a prosperous Mormon settlement on the Piedras Verdes River, ten miles
from Casas Grandes and six miles from San Diego. It was only four
years old, but had already a number of well laid-out broad streets,
set on both sides with cottonwood trees, and all the houses were
surrounded by gardens. I explained to Mr. Thatcher that I desired
to make excavations in Cave Valley, and he courteously acceded to my
wishes, adding that I might take away anything of interest to science.

To reduce expenses, I paid off many of my Mexican men, who then
returned to their homes in Sonora, going over the sierra by the
trail we had made in coming east. A few months later several of them
returned, bringing others with them, and asked to work again in the
camp, which remained in San Diego for about nine months longer--long
enough for us to see quite a little trade in oranges, sugar, tobacco,
etc., developing between Sonora and Chihuahua by way of the road cut
out by us, and called, after me, _el camino del doctor_.

Excavations in Cave Valley were continued, and the burial caves gave
even better results than the cave-dwellings. They were located in
the eastern side of the cañon, which is rarely touched by the sun's
rays. With one exception the ceilings and sides of these caves were
much blackened by smoke. There was not the slightest trace of house
walls, and no other sign that the place had ever been inhabited;
therefore, a fire here could have had no other purpose than a religious
one, just as the Tarahumares to this day make a fire in the cave in
which they bury their dead. Indeed, at first sight there was nothing
in the cave to indicate that they had ever been utilised by man;
but below the dust we came upon a hard, concrete floor, and after
digging through this to a depth of three feet, we fortunately struck a
skull, and then came upon the body of a man. After this we disinterred