The valley of Oak creek, near Court-house butte, especially in the
vicinity of Schürmann's ranch, is dotted with fortifications, mounds
indicative of ruins, and like evidences of aboriginal occupancy. There
is undoubted proof that the former occupants of this plain constructed
elaborate irrigating ditches, and that the waters of Oak creek were
diverted from the stream and conducted over the adjoining valleys.
There are several fortified hills in this locality. One of the best of
these defensive works crowned a symmetrical mountain near Schürmann's
house. The top of this mesa is practically inaccessible from any but
the southern side, and was found to have a flat surface covered with
scattered cacti and scrub cedar, among which were walls of houses
nowhere rising more than two feet. The summit is perhaps 200 feet
above the valley, and the ground plan of the former habitations
extends over an area 100 feet in length, practically occupying the
whole of the summit. Although fragments of pottery are scarce, and
other evidences of long habitation difficult to find, the house walls
give every evidence of being extremely ancient, and most of the rooms
are filled with red soil out of which grow trees of considerable age.
Descending from this ruin-capped mesa, I noticed on the first terrace
the remains of a roundhouse, or lookout, in the middle of which a
cedar tree had taken root and was growing vigorously. Although the
walls of this structure do not rise above the level of the ground,
there is no doubt that they are the remains of either a lookout or
circular tower formerly situated at this point.
Many similar ruins are found throughout this vicinity, yet but little
more is known of them than that they antedate the advent of white men.
The majority of them were defensive works, built by the house
dwellers, and their frequency would indicate either considerable
population or long occupancy. Although many of those on the hilltops
differ somewhat from the habitations in the valleys, I think there is
little doubt that both were built by the same people.[24] There are
likewise many caves in this region, which seem to have been camping
places, for their walls are covered with soot and their floors strewn
with charred mescal, evidences, probably, of Apache occupancy. This
whole section of country was a stronghold of this ferocious tribe
within the last few decades, which may account for the modern
appearance of many of the evidences of aboriginal habitation.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY