In centuries past the San Francisco Plateau was the home of
pueblo-building tribes, and the ruins of their habitations are widely
scattered over this elevated region. Thousands of little dwellings are
found, usually built of blocks of basalt. In some cases they were
clustered in little towns, and three of these deserve further mention.

A few miles south of San Francisco Peak there is an intermittent stream
known as Walnut Creek. This stream runs in a deep gorge 600 to 800 feet
below the general surface. The stream has cut its way through the
limestone and through series of sandstones, and bold walls of rock are
presented on either side. In some places the softer sandstones lying
between the harder limestones and sandstones have yielded to weathering
agencies, so that there are caves running along the face of the wall,
sometimes for hundreds or thousands of feet, but not very deep. These
natural shelves in the rock were utilized by an ancient tribe of Indians
for their homes. They built stairways to the waters below and to the
hunting grounds above, and lived in the caves. They walled the fronts of
the caves with rock, which they covered with plaster, and divided them
into compartments or rooms; and now many hundreds of these dwellings are
found. Such is the cliff village of Walnut Canyon. In the ruins of these
cliff houses mortars and pestles are found in great profusion, and when
first discovered many articles of pottery were found, and still many
potsherds are seen. The people were very skillful in the manufacture of
stone implements, especially spears, knives, and arrows.

East of San Francisco Peak there is another low volcanic cone, composed
of ashes which have been slightly cemented by the processes of time, but
which can be worked with great ease. On this cone another tribe of
Indians made its village, and for the purpose they sunk shafts into the