REPORT ON THE REMAINS OF POPULATION 

 OBSERVED IN NORTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO.* 



By Pkop. E. D. Cope, Palaeontologist of Expedition o/1874. 



While encamped on the Gallinas Creek, at the point where it issues 

 from the Sierra Madre, I occupied intervals of time in the examination of the 

 traces left by the former inhabitants of this portion of New Mexico. Had 

 time permitted, the exploration of these remains might have been much 

 extended, but under the circumstances a mere beginning was made. The 

 observations show that the country of the Gallinas and the Eocene Plateau 

 to the west of it were once occupied by a numerous population. Now 

 there are no human residents in the region, and it is only traversed by bands 

 of the Apache, Navajo, and Ute tribes of Indians. The indications of this 

 ancient population consist of ruined buildings, pottery, flint implements, 

 and human bones. Broken vessels of baked clay are frequently found, and 

 the fragments occur in all kinds of situations throughout the country. 

 They are usually most easily discovered on the slopes of the hills and hog- 

 backs of Cretaceous and Tertiary age, and, where abundant, generally lead 

 to a ruined building standing on the elevation above. 



The hog-back ridges, described in geological report (Appendix G 1), 

 extend in a general north and south direction on the western' side of the 

 Sierra Madre, south of Tierra Amarilla. They vary from two to four in 

 number, and stand at distances of from half a mile to three miles from the 

 mountain range. The Gallinas Creek flows between two of them near their 

 southern extremities for perhaps fifteen miles. At one point the hog-backs 



"From Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1875, Appendix LL. 



351 



