Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . arked here and there by charcos, or stagnant pools of water. Lackinga precise descriptive term for these drainages the Spanish applied the wordarroyo, which in their native land referred, and still does, to a small streamof running water. It is obvious that such application of arroyo was not entirelycorrect and did not accurately describe the ephemeral streams of the area atthe time of Spanish settlement. By the end of the last century and the begin-ning of the present these same arroyos had changed their regimes and had be-come steep-sided, sandy-bottom
Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . arked here and there by charcos, or stagnant pools of water. Lackinga precise descriptive term for these drainages the Spanish applied the wordarroyo, which in their native land referred, and still does, to a small streamof running water. It is obvious that such application of arroyo was not entirelycorrect and did not accurately describe the ephemeral streams of the area atthe time of Spanish settlement. By the end of the last century and the begin-ning of the present these same arroyos had changed their regimes and had be-come steep-sided, sandy-bottomed, intermittent gullies so that their present aspectis still further removed from the original meaning of arroyo than it was dur-ing Spanish days. Despite its etymological inappropriateness the term arroyois universally retained throughout the Southwest to designate a wet-weatherstream and its vertically walled channel. ° Endee is obviously a phonetic rendition of an old cattle brand ND. SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 121. Fig. I.—Index map of San Jon site and environs. Letters refer to localitiesmentioned in text. NO. I GEOLOGY OF THE SAN JON SITE—JUDSON 7 the Canadian River to the north. South of the town the plain risesgently over a distance of 9 miles until it butts abruptly against abold escarpment some 700 feet high forming the northern boundaryof the Southern High Plains (pi. 2, ). The differences in thetopography, the vegetation, and the economy of the inhabitants ofthe High Plains and the valley are as marked as the escarpment on the brink of this escarpment the site occupies a positionat once picturesque and strategic to the two areas, the relatively lowvalley plains to the north and the higher Staked Plains to the south. CLIMATE This section of eastern New Mexico has a continental, semiaridclimate characterized by dry winters, mid- and late-summer rainfallmaxima, a marked annual variation of precipitation, a high percentageof clea
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