. Bulletin. Ethnology. 122 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 82 The Avriter will not venture to suofrest the total number of caves in Cottonwood Canyon and its tributaries. He probably saw less than lialf. Most of them are at least partially screened by dense <rrowths of scrub oak; some are no more than protected nooks or shelters. Three lesser caverns lie on the east side of the valley, between the orchard and Riggs' ranch house. Besides those already described, additional caves surely await detection between the orchard and Water Canyon; yet others will be discovered in that lower porti
. Bulletin. Ethnology. 122 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 82 The Avriter will not venture to suofrest the total number of caves in Cottonwood Canyon and its tributaries. He probably saw less than lialf. Most of them are at least partially screened by dense <rrowths of scrub oak; some are no more than protected nooks or shelters. Three lesser caverns lie on the east side of the valley, between the orchard and Riggs' ranch house. Besides those already described, additional caves surely await detection between the orchard and Water Canyon; yet others will be discovered in that lower portion of Cottonwood not traversed by our reconnaissance. Riding or walking along the canyon bottom one gains only fleet- ing views of what is hidden by the trees on either side. To find the caves in which prehistoric man sought refuge one must force a path through tangled brush and brambles. To retrieve the story such caves hold for the student of ancient cultures one must be prepared for sloAv, tedious work and many disappointments. And the result- ing evidence will not always be clear-cut and positive. The largest cave, undoubtedly, in the whole Cottonwood drainage lies wathin a stone's throw from the Riggs house and now answers in lieu of a barn. I have no record of its dimen- sions, but during our visit it sheltered several tons of hay, two long mangers for horses, a corral with room enough for half a dozen milk cows, a calf pen. two wagons and a hay rake, a coop unused by a flock of restless chickens, and several hundred square feet of floor space not especially utilized at the time. Our bedroom was the haymow. That this spacious cave may have been among the first occupied by prehistoric immigrants to Cottonwood Canyon is more than likely. It would seem to embody all that could be desired by primi- tive folk not too i^ersistently harassed by enemy peoples. Ciame roamed the near-by mesas; firewood was close at hand; unfailing springs bubbled from green meadows just out in fron
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