PRELIMINARY ACCOUNT OF AN EXPEDITION TO THE 

 CLIFF VILLAGES OF THE RED ROCK COUNTRY, AND 

 THE T US AY AN RUINS OF SIKYATKI AND AWATOBI, 

 ARIZONA, IN 1895. 1 



By J. Walter Fewkes. 



I left Prescott, Ariz., on June 1, 1895, making my way with all possi- 

 ble dispatch to Old Camp Verde, and from there to the cavate dwellings, 

 opposite Squaw Peak, 8 miles south of the post. After an examination 

 of these troglodytic habitations, occupying a week's time, I followed 

 the Rio Verde northward to one of its tributaries, Beaver Creek, exam- 

 ining Casa Montezuma, Montezuma Well, and neighboring ruins. 

 Crossing the divide to Oak Creek, another tributary of the Verde, near 

 Beaver Head, I camped near Schiirman's ranch, where I remained a 

 few days studying house ruins, fortifications, and aboriginal irrigation 

 canals in that neighborhood. 



Leaving all trodden roads at that point, my expedition penetrated 

 into the Red Rocks, where a few days less than three weeks were con- 

 sumed in exploration of that region. Later, I returned to Oak Creek, 

 made a detour around the Red Rocks, over the Mogollon escarpment 

 to Flagstaff, where I arrived on the last day of June. 



Two days later I reoutfitted at Holbrook, Ariz., and camped at 

 Awatobi on July 5. Three weeks were spent at that ruin, but owing to 

 the defection of my Indian workmen, I was reluctantly obliged to pre- 

 maturely suspend work there, and moved my camp to Sikyatki, where 

 great good fortune awaited me. On the 29th of August I was again at 

 Holbrook, where I disbanded my expedition at the close of the month, 



I was accompanied by two paid men throughout the summer; one, 

 a cook and driver; the other, a photographer. Two additional men 

 were employed for a few days to assist in excavations at the ruins of 

 the Red Rocks. 



My force of laborers at Awatobi numbered eight, and during the 

 excavations at Sikyatki fifteen, all Moki Indians, were employed. 

 While in my employ they lived at the expense of the expedition. 



•While the cost of this expedition was defrayed from the appropriation of the 

 Bureau of Ethnology of the Institution, this preliminary account seems to possess 

 such popular interest that it has been deemed desirable to give it early publication 

 here. 



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