The Coconino sun., 1920-02-13
e By Albert B. Reagan.


 Tuba, with the neighboring wash and village of Moenkopi, is an oasis in the Western Navajo desert about half way between Flagstaff and Marsh Pass, near the Utah line. It owes it's existence to living springs, as do the sister places of Moenkopi (Indian village and fields of Moenkopi wash two miles to the southeastward), Moa Ave Give miles to the southwest), and Reservoir canyon, mile and a half to the eastward.
 This oasis has received but little mention, though it is the headquar- ters of the Western Navajo agency, which controls 5000 souls who roam over an area as large as Massachu- setts and Rhode Island combined. Those who have written anything bearing directly on the region are:
 Hough", Lewton%*, Coues (El- liottl..., Joseph Little'""', Greg
 *Hough, Walter: "The Hopi in Re- lation to Their Plant Environment" American Anthropologist, X (1S9O, 33-34.
 *.Lewton: "The Cotton of the Hopi Indians," Smithsonian Misc. Coll, LX (1912), No. 6,1-10.
 *"tTranslation from Coues, Elliot: On the trail of Spanish Pioneer, 11,35S.
 **"*Little, Joseph: "Jacob Ham, blin," The Desert News, Salt Lake City, 1909.
 ****'Gregory, H. E.-"Geology of the Navajo County, Professional Pa per 93 of the U. s. Geological Survey, 1917, pp. to 161; Water Supply Pa per on the Navajo Country, Water Supply Paper 3S0 of the U. S. Geolo- gical Survey, 1916, pp. to 219; and "The Oasis of Tuba, Arizona" Annals of the Association of American Geog- raphers, vol. V, pp. 107-119, 1915.
 (*Loc. cit.)
 Reference relating to the whole re- zion, as included in Mir. Gregory's water supply paper on the Navajo country to which the reader is refer red. Mir. Gregory's three papers. Geology of the Navajo Country" "Water Supply of the Navajo Coun- try" and "The Oasis of Tuba, Ari- zona," are the most important pa pers. Tuba is directly mentioned in both the first and the second and the third is written directly about it, as the title indicates.
 But in all his papers, he refers to the ruins in but one paragraph in these words: Ruins near Tuba at Honogee, and the mass of debris over which the present Hopi village of Moenkopi is built, indicate very an- cient occupation" a very slight men, tion of the ruins.
 For convenience and to give the reader better understanding of the region, the following subjects will be considered in the order given: Geol- >ogy, Soil and Water Supply, Climate, Fauna and Flora, and Habitation of Man.
 Geology, Soil and Water Supply.
 Geology-Tuba is perched on the Kaibito Plateau, overlooking Moen- kopi canyon wash and the Painted Desert to the southward and the es- carpment formed by the titled rocks of Echo Cliffs to the westward. To the east is Reservior Canyon, and to the northward the interminable sand dunes and clumps of sage extend farther than the eye can reach. And the area itself is a tumble of sand dunes and jotting rocks, with few scantily watered, fertile patches. The irrigated land at Tuba proper does not exceed 40 acres; and the waters from Reservoir Canyon and Moenkopi washes combined, including the springs in the canyon walls, are ca pable of irrigating about 1000 acres of land on the floor of the latter wash. There is also a small field or two in Reservoir Canyon. These small patches comprise practically all the permanently farmed area in a region containing 1000 square miles. For this reason this region has been call ed the Tuba Oasis.
 In geological way, the following formations are represented in addi- tion to the dunes and valley fills: Nav ajo Sandstone, Todilito formation, Windgate Sandstone, Chillee forma- tion, and Shinarump conglomerate.
 The Navajo Sandstone covers the plateau area. It is composed of light red, massive, cliff-making, cross-bed- ded, fine and varigated sandstone. The formation is here worn to thin