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Casa Grande Ruin - Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the - Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1891-92, - Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896, pages 289-318 by Cosmos Mindeleff
page 30 of 44 (68%)
floor level below that previously determined was found, making an
underground story or cellar. This would but slightly modify the
foregoing conclusion, as the additional débris would raise the walls
less than a foot, and in the calculation no account was taken of
material removed from the surface of the walls.

In support of the hypothesis that the second roof level of the northern
room was the top roof, it may be stated that there is no trace of an
opening in the walls above that level, except on the western side. There
was a narrow opening in the western corner, but so well filled that it
is hardly perceptible. Doubtless it formed a niche or opening in the
parapet.

The southern wall on the first roof level still preserves very clear and
distinct impressions of the rushes which were used in the construction
of the roof. In some cases these impressions occur 3 inches above the
top of the floor beams, in others directly above them, showing that the
secondary series of poles was very irregularly placed. In the eastern
and western walls the impressions of rushes are also clear, but there
they are parallel with the wall surface. The rushes were about the
thickness of a pencil.

The floor joists were 3 to 4 inches in diameter, and as a rule projected
into the wall but 5 to 8 inches. In some places in the northern wall,
however, they extended into the masonry as much as 3 feet 3 inches. The
beams were doubtless cut by guess, at the place where trees of the
requisite size were found, according to the method employed by the
Pueblo Indians today, and if, as supposed, the northern room was built
after the rest of the structure, the excess in length would necessarily
be found in the northern wall.
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