outfit. The natural bridges spring from the high walls of White Canyon, through which part of the journey is taken, and are the result of remarkable and eccentric stream erosion. These bridges are understood to be among the largest examples of their kind, the greatest of the three having a height of 222 feet, being 65 feet thick at the top of the arch. The arch is 28 feet wide, the span is 261 feet, and the height of span 157 feet. The other two bridges are only a little smaller. All three are within a space of about 5 miles.

There are two routes by which this monument may be reached, one by way of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, detraining at Dolores, Colo., thence by team to Bluff, Utah, via McElmo, Colo., and Aneth, Utah. This necessitates travel over a fairly good road for a distance of approximately 80 miles before Bluff, Utah, is reached. The bridges are about 45 miles northwest of Bluff, thus making a total mileage to be traveled by horse of about 125 miles. The springs lie between Bluff and the bridges and can be visited without making any side trips. Most of this route may be traveled by auto-from Dolores, Colo., to Bluff, Utah. Pack animals and guides are necessary from Bluff to the monument.

The second route may be taken by leaving the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad at Thompsons Station, Utah, thence by stage or team to Moab and Monticello, Utah, a distance of about 95 miles; thence to the monument (bridges), a distance of approximately 50 or 60 miles. At Monticello tourists should outfit for the trip to the bridges. Competent guides, with pack horses, etc., including all necessary equipment may be hired there at reasonable figures. This second route is the better, as roads and trails are better than from any other point.

Tourists coming in through Colorado may, after reaching Bluff, Utah, go north via Grayson to Monticello, a distance of about 50 miles, and proceed to the bridges from the latter point. As stated, Monticello is the best outfitting point in that section of the country and the best guides are to be found there.

GRAN QUIVIRA NATIONAL MONUMENT.

The Gran Quivira has long been recognized as one of the most important of the earliest Spanish church or mission ruins in the Southwest. Near by are numerous Indian pueblo ruins, occupying an area many acres in extent, which also, with sufficient land to protect them, was reserved. The outside dimensions of the church ruin, which is in the form of a short-arm cross, are about 48 by 140 feet, and its walls are from 4 to 6 feet thick and from 12 to 20 feet high. Enough of the walls of this main building are present to show that originally it was at least three stories in height. The altitude at the ruins is about 6,800 feet and the ruins themselves are built upon an eminence visible for a great distance, commanding a vast expanse in all directions. These ruins are extensive and cover an area of probably 80 acres.

The Gran Quivira National Monument is located 13 miles outside of the exterior boundaries of the Manzano National Forest, and is remote from the headquarters of any officer of this department.

On September 12, 1910, the Interior Department requested the Department of Agriculture to assume temporary charge of patrol and protection of this monument, in view of the better facilities at the disposal of the Forest Service in the Manzano National Forest, inasmuch as the monument is remote from location of any field officer of the Interior Department; and this charge was accepted by the Department of Agriculture. A ranger of the Forest Service of that department visits the monument every few weeks.

The Business Men's Association of Mountainair, N. Mex., is very active in preservation of the monument and in prevention of van

Gran Quivira National Monument, N. Mex., embracing unsurveyed N. of N. sec. 3, T. 1 S., R. 8 E., New Mexico principal meridian; created November 1, 1909.

dalism, the site being visited (except in winter) by some member of the association at least once every two weeks.

On account of the altitude of the monument the region is subject to heavy snows between the middle of December and the latter part of March, so that visits to the monument during those months are not practicable. At other seasons the monument is best reached by stage or automobile by a good road from Mountainair, which is 24 miles distant on the Santa Fe Railway. Service of both classes may be obtained in Mountainair at any time, the parties operating auto

mobiles for benefit of tourist traffic having established a schedule, so that parties of four people can visit the monument for $12 for the round trip; and parties of three persons or less, $10 for the round trip. There are no accommodations at the ruins, but water can be found along the route. The automobile trip occupies one day.

Other points of exceeding interest to tourists are located in the immediate vicinity of Mountainair and the Gran Quivira National Monument, though not upon Federal reservations. These are the ruins of Montezuma, of a nature similar to the Gran Quivira and some 8 miles to the northwest thereof; the region of Abo and the Painted Rocks, having a rather interesting geological origin, showing geologic studies in highly colored formation for a thickness of some 4,000 feet; the ruins and ancient Mexican villages of Cuarai, Punta, and Manzano, as well as Tajique and Chilili. These points are approximately the same distance in a northerly direction from Mountainair and have ancient ruins of churches and community dwellings, and are some of the best examples extant of the original plaza villages of the native Mexican population, the villages dating back to the very earliest Spanish settlement of this country, and showing the native life as it has always been, without alteration.

SITKA NATIONAL MONUMENT, ALASKA.

This monument reservation, created March 23, 1910, under the act of June 8, 1906, embraces about 57 acres of comparatively level gravel plain formed by sea wash and by the deposits of Indian River, which flows through the tract, and is situated about a mile from the steamboat landing at Sitka. Upon this ground was located formerly the village of a warlike tribe-the Kik-Siti Indians—who, in 1802, massacred the Russians in old Sitka and thereafter fortified themselves and defended their village against the Russians under Baranoff and Lisianski. Here, also, are the graves of a Russian midshipman and six sailors who were killed in a decisive battle in 1804. A celebrated "witch tree" of the natives and 16 totem poles, several of which are examples of the best work of the savage genealogists of the Alaska clans, stand sentrylike along the beach.

The following is from a letter dated August 31, 1913, from Arthur G. Shoup, member of Alaskan Legislature, to J. W. Lewis, special agent, General Land Office, and now part of General Land Office files:

The great natural beauty of this park is extolled by every tourist who has ever visited Sitka, and it is partly on account of the exceptional opportunities that it affords for visitors from the States to see at once the timber growth, wild mosses and small verdure, and mountain streams of Alaska that our Government has so carefully guarded this reservation.

Referring briefly to the historical features of the Sitka National Monument, or Indian River Park, as it is called: It was here that the Russians under Baranoff in 1802 fought and won the "decisive battle of Alaska" against the Indians and effected their lodgment in southeastern Alaska that placated the then very active attempts of Great Britain to get possession of this part of the country. The Russian title thus acquired to the Alexander Archipelago was later transferred to the United States, and because of this battle ground being in the Sitka National Monument it is of great patriotic interest to every Alaskan.

The

Another interesting feature of this park is that it is the place where the natives used to conduct their weird trials and executions for witchcraft. tree where the victims were hanged still stands as an object of awe to the descendants of the old schamen and a subject of curiosity to the whites.

Estimate in amount $1,000 was submitted by the governor of Alaska (as part of estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917, for administration of that Territory) for protection and preservation of the Sitka National Monument, including repair of the ancient totems and other historic relics, and same has been included in the departmental estimates as forwarded to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Sitka National Monument, Alaska, embracing a tract of land which includes the mouth of Indian River and adjacent territory near Sitka; created March 23, 1910.

This natural bridge is located within the Navajo Indian Reservation, near the southern boundary of Utah, a few miles northwest from Navajo Mountain, a well-known peak and landmark, and spans a canyon and small stream which drains the northwestern slopes of this peak, and is of great scientific interest as an example of eccentric stream erosion. Among the known extraordinary natural bridges of the world, this bridge is unique in that it is not only a symmetrical arch below but presents also a curved surface above, thus presenting,

roughly, the character of the rainbow, for which it is named. Its height above the surface of the water is 309 feet and its span is 278 feet.

The existence of this natural wonder was first disclosed to William B. Douglass, an examiner of surveys of the General Land Office, on August 14, 1909, by a Piute Indian, called "Mike's boy," later "Jim," who was employed in connection with the survey of the natural bridges in White Canyon, Utah.

The best and easiest way in which to reach the Rainbow Bridge National Monument is to outfit at Monticello, thence travel to the Natural Bridges Monument, thence south and west down the Grand Gulch and the San Juan River. In order to reach Monticello tourists should leave the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad at Thompsons, Utah. This will necessitate travel by team and pack outfit of 220

Rainbow Bridge National Monument, Utah, embracing 160 acres of land in square form, the southeast corner of which bears from one hundred and seventy-ninth mile corner on the Utah and Arizona boundary N. 60° 25′ 13" W. 7 miles 67.87 chains distant; created May 30, 1910.

miles, approximately. While this may seem a very long trip, yet the scenery, cliff dwellings, prehistoric caves, vast canyons, etc., located between the Natural Bridges Monument and Rainbow Monument are worth the labor, time, and money expended.

LEWIS AND CLARK CAVERN NATIONAL MONUMENT.

The feature of this monument is a limestone cavern of great scientific interest, because of its length and because of the number of large vaulted chambers it contains. It is of historic interest, also, because it overlooks for a distance of more than 50 miles the trail of Lewis and Clark along the Jefferson River, named by them. The vaults of the cavern are magnificently decorated with stalactites and stalag