Show the I 1 lie ancient people of brush creek valley va ile e V BI ALBERT IL REAGAN ID brush creek valley la is at the southeast foot of the uintah mountains in northeastern northeast em utah besides being a picturesque valley it now haa has 1200 acres under ditch in the past it was a rich area and at least three success e people aupied cu pied it in the days of the long ago basket makers makem earth lodge peoples and house builders the basket makers both lived in the open and utilized the caves fa ta f a specially pec lally ally those on mr henry boan doan a ranch in the lower middle valley region where they left many piato graphs to attest their having been there their principal arts were ere the making of baskets by tre itte women and var ivar implements by u he men thy they were apparently no nr farni fra to any great extent gieir living being obtain obtained principally from froni the chase thase the next people to occupy the re glon were earth lodge mater makers the lodges they built were much like a a navajo hosan hogan in shape bui dif in construction in the their frame WAS vas a latice work over which mud was plastered these lodges were in villages several of which are known to have been built in this valley some of these villages were dea troyed by tiro fire probably by an enemy my as the lodee mdge heaps are now new composed compos td of bun d clay in which are impressions of pole poles twigs thatch and brush As in the other parts of 0 utah where these people lodges have been found their build era ers were being of corn and pumpkins PA their principal crop tte tt tk e house builders followed the lodai i makers the houses they erected were mere rather of a type nt f from O 0 m fifteen to twenty ichen ev en fea feet t to 0 a side these were made of undressed river cobbens w which were laid up in thick walls with chinking of mid a house occasionally c casio asio nally having an am alcove or Z ves vestibule on its east side edifices edIfIce 3 were undoubtedly the ton fort and sta storage ace center about which were clu clustered alered residence residences of perishable mt attrial mr trial lal as seems to be at tested b by what hat appears to be tire fire boxes of such residences small areas with slab stones set act on end which are scattered about these houses each of which was found upon excavation to have a laer ot of ashes and charcoal in tu bottom about these sites there are also small areas of from fi div e to ten feet in diameter each of which Is 13 enclosed in a circle of riter abbles while ahu rock pile mounds of vary arg alyes are ar alo al o scattered here and nd there the latter thou two were ere ably shrines it might be added that houses of similar construction and surroundings have been found at greendale Oreen dale over the mountains to the northwestward the brush creek people also used caves when available aa as did the basket makers before them about these ancient houses are lre hemme hom raf milling filing hand bammer and rubbing stones atan plug stoppers for or water jars arrow shaft smoothers beads be ads stone drills arrow heads beads earthen jars found in excavation corncobs corn corno cobs olos pumpkin rinds lance or spear points qu quantities arati at of flint bone awls part of much decayed skeletons chopped agricultural implements und and considerable undecorated unde orated gray pottery fragments excavation will probably bring many other things to I 1 diceo house housa bull builders ders were agri culturists and constructors of irrigation ditches these ditches are many miles in length in the aggregate one of them c can be traced for about three miles in places it Is four steps wide and a foot and a half hall in depth even though it his been in disuse tor for hundreds of years three of the ditches here and at greendale Oreen dale have been cleaned out by the white statte settlers and are now in use again the remains of st reservoir where a double wall of P dan dant fifty stepa in length the walls being four feet apart can also still be seen these house people raised both corn and arul pumpkins in m their irrigated fields besides utilizing the skins of various arious animals they also allo made clothing for their women by weaving shredded cedar baric bark their women wore wom cord erts of the same material blankets too were made of woven cedar bark the piato graphs they left also show that there was an abundance of game in that far off time people who built houses in the Sout liest quite similar to the homes houses erected by this people have been dubbed small house people and their houses small houses the houses here too have shrines about then them very similar to the shrines of the small saull house people of northern new mexico the house houses on the other hand also much resemble the stone part of the 0 C type of dwellings of pueblo horlon horion as described by dr roberts of the smithsonian as occurring in cledra district in southwestern colorado which he bel believes lees viere ere probably erected about A I 1 D in other words the people of these stone he homes s ea were mere probably bly at the peak pk of their power when the lust last roman em geror laid down nu the above information was obtained while the writer was doing archeological work tor for the laboratory of anthropology at santa fe last summler he ile was tided aided in the work ork by or dr J marion marlon franke and his associates aeo clates of vernal utah by henry 24 kurtz of 0 brush crek creek and leo C tome TOMO of vernal who acted aa as camera man nun |