NOTICE OF THE PUEBLO PINTADO AND OF OTHER 

 RUINS IN THE CHACO CANON.* 



By Lieut. C. C. Morrison, Sixth United States Cavalry. 



Our route lay to the south, our objective point being the pueblo Pin- 

 tado,! an ancient ruin situated on the south side of the Chaco Creek; creek 

 simply because it flows water in the rainy season, but perfectly dry nine 

 months of the year. Its southern and western walls are still standing, 

 showing in its present state at least four stories; the outlines of one hundred 

 and three rooms are easily traced on the ground-floor. The walls on the 

 east, south, and west sides have been at right angles to each other; that on 

 the northern front facing the water has been an arc of an arch, with three 

 large towers built so as to defile all the ground between the building and 

 the stream. In the interior has been a court with several circular rooms, 

 like the present estufas, or assembly rooms, of the Pueblo Indians of New 

 Mexico. 



The whole structure is of stone and wood; no evidence of iron is found. 

 The masonry consists of thin plates of sandstone, dressed on the edges, 

 laid in a coarse mortar, now nearly as hard as the stone itself. Every 

 chink is filled. The usual stone is from half inch to an inch thick, with 

 occasional layers of stone 2 or 3 inches thick occurring regularly every 

 15 to 18 inches interval, evidently to strengthen the masonry. The exterior 



* Abstract from report for the field-season of 1875. Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers 

 for 187G, Appendix J J. 



t Lieutenant Morrison states that this ruin has been referred to in former Annual Reports of the 

 Survey as the pueblo Bonito. He probably refers to Dr. Loew's notice of the Chaco ruin, concerning 

 -which see p. 341.— F. W. P. 



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