the mouth of the Kio De Chelly, where we found a pleasant park- 

 like valley, about a mile in length, bordered by groves of cottonwood 

 and willows. The beds of Epsom Creek and the Eio De Chelly were 

 both perfectly dry, like all the tributaries of the San Juan west of the 

 Mancos, although in the latter were indications of occasional flooding, 

 some of the deeper pockets retaining shallow i^ools of a very red muddy 

 water. Upon every side — except where the broad valley of Epsom 

 Creek opened northwardly, with the deep blue summits of the Sierra 

 Abajo appearing in the vista — steep rugged bluffs o^ bare red rock are 

 seen, weathering occasionally into sharp needle-like pinnacles, discerni- 

 ble for long distances in every direction. The San Juan emerges from 

 a considerable caSon at the head of this little valley only to sink into a 

 still greater one below. The low stage of water encourages us to ex- 

 plore this lower caiion for a short distance, which we could readily do 

 upon our riding-animals, the indefatigable little Mexico, our pack-inule, 

 carrying the photographic instruments. We penetrated its exceedingly 

 tortuous course about 10 miles, meeting no serious obstruction, and it is 

 likely could have gone much farther. The walls rise abruptly, generally 

 perpendicularly, upon either side, from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in height, but 

 always with a bench covered with a rough talus at the bottom border- 

 ing the stream. Former floods and the drifting sands from the plateau 

 above have filled up the interstices in the rocky mass, smoothing the 

 way over them very considerably. 



RUINS OF THE RIO DE CHELLY. 



In the walls of the caiion of the Chelly, where it opens into the park, 

 are several great circular caves, averaging 100 feet in diameter, in 

 which are the remains of walls and houses, but all very much dilapi- 



