“There is in the Congressional Library, among the documents collected by Peter Force, a manuscript diary of early exploration in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, dated 1776, written by two Catholic priests, Father Silvester Velez Escalante and Father Francisco Atanacio Dominguez. This diary is valuable to students of archeology, as it contains the first reference to a prehistoric ruin in the confines of the present State of Colorado, although the mention is too brief for positive identification of the ruin.[34] While the context indicates its approximate site, there are at this place at least two large ruins, either of which might be that referred to. I have no doubt which one of these two ruins was indicated by these early explorers, but my interest in this ruin is both archeological and historical. Our knowledge of the structure of these ruins is at the present day almost as imperfect as it was a century and a half ago. “The route followed by the writers of the diary was possibly an Indian pathway, and is now called the Old Spanish Trail. After entering Colorado it ran from near the present site of Mancos to the Dolores. On the fourteenth day from Santa Fe, we find the following entry: ‘En la vanda austral del Vio [Rio] sobre un alto, huvo anti-quam (te) una Poblacion pequeña, de la misma forma qᵉ las de los Indios el Nuevo Mexico, segun manifieran las Ruinas qᵉ de invento registramos.’ “By tracing the trip day by day, up to that time, it appears that the ruin referred to by these early fathers was situated somewhere near the bend of the Dolores River, or not far from the present town Dolores, Colo. The above quotation indicates that the ruin was a small settlement, and situated on a hill, on the south side of the river or trail, but it did not differ greatly from the ruined settlements of the Indians of New Mexico with which the writers were familiar, and had already described.” [33] Fewkes, J. W., The First Pueblo Ruin in Colorado Mentioned in Spanish Documents. Science, vol. xlvi, Sept. 14, 1917. [34] Diario y Dereotero de las nuevas descubrimientos de tierras a los r’bos N. N. OE. OE. del Nuevo Mexico por los R. R. P. P. Fr. Silvester Velez Escalante, Fr. Francisco Atanacio Dominguez, 1776. (Vide Sen. Ex. Doc. 33d Congress, No. 78, pt. 3, pp. 119-127.) CLIFF-DWELLINGS There are numerous cliff-houses in this district, but while, as a rule, they are much smaller than the magnificent examples in the Mesa Verde, they are built on the same architectural lines as their more pretentious relatives. Both large and small have circular subterranean kivas, similarly constructed to those of Spruce-tree House, and have mural pilasters (to support a vaulted roof, now destroyed), ventilators, and deflectors.