This fertile and well watered valley, a
veritable garden spot in the Tusayan deserts, must have been one of the
first points occupied. Some small cliff-dwellings, single rooms in
niches of a neighboring canyon wall, attest the earlier use of the
valley for agricultural purposes, although it is doubtful whether these
rude shelters date back of the Spanish invasion of the province.
A close scrutiny of the many favorable sites in this vicinity would
probably reveal the sand-encumbered remains of some more important
settlement than any of those now known.
RUINS ON THE ORAIBI WASH.
The wagon road from Keam's Canyon to Tuba City crosses the Oraibi wash
at a point about 7 miles above the village of Oraibi. As it enters a
branch canyon on the west side of the wash it is flanked on each side by
rocky mesas and broken ledges. On the left or west side a bold
promontory, extending southward, is quite a conspicuous feature of the
landscape. The entire flat mesa summit, and much of the slope of a rocky
butte that rises from it, are covered with the remains of a small
pueblo, as shown on the plan, Fig. 5. All of this knoll except its
eastern side is lightly covered with scattered d?bris. On the west and
north sides there are many large masses of broken rock distributed over
the slope. There is no standing wall visible from below, but on closer
approach several interesting specimens of masonry are seen. On the north
side, near the west end, there is a fragment of curved wall which
follows the margin of the rock on which it is built.
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